With growing emphasis on the development and use of competencies (knowledge, dispositions, skills) for training and evaluating the early childhood workforce, this study aimed to identify sources of variation in undergraduate students' beliefs and knowledge related to competencies identified by the Collaborative for Understanding Pedagogy for…

Despite recognition of the importance of a developmentally appropriate approach to sexuality education, there is little direct guidance on how to do this. This study employed in-depth interviews with experienced sexuality educators and developers of sexuality education materials to identify how this concept is understood and applied in the field.…

The increasing accountability framework in Kindergarten education has put pressure on teachers to ensure that students reach certain literacy milestones before proceeding to the subsequent grade. One result of this shift is a tension between an emphasis on academic learning and the use of developmentally appropriate practices, such as play.…

Within the United States, publicly funded pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) is a borderland of teacher practice--somewhere between early childhood and Elementary approaches to pedagogy. For pre-K teachers, this can mean negotiating many different, and oft-competing conceptions of what curriculum and practice should look like in order to support the…

This article describes how elementary-aged children engaged in a world cultures unit showed positive development related to intercultural competence as exhibited through connected global education aims. Twenty-five third graders participated in the integrated social studies and literacy curriculum for 11 weeks. Prior to the intervention, students…

This article presents the findings from a national study on the experiences of educators with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) topics in elementary schools and recommendations for practice based in our experiences as classroom teachers and teacher educators. Using responses to open-ended questions that were part of a…

Children's books must primarily be appropriate for children so that they could be a significant stimulus in children's lives. In other words, it is essential that the concepts child reality, literary criteria and artist sensitivity be reflected in books in order to create children's books. From birth to age 6, the fact that children's books are…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the play based teaching and learning methods at one particular elementary school in southeastern Massachusetts with the aim of identifying methods and practices that are seen as essential in developing the academic and social skills in kindergarten students. This school of study has been utilizing…

This qualitative study investigated preservice teachers' experiences working with dual language learners within an early university-based practicum with young children. Our data were multiple reflective journal entries that each preservice teacher composed during the practicum. Our initial analysis revealed a subset of preservice teachers who…

In this follow-up to "Guidance for Every Child," author Dan Gartrell, EdD, expands on the advice broached in that book -- that children need guidance rather than discipline. Guidance is teaching for healthy emotional and social development. On a day-to-day basis as conflicts occur, guidance is teaching children to learn from their…

Early childhood education faculty from a college collaborated with a local public school district to conduct a series of professional development workshops for early childhood practitioners. The workshop series was designed to address pedagogical concerns identified by district administrators and teachers, as well as to help early childhood…

Many students with Down syndrome now receive reading instruction in either inclusion-focused or skill-based instructional settings. There are, however, varied results in the level of reading skills that students with Down syndrome attain. The focus of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in the reading skill…

This article provides practitioners with a guide to (1) understand the developmental emergence of play skills in young children to inform developmentally appropriate instructional decisions (e.g., toy choices); (2) set up the play space to support social play; and (3) use key strategies from an evidence-based intervention for young children with…

The article describes Tools of the Mind--an instructional program developed 25 years ago and now implemented in a variety of early childhood settings across the United States and in Canada. Based on the principles of cultural-historical psychology, this program addresses developmental and learning needs of young children by offering a…

While there are differences between coaches and physical educators, there are best practices in each profession that have universal applications. Using a coaching/teaching scenario to provide background for this article, the authors identify useful strategies employed by both successful coaches and physical educators that can be adopted by each.…