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The Experience Of Military Families Accessing Early Childhood Education And Care: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Kristine Clothier Apr 2024

The Experience Of Military Families Accessing Early Childhood Education And Care: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Kristine Clothier

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand accessing early childhood education and care (ECEC) opportunities by military families using government and private programs. The study focused on 12 families who have children ages three to five years old enrolled in an ECEC program. The philosophical foundation used in this study is Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology. The theory provided an underlying construct and structure to understand the interconnectedness of ECEC stakeholders and the impact of government policies on ECEC access. The study explored the lived experiences of military families who seek access to high-quality equitable early childhood education opportunities. The …


Let Them Be Little: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Kindergarten Teachers During An Era Of Educational Reform, Rachel Denise Whites Dec 2022

Let Them Be Little: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Kindergarten Teachers During An Era Of Educational Reform, Rachel Denise Whites

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences and perceptions of kindergarten teachers who taught through an era of federally mandated, standards-based educational reforms. This study was guided by two theories as each contributes to an explanation as to how educational reform has strayed far from the central purpose for kindergartens. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development sought to explain how a child constructs a mental model of the world and postulated that there are four distinct stages of human development from birth to adulthood. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory stated that children learn through play and the …