The current study is the first to examine the role of exploration in play milestones development using a multi-measure micro-analytic approach. Fifteen infants, between the ages of 8 and 17 months, were observed in their natural home environment once a month for a one--hour session; their spontaneous mouthing and fingering and their play level…

Schools are institutions responsible for teaching children new skills and knowledge, the ability to think about future targets, and, when problems become complex, how to apply explorative thinking and inborn creativity to solve them. Even so, scholars point to the fact that school curriculums do not support ways to facilitate explorative learning…

In 1865, the Brussels educational reformer Pierre Temples advocated to take drawing as the cornerstone of education. He criticized that education was modelled on conventions and grammatical rules in order to learn to read and write, this way ignoring the potential of drawing to create new concepts. This paper is also concerned with the…

This brief summarizes the working paper, "Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation. Working Paper 14," which explains the science behind motivation--the "wanting" system and the "liking" system--as well as how those systems develop, and how…

Using gamification to support learning in K-12 education has received much attention from scholars in recent years. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive understanding of how gamification should be used to effectively enhance the learning experiences of K-12 students. The purpose of this review was to synthesize research findings on the…

This dissertation examines the affective qualities of non-player character motion in a Virtual Reality (VR) cognitive training game, their impact on players' core affective experiences, game performance, and cognitive training outcomes. How do the movements of game characters in a VR environment affect players' experienced emotions, gameplay…

Learning progressions (LPs) are considered to have great potential to improve pedagogical practices. However, even with LPs, teachers may still be unaware of the barriers that keep students from progressing; many are struggling with essential pedagogical strategies to support students' progression. This study thus proposed an educative LP (ELP), a…

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic syndrome. As with all rare syndromes, obtaining adequately powered sample sizes is a challenge. Here we present legacy data from seven UK labs, enabling the characterisation of cross-sectional and longitudinal developmental trajectories of verbal and non-verbal development in the largest sample of…

Constructivist learning theories consider deep understanding of the content to be the result of engagement in relevant learning activities with appropriate scaffolding that provides the learner with timely and substantive feedback. However, any group of students has a variety of levels of knowledge and cognitive development, which makes providing…

Few studies have examined differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) phenotype between children from multiplex and simplex families at the time of diagnosis. The present study used an age- and gender-matched, community-based sample (n = 105) from the southwestern United States to examine differences in ASD symptom severity, cognitive…

This article describes an empirical study that explored the cognitive and emotional effects of teaching through shadow theater as compared to traditional storytelling of the same texts and songs in children on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The rationale is based on broken mirror theory anchored in research on mirror neurons. Fifty-seven…

The majority of the world's children live in low- and middle-income countries, yet the majority of early childhood cognitive research is done with a small proportion of high-income countries. These findings cannot be assumed to apply across all contexts. It is therefore necessary to confront entrenched systems of power and privilege in early…

The Century of Turkey Education Model, introduced in 2024, emphasizes developing critical thinking and analytical skills, with the Mathematics Curriculum. This curriculum integrates literacy skills in learning objectives, particularly financial literacy, to empower students in making informed economic decisions and managing resources effectively.…

Nearly half the world's people are bilingual, but many have no clear understanding of what--aside from being fluent in more than one language--bilingualism means. This lively introduction by linguist Penelope Gardner-Chloros covers everything a bilingual (or curious monolingual) individual might want to know. The book discusses how bilingualism…

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major research trend in the fields of education and psychology. However, several risks posed by this technology concerning the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children and adolescents have been identified. While it would be highly useful to have a clear understanding of these…