Education Commons^™

Caregivers' Attachment Relationships With Infants And Toddlers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rebecca Ellen Roth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health and safety protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants continue to influence practices in infant–toddler programs one western state in the United States; caregivers in the state are concerned about attachment relationships with infants and toddlers. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore caregiver perceptions of attachment relationships related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants and the influence of health and safety protocols on caregiver practices. The conceptual framework combined attachment and biobehavioral theories. Data from interviews with four infant and six toddler caregivers were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by searching for patterns …

Implementing Environmentally Conscious Skills Into Toddlers’ Routines, Martha Sanchez Romero

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

This action research aimed to determine the effects of implementing environmentally conscious skills in the daily routine of toddlers in a Montessori classroom. Evidence supports that routine helps normalize and internalize practiced skills. I collected quantitative and qualitative data from a mixed toddler class, over eight weeks at an independent school setting with 24, 18 months to 36 months. I utilized through pre- and post-questionnaires, tally sheets, and observational record- keeping. The results showed that toddlers were more successful with activities that were part of their daily routine, in increasing their purpose and coordination versus those found on the shelf. …

An Inclusive Playground For Infant And Toddler Development, Amanda Swartz

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to help children develop more proper developmental goals and make outdoor play at the Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center more inclusive for all children. Children gain many developmental goals from playing outside and being exposed to other environments as compared to just being inside the classroom. Outdoor play should be as inclusive as indoor play and offer many different activities and outlets, just as the indoor classroom does. The implementation of this service-learning creative project is to add more versatility to the outdoor area at the Jean Tyson Child Development Study Center and …

Embracing A Pedagogy Of Care In The Infant And Toddler Classroom, Paige D. Wernick

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Care is a universal concept which connects us all as humans. Everyone comes into this world needing care and most of us will exit this world in need of care. Care is necessary throughout the span of our lives and should be considered a human right. Everyone is entitled to quality care, no matter their age or social status. The U.S. society has been entrenched in a decades long division between education and care which has historically prioritized education over care. This division has contributed to care being hidden and undervalued within the context of early childhood (EC) as a …

Toddler Play Preferences And The Teacher’S Role In The Outdoor Play Environment, Keting Chen, Erin E. Hamel

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Direct experience with nature is a primary component of environmental education and especially beneficial for young children. The present study examined the outdoor play preferences of toddlers and investigated the role teachers play in the outdoor space. Toddlers’ outdoor play was video recorded by GoPro cameras and coded for preferred play locations and initiator of the play. Results showed that the three most preferred spaces for toddlers in the outdoor classroom were the sandbox, swing area, and play structures; least frequently visited were open areas close to the classrooms, the garden, and the tree area. In addition, toddlers initiated play …

Impacts Of Early Childhood Professional Development On Educator Practice And Subsequent Student Experience In The Outdoor Environment, Hannah Mohr

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this project was to study the impact of professional development on early childhood educator practice and its subsequent effects on toddlers’ experiences with Risky Play in the outdoor environment. The setting of this project was a toddler classroom within a Montessori school in Missouri. The population for this action research study was three adult assistant guides with varying levels of experience with Montessori and early childhood education and 10 students in a Montessori toddler classroom between the ages of 17 and 32 months. The intervention consisted of a professional development workshop related to Montessori philosophy and benefits …

The Impact Of Grace And Courtesy Lessons On Self-Regulation In A Toddler Montessori Environment, Catherine S. T. Greene

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The skills associated with self-regulation begin in toddlerhood. This action research study was designed to assess the impact of Grace and Courtesy lessons on toddler behavior. Students participated in lessons on how to greet a friend, how to ask for a turn and how to express affection. The study took place in a Montessori toddler classroom of 14 children, aged 26-36 months old. The classroom was part of a half-day Montessori preschool located in the South Eastern United States. I used field notes and tally marks to observe behavior in the classroom. Observations were done daily, and the data collection …

Cultivating Toddler Emergent Literacy Behaviors Using The Montessori Sandpaper Letters, Elizabeth Norman

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The Montessori Sandpaper Letters are a powerful, multi-sensory tool which can cultivate emergent literacy behaviors. A half-day Montessori classroom of 17 students between the ages of 2.4 years old and 3.5 years old in a private, accredited, suburban Montessori school participated in this action research study. Participants completed a four-week intervention that implemented daily use of the Sandpaper Letters. Data was collected through daily observations, tally charts, individual lesson logs, and a modified pre- and post-assessment of the ability to identify letter sounds. Thirteen out of 17 participants, or 76%, showed an increase in letter sound identification. In addition there …

Analyses Of Parental Interaction Behaviors And Young Children's Language Skills, Brenna Schulte, Rachel Beeney, Sydney Harrington, Ana Perez-Senic, Alondra Magallanes, Evelyn Estrada, Christine Marvin, Lisa Knoche, Courtney Boise

UCARE Research Products

The Preschool Language Scale-5 (PLS) and samples of spontaneous speech from 20-30-minute play interactions between toddlers and parents, were used to examine children’s emerging language abilities. The speech samples were used to compute children’s rate of words, utterances and different words per minute, and mean length of utterances for a full transcript or simply the three longest utterances. Parents’ comments and directives were noted in five-minutes of toy play with their children. The proportion of parental comments to directives was found to be significantly related to all spontaneous speech measures, but not PLS scores. Spanish-speaking parents were found to have …

Investing In The Birth-To-Three Workforce: A New Vision To Strengthen The Foundation For All Learning, Emily Sharrock, Courtney Parkerson

Bank Street Education Center

This report asserts that every child—regardless of race, income, or opportunity—should have consistent access to high-quality learning experiences from birth and provides a roadmap toward change at scale, including the development of residency programs and improved compensation for the infant/toddler workforce.

Including Autism: Confronting Inequitable Practices In A Toddler Classroom, Emmanuelle N. Fincham, Amanda R. Fellner

Occasional Paper Series

As co-teachers in a toddler room, we share a personal narrative about our experiences working with a child diagnosed with autism while in our care. Framed within the competing discourses of the medicalized perspective on disability and the individual, child-centered philosophies of early childhood education, we investigate the inequities we felt in the classroom and make connections to the field of early childhood inclusive education at large.

The Affects Of Nature Based Learning On Children’S Eco-Centric Attitudes, Nicolette A. Bidell

Masters of Arts in Education Action Research Papers

The purpose of this action research study was to discover if exposure to nature-based education would increase student’s eco-centric views of the environment. The intervention took place over a four week period at a private Montessori school in France. 11 students and their parents participated in the study. Students ranged in age from 2 to 3 years. Qualitative and quantitative data were both collected via a parent questionnaire, pre and post student surveys, daily observations, and a teacher reflection journal. Analysis of the data revealed that the more days a child participated in the nature-based lessons and activities, the more …

Touch Screen Technology In The First Three Years, Sara Baumgarten

Graduate Student Independent Studies

There has long been debate about the use of screen technology with young children. The first part of this paper reviews the literature currently available, looking at previous research about television viewing as well as emerging research about touch screens. The second part takes observation of three toddlers, ages 20-26 months, using iPads as well as playing with traditional toys and analyzes the differences in play and the developmental skills demonstrated by each.

Naptime And Separation Anxiety : The Use Of A Teacher-Made Book To Help Children Cope In An Infant-Toddler Classroom, Diana Musa

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper presents several theoretical explanations of the emotional reality of young children. Its focus is the influential first relationship between the young child and his caregiver and how his emotional development is shaped within the confines of this relationship. It then examines what meanings the first relationship holds for the child's emotional reality during the toddler stage, defined as roughly 18 months to 3 years of age.

The paper turns then to a discussion of the particular emotional reality of a toddler in the childcare setting. What follows is an argument about the importance of acknowledging and labeling young …

Movement Education In A Modified Montessori Pre-School Classroom, Corinne Q. Evans

Graduate Theses

A movement education program was designed to see what effect such a program would have on the motor skills of three year old children. Movement tasks and skills were introduced to the class as a whole. The rationale of this program is based on the observations of Piaget, Montessori, Gisell, and other theorists. The lessons are divided into three major areas of Body Awareness, Directionality, and Basic Body Movements. The movement education program was presented to ten (10) three year old students; while six (6) other three year old students comprised the control group. Pre-and post-tests of movement skills were …