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Full-Text Articles in Education
Loose Parts In The Outdoor Play Space, Samuel L. Shapiro
Loose Parts In The Outdoor Play Space, Samuel L. Shapiro
Graduate Student Independent Studies
Loose parts play is a play practice that prioritizes a child’s ability to self-direct and intrinsically motivate above all else. It does so by utilizing decontextualized items that are flexible in their usage and allow children to project their own ideas, imaginations, and usages onto the items, rather than by allowing the items to dictate usage to the children. The booklet that Sam Shapiro created, Loose Parts in the Outdoor Play Space, provides a tool that professionals can utilize in support of their own loose parts programs. It provides an overview of the state of play, an examination of what …
How To : An Original Picture Book For Children, Morgan Wright
How To : An Original Picture Book For Children, Morgan Wright
Graduate Student Independent Studies
This independent study was focused on the creation of an original, social-emotionally oriented “how to” picture and poetry book for children ages five through seven. A wide variety of books for children, from old classics to recent publications, deal with themes relevant to children’s social-emotional lives. However, many of these books are written in narrative fiction form, or are framed using a logical, adult-centered lens. The goal of this book project was to create poetry and illustrations which authentically conveyed the unique emotional textures and roundabout logic of childhood associated with everyday experiences. Child development research included cognitive and emotional …
Indigo Was Our Class Pet: An Exploration Of Death In Children’S Literature, Nella Williams
Indigo Was Our Class Pet: An Exploration Of Death In Children’S Literature, Nella Williams
Graduate Student Independent Studies
Death is a complicated and emotionally weighty subject. Therefore, discussing it can be taboo in early childhood classrooms. Although this is meant to protect children, the lack of discussion limits their mental and emotional processing of bereavement and ultimately undermines their understanding of death. After teaching in a Pre-K classroom with a terminally ill reptile, the author was inspired to write a children’s book about the death of a class pet. The text reviews typical developmental milestones for five-year-olds, the target age of the book. Fives are at an age where their frameworks for understanding the world are shifting; therefore, …
Lucy Takes The Stage: A Story For Children With Anxiety, Rachel Beckman
Lucy Takes The Stage: A Story For Children With Anxiety, Rachel Beckman
Graduate Student Independent Studies
Childhood anxiety is explored through the lens of child development as well as children’s literature. The book written for this integrated masters project was created to help engage children around age 5, recognizing that it could be for ages 5-7, in thinking about anxiety. Anxiety disorders in children can take many different forms, but the major distinction between a disorder and normal worries is that it causes stress that disrupts normal functioning. Additionally, read-alouds are a common and beneficial way to introduce children to literature in schools. Young children can learn to read, take another’s perspective, as well as gain …
Bringing Families In: An Examination Of Family Programs At The Museum Of Chinese In America And Other Cultural And Historical Museums In New York City, Dianne Choie
Graduate Student Independent Studies
This independent study includes family program survey research and planning processes completed during my Master of Science in Museum Education fieldwork at the Museum of Chinese in America in New York City in the spring of 2017. This information is compared to data gathered from surveys with ten other cultural and historical museums and with the Cool Culture community program. This study also includes a literature review of studies and theories concerning child development and family learning in museums. With information from all these resources assembled, analyses of strengths, challenges, and potential areas for growth are outlined for family programs …
A Study Of Story Stones In Informal Learning Environments, Nina Berch
A Study Of Story Stones In Informal Learning Environments, Nina Berch
Graduate Student Independent Studies
This paper aims to provide context for the use of an open-ended tool called Story Stones for engaging young students in creative discussion. Story Stones are a collection of palm-sized rocks with transposed images attached. Student ages within this discussion range between two and seven years old, accompanied by adult caregivers in the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling in Harlem, New York and Not Just Art childhood enrichment center in Oyster Bay, New York. The method of observation and analysis consisted of presenting Story Stones in an open-ended, hands-on invitation to visitors of the museum and enrichment …
Bayou: An Original Book For Children, Taylor Hodges
Bayou: An Original Book For Children, Taylor Hodges
Graduate Student Independent Studies
Bayou is an original picture book for children between the ages of four and six years old. Bayou is a sweet, fun-loving young cheetah. There is just one thing very different about him: he likes to take his time. He moves very slowly and enjoys playing checkers and doing puzzles. He moves so slowly that his best friend is actually a turtle. Bayou’s two older brothers do not understand how a cheetah, an animal born to be fast, can live life always moving so slowly. One day, his brothers are running around extremely fast and carelessly as usual, and they …
The Museum Of Small Things: Original Poems And Rationale, Domonique Williams
The Museum Of Small Things: Original Poems And Rationale, Domonique Williams
Graduate Student Independent Studies
This independent study consists of an original children's collection of poems and an accompanying rationale. In addition to the poems, this study includes an examination of child development theories, the benefits of inquiry based teaching and learning, and makes a case for the value of family, museum, and school relationships.
Bank Street And Teach For America: Process And Preparation, Paul Shirk
Bank Street And Teach For America: Process And Preparation, Paul Shirk
Graduate Student Independent Studies
In this paper I analyze the goals and practices of education that are implied in the mission statements and literature of Bank Street College of Education (Bank Street) and Teach for America (TFA). I noticed and struggled to understand the tension between the mission statements of the two organizations that I was a part of during my master's program. While analyzing the readings and my experiences, I began to see differences between these two organizations' theories and beliefs about child development. I considered how my experiences with children supported or refuted these beliefs. From Bank Street, I recognized many beliefs …