The extent to which academic instruction should be a major goal of the curriculum for preschool and kindergarten children is a constant topic of debate among the many parties concerned with early childhood education. The main argument presented in this report is that the traditional debates in the field about whether to emphasize so-called free…

Humans possess a tendency to rapidly and consistently make character evaluations from mere facial appearance. Recent work shows that this tendency emerges surprisingly early: children as young as 3-years-old provide adult-like assessments of others on character attributes such as "nice," "strong," and "smart" based…

This systematic review assesses the state of the literature regarding the impacts of outdoor education instructors' behaviors and traits on participant outcomes. Twenty-seven articles are reviewed in detail, and student outcomes in relation to instructor behaviors and traits and to programmatic elements are identified. A range of participant…

Although the importance of mentor teachers in clinical teacher preparation is well established, few researchers explore the social identity development of these individuals. Through our study we contribute to the body of research by exploring mentor teachers' social identity development through the concept of Apprenticeship of Observation --…

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) are among the most marginalized group of students in our schools. In essence, students with EBD are often denied their civil right to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) which is a social justice issue. Teachers who become social justice allies are more likely to create a…

Public schools have always been meant to provide all children with the skills and knowledge to become successful participants in the economy. But currently, a second important purpose of public education has become more salient: to promote social cohesion in a diverse and fractured democracy. As ugly and naked racism in America is further…

Since the early 2000s, the numbers studying Modern Foreign Languages at university has declined, although there is a strong body of evidence that language capabilities are valued and in demand by employers, operating in global markets and working with international partners. A significant element in the Higher Education MFL curriculum to these…

One of the major goals of the English Language Arts is to teach students to read, understand, and write narratives. This report examines the ways in which the skills that support narrative develop during the school years, outlines a model of narrative as a "key practice" in which the ability to model social situations supports narrative…

When young refugee English language learners (ELLs) start formal schooling in the United States, the social-emotional learning (SEL) appropriate for the U.S. school context may be especially unfamiliar to them. By interviewing six elementary school teachers, this exploratory study examined how teachers describe refugee ELLs' social-emotional…

Education researchers use surveys widely. Yet, critics question respondents' ability to provide high-quality responses. As schools increasingly use student surveys to drive policymaking, respondents' (lack of) motivation to provide quality responses may threaten the wisdom of using surveys for data-based decision-making. To better understand…

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years…

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between maternal acceptance-rejection levels and preschool children's social competence and emotion regulation skills. The study group of the research, which was designed in survey method, consisted of 303 voluntary mother-child dyad. The participant children were attending a preschool…

Suor et al. (2017) present a compelling new evolutionary framework that offers an alternative interpretation of the well-established findings of cognitive deficits in children raised in harsh early environments. They argue that such findings do not convey a complete picture of those children's cognitive development, because children's cognition…

Research Findings: Public policy has increasingly focused on expansion of preschool access for underserved students and systematic evaluation of preschool quality and students' readiness for school. However, such evaluation is limited by a lack of thoroughly validated assessments for use with preschool populations. The present study examined the…

Gifted students, because of their advanced development compared to peers, have emotional needs that require differentiated education programs. Asynchronous social and emotional development of gifted students often leads to identity issues. Cinematherapy can be used to help gifted students explore their identities through analysis of the actions of…