Purpose: Being "literate" is well established as key to active civic participation, right from the earliest years of life. Young children's natural curiosity and motivation to understand the world and their places within it through playful explorations offers rich opportunities for learning. Reported here are findings from a STEAM…

Values education is central to early childhood education. However, it rarely provides real-life opportunities to engage students. This study investigates the effect of creative drama in acquisition of values by preschoolers. Experimental design with a pre-post-test control group was used. The study group consisted of 44 children aged 5 to 5 ½…

This study aims to determine the opinions of preschool pre-service teachers on the adequacy of online drama lessons throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive survey model of the qualitative research methods was used and online drama lessons were run over a 12-weekperiod. Participants of the research were 64 pre-school prospective teachers…

The Vygotskian preschool education program (VPEP) is built around mediation in the context of preschool age-specific activities such as sociodramatic play, constructive play, listening and retelling fairy tales, playing with dollhouses, motor activities, and some others. We used the VPEP as part of the daily curriculum in two pre-K classes at PS…

Background/Context: There is a convergence of evidence that the quality of children's early care and education (ECE) experiences is critical for promoting children's development (Gormley, Phillips, & Gayer, 2008). Curriculum combined with professional development is thought to be the "strongest hope" for promoting quality (Weiland…

The authors reveal an innovative approach to training and education of preschool children. This approach is called "GARDEN OF CHILDHOOD". It is based on the idea that the development of the preschool child's personality should be joyous and free "cultural self-creation" in terms of the collective co-creation, where adults and…

In spring 2012, Sherry Kaufman, a consultant at Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, was asked to support kindergarten teachers in deepening their practice of constructivism and exploring the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Central to such an approach is the belief that all learning is socially constructed through interaction…

The present study investigated the strengths and areas of improvement for elementary music teacher preparation from the perspective of multiple members of a single body of music teachers. Subjects for the study were elementary music teachers from an urban school district in the southern United States. All elementary music teachers in the school…

In this article, jazz music is used as a lens through which early childhood music pedagogy is viewed, specifically thinking about swing and improvisation--the listening and responding to what is heard and seen, and the openness to possibility. These two concepts are defined by prominent jazz musicians and are traced in the child development…

Author proposed a different way of thinking about art in the curriculum, an aesthetic view of life that begins with affection, care and attention. (Author/RK)

Creative dramatics offer the educator a variety of uses in the development of children's language arts proficiency and psychomotor skill level. (LH)

Describes how implementing a free activities period at the beginning of the regular class day can encourage creative, independent art projects; development of positive self-attitudes; and reading and writing behaviors and can lower rebellious classroom behavior by providing students with some measure of classroom control. (CRH)

One of the central concepts in Vygotsky's theory of child development is the Zone of Proximal Development. This article identifies how Jack moves through the Zone of Proximal Development in two areas of his musical development, vocal improvisation and song acquisition, from the ages of 24 to 36 months, with scaffolding provided by me, his father.…

Using examples from children drawing in a year one classroom, this article examines firstly, how drawing operates as a unique mental tool, and secondly, the role of drawing in the construction and development of knowledge. Young children utilize prior knowledge and experience to negotiate and construct meaning through their interactions with…