This research focuses on exploring teacher motivational scaffolding and preschoolers motivational triggers in a playful learning project conducted in a Finnish preschool context. The aim of playful learning was to promote preschoolers' multiliteracy and digital skills in a news-making project. The participants were 17 preschoolers and their…

The role of play is critical to the learning process in early childhood education settings. International researches indicate the advancement of children's learning when engaged in active play. However, little research has been conducted in Philippine settings on the use of play in teaching literacy in early childhood education classrooms. This…

This article considers the "creative education" of influential Aotearoa/New Zealand art educator Elwyn Richardson, which is based on what he calls the "discovery method": the "concentrated study of material from [students'] own surroundings." Through a game that his students play with tyres, we explore the role that…

Two studies compared children's attention to sample composition--whether a sample provides a diverse representation of a category of interest--during teacher-led and learner-driven learning contexts. In Study 1 (n = 48), 5-year-olds attended to sample composition to make inferences about biological properties only when samples were presented by a…

In this essay, Susan Engel argues that curiosity is both intrinsic to children's development and unfolds through social interactions. Thus, it should be cultivated in schools, even though it is often almost completely absent from classrooms. Calling on well-established research and more recent studies, Engel argues that interactions between…

This study investigates the effects of teaching and learning environments on student teachers' approaches to teaching and compares a lecture-based setting to a student-activating teaching environment, in which self-discovery learning by means of authentic tasks is central. Data collection (N = 852) was obtained by a pre-test/post-test design…

Contemporary education theory (and official South African policy) underwrites learner-centredness. I analyse learner-centredness as a possible piece of the puzzle about why it is proving so difficult to improve academic achievement. Learner-centred ideas are grounded in the belief that cognitive abilities develop spontaneously in accordance with a…

Examines some of the educational theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau that relate not only to teaching techniques used in modern schools but also to the writing of nonfiction for children. (GT)

This article proposed ways to interest preschool children in their future academic involvement without overcoming them with a fear of school. (RK)

Author urged music educators to develop principles of notation, and let children discover symbols on their own, eventually becoming readers of traditional music notation. (Author/RK)

The Plowden Report drew heavily on Piaget's theories of cognitive development, especially his concepts of activity and discovery learning and readiness. But Piaget's theory is not a pedagogical one and it has little to say about teaching content and methods. Recently, criticism of his theory has grown. (Author/SJL)

While many parents are familiar with Montessori schooling at the preschool level, Montessori elementary and middle schools have also proliferated in the past decade. This book provides an overview of Montessori theory and practice, with special emphasis on the child's elementary school years. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the origin and…

This book is a collection of papers on curriculum development in early childhood education. In Chapter 1, Bruner examines what is known about the effects of poverty on child development in Western culture, considers whether modern developmental theories aid in understanding the impact of culture (and specifically) poverty on children's growth, and…

Discusses the value of nature education to early childhood education. The domains of adaptive, aesthetic, cognitive, communication, sensorimotor, and socioemotional development are discussed. Suggests that because young children learn primarily through their senses and motoric manipulation, they are excellent candidates for nature education…