Contemporary Perspectives and Research on Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives and Research on Early Childhood Education
Author: Jeanne Galbraith
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 435
Release: 2014-04-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1443859648

Contemporary Perspectives and Research on Early Childhood Education is a welcome addition to the field of early childhood education. This book enhances the understanding of different approaches to curriculum and instruction; appropriate assessment strategies; the role of math and science in children’s development; the importance of seeing the whole child and ensuring children develop holistically through play and arts; training effective teachers; and the importance of helping parents to be better supporters of their children. Along with this comprehensive content, the book also contains diverse methodologies including qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches, which will further enrich the reader’s perspective and understanding of a wide range of topics in the field. Thus, this book creates a platform for researchers and practitioners to share and discuss research findings, expertise, and experiences about early childhood education.

Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Creativity in Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Creativity in Early Childhood Education
Author: Olivia Saracho
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1617357421

Recently, a new understanding of creative thought and creative performance has surfaced. It has also attracted the attention of early childhood professional organizations and researchers. Professional organizations have included it in their publications and conferences. While current creativity researchers have initiated a far more sophisticated understanding of young children’s creative thinking, ways to assess creativity, strategies to promote creativity, and research methodologies. The purpose of this volume is to present a wide range of different theories and areas in the study of creativity to help researchers and theorists work toward the development of different perspectives on creativity with young children. It focuses on critical analyses and reviews of the literature on topics related to creativity research, development, theories, and practices. It will serve as a reference for early childhood education researchers, scholars, academics, general educators, teacher educators, teachers, graduate students, and scientists to stimulate further “dialogue” on ways to enhance creativity. The chapters are of high quality and provide scholarly analyses of research studies that capture the full range of approaches to the study of creativity --- behavioral, clinical, cognitive, cross-cultural, developmental, educational, genetic, organizational, psychoanalytic, psychometric, and social. Interdisciplinary research is also included, as is research within specific domains such as art and science, as well as on critical issues (e.g., aesthetics, genius, imagery, imagination, insight, intuition, metaphor, play, problem finding and solving). Thus, it offers critical analyses on reviews of research in a form that are useful to early childhood researchers, scholars, educators, and graduate students. It also places the current research in its historical context. The volume is also of interest to the general readers who are interested in the young children’s creativity. The chapters are authored by established scholars in the field of young children’s creativity.

Contemporary Perspectives on Science and Technology in Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives on Science and Technology in Early Childhood Education
Author: Olivia Saracho
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607525941

For decades, politicians, businessmen and other leaders have been concerned with the quality of education, including early childhood education, in the United States. While more than 50% of the children between the ages of three and five are enrolled in preschool and kindergarten programs in the United States, no state, federal, or national standards exist for science or technology education in preschool or kindergarten programs. Knowledge about science and technology is an important requirement for all in contemporary society. An increasing number of professions require the use of scientific concepts and technological skills and society as a whole depends on scientific knowledge. Scientific and technological knowledge should be a part of every individual’s education. There are many ways to enhance young children’s scientific thinking and problem-solving skills as well as their technological abilities. The purpose of this volume is to present a critical analysis of reviews of research on science and technology education in early childhood education. The first part of the volume includes contributions by leading scholars in science, while the second part includes contributions by leading scholars in technology.

Contemporary Perspectives on Socialization and Social Development in Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives on Socialization and Social Development in Early Childhood Education
Author: Olivia Saracho
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2007-05-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607525933

The purpose of this volume is to present a selection of chapters that reflect current issues relating to children’s socialization processes that help them become successful members of their society. From birth children are unique in their rates of growth and development, including the development of their social awareness and their ability to interact socially. They interpret social events based on their developing life style and environmental experiences. The children’s socialization is influenced by several important social forces including the family and its organization, their peer group, and the significant others in their lives. In “Theories of Socialization and Social Development,” Olivia Saracho and Bernard Spodek describe the children’s socialization forces and the different developmental theories that have influenced our understanding of the socialization process. These include maturationist theory (developed by Arnold Gesell), constructivist theories (developed by such theorists as Jean Piaget, Lev S. Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner), psychodynamic theories (developed by such theorists as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Alfred Adler), and ecological theory (developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner). Each theory provides interpretations of the meaning of the children’s social development and describes the different characteristics for each age group in the developmental sequences.

Contemporary Perspectives on Mathematics in Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives on Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
Author: Olivia Saracho
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2008-02-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607526379

This volume provides a comprehensive critical analysis of the research in mathematics education for young children. The researchers who conducted the critical analysis focused on the relationship between (1) mathematics learning in the early years and domain specific approaches to cognitive development, (2) the children’s social learning and their developing understanding of math, and (3) the children’s learning in a natural context and their understanding of mathematics concepts. The work of these scholars can help guide those researchers who are interested in pursuing studies in early childhood mathematics in a specific area of study. This volume will facilitate the research conducted by both novice and expert researchers. The volume has accomplished its major goals, which consists of critically analyzing important research in a specific area that would be most useful in advancing the field and provide recommendations for both researchers and educators.

Contemporary Research and Perspectives on Early Childhood Mathematics Education

Contemporary Research and Perspectives on Early Childhood Mathematics Education
Author: Iliada Elia
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2018-02-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319734326

This book brings together a collection of research-based papers on current issues in early childhood mathematics education that were presented in the Topic Study Group 1 (TSG 1) at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13), held at the University of Hamburg in 2016. It will help readers understand a range of key issues that early childhood mathematics educators encounter today. Research on early childhood mathematics education has grown in recent years, due in part to the well-documented, positive relation between children’s early mathematical knowledge and their later mathematics learning, and to the considerable emphasis many countries are now placing on preschool education. The book addresses a number of central questions, including: What is mathematical structural development and how can we promote it in early childhood? How can multimodality and embodiment contribute to early mathematics learning and to acquiring a better understanding of young children’s mathematical development? How can children’s informal mathematics-related experiences affect instruction and children’s learning in different mathematics content areas? What is the role of tools, including technology and picture books, in supporting early mathematics learning? What are the challenges in early childhood mathematics education for teachers’ education and professional development?

Contemporary Perspectives on Research on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Early Childhood Education

Contemporary Perspectives on Research on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Early Childhood Education
Author: Olivia N. Saracho
Publisher: Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2022-02-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781648028168

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is also known as SARS-CoV-2, has had a great impact in early childhood education programs. Since the effect of this epidemic was new, and little research had been conducted, this volume is devoted to understanding mutual and contemporary themes in the impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in early childhood education. Early childhood education (ECE) centers encountered unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis. Comprehensive reviews of the literature, descriptions of programs or situations, and research studies provided accounts of current situations in early childhood education including programs and individuals who were working with young children whose ages ranged from birth to eight years of age. The chapters in this special volume discuss how early childhood education faced unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis and demonstrate the breadth and theoretical effectiveness of this domain. This volume provides a brief introduction that acknowledges the valuable contributions of these chapters to the impact of this pandemic in early childhood education and offers a valuable tool to practitioners and researchers who are conducting studies on the impact of COVID-19. At the beginning of the year 2020, after a December 2019 outburst in China, the World Health Organization acknowledged SARS-CoV-2 as a different kind of coronavirus. It immediately multiplied around the world, mostly through person-to-person contact. Infections ranged from mild to deadly. COVID-19 can cause a respiratory tract infection such as ones sinuses, nose, and throat or lower respiratory tract such as ones windpipe and lungs (World Health Organization, 2020a). On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) affirmed that COVID-19 had become a public health emergency causing an international problem. By March 12, 2020, everybody was aware of this pandemic. It also created an understanding about this first-time consciousness in research about this disease, which generated an immense publication production. It also became the basis for this special volume.

Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital in Educational Contexts

Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital in Educational Contexts
Author: RoSusan D. Bartee
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2019-05-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1641136405

The currency of social capital serves as an important function given the capacity to generate external access (getting to) and internal accountability (getting through) for individuals and institutions alike. Pierre Bourdieu (1986) defines social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group” (p. 251). Social capital contains embedded resources as a tool for manifesting opportunities and options among individuals and groups. Inevitably, the aforementioned opportunities and options become reflective of the depth and breadth of access and accountability experienced by the individual and institution. As educational stakeholders, we must consistently challenge ourselves with the question, “How do K-12 schools and colleges and universities accomplish shared, egalitarian goals of achieving access and accountability?” Such goals become fundamental toward ensuring students matriculating through K-12 and higher education, irrespective of background, are provided the caliber of education and schooling experience to prepare them for economic mobility and social stability. To that end, the volume, Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital in Educational Contexts (2019), as part of the book series, Contemporary Perspectives on Capital in Educational Contexts, offers a unique opportunity to explore social capital as a currency conduit for creating external access and internal accountability for K-12 and higher education. The commonalities of social capital emerging within the 12 chapters of the volume include the following: 1) Social Capital as Human Connectedness; 2) Social Capital as Strategic Advocacy; 3) Social Capital as Intentional Engagement; and 4) Social Capital as Culturally-Responsive Leadership. Thus, it becomes important for institutions of education (i.e. secondary, postsecondary, continuing) and individuals to assume efforts with intentionality and deliberateness to promote access and accountability.

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood
Author: Children's Issues Coalition
Publisher: Ian Randle Publishers
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2003
Genre: Action research
ISBN: 9766371288

Caribbean Childhoods: From Research to Action is an annual publication produced by the Children s Issues Coalition at the University of the West Indies, Mona. The series seeks to provide an avenue for the dissemination of research and experiences on children s health, development, behaviour and education, and to provide a forum for the discussion of these issues.