Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Troubling ‘Race’ And Discourses Of Difference And Identity In Early Childhood Education In South Africa, Jaclyn Murray

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

This article emerges from a broader ethnographic study exploring how young children aged five and six years, and their educators, construct ‘race’ identities in a culturally diverse early childhood education setting in post-apartheid South Africa. Historically, systems of educational inequality and injustice have had a profound impact on how subjects have come to be ‘raced’ in the South African context. Drawing on a poststructural framework that problematizes the notion of identity, ‘race’, and young children’s discursive understandings of ‘race’, this article traces the complex ways in which young children and educators (re)construct, negotiate, resist and subvert subject formation processes in …

“They Need To Say Sorry:” Anti-Racism In First Graders’ Racial Learning, Anna Falkner

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

Young children of color in the United States are experiencing the material effects of racism on a daily basis. There have been arguments for anti-bias and anti-racist education across the field of education, yet most recommendations are based on older students or studies in laboratory settings. In this critical ethnography, the author examined the wide variety of strategies one class of first graders used to learn about race and of the socio-political and racial climate in which they live. In this paper, the author argues that children carefully consider racial conditions in society and imagine anti-racist praxis as part of …

Promoting A Positive Racial Identity In Young African Caribbean Children: An Anti-Colonial Approach, Kerry-Ann Escayg, Zoyah Kinkead-Clark

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

Most empirical contributions on children and race, and the theories derived from this body of work, have focused on American or Canadian children. Some scholars have begun to explore children’s attitudes about race in international contexts, but few have investigated racial identity and attitudes among African Caribbean children in the English-speaking Caribbean context. In this article, we first review international scholarship on children and race, as well as research involving Caribbean children and race. Next, we use an anti-colonial perspective to explore specific pedagogical strategies that can support positive racial identities among young African Caribbean children in the region.

But, I Don’T Believe It’S About Race’: Challenging Fallacies Of Race And Racism Amongst Early Childhood Educators In Ontario, Beverly-Jean J. Daniel, Kerry-Ann Escayg

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

There is the continued belief that children do not see race and that they are racially innocent. This belief is evidenced in early childhood environments and influences the practices of the instructors in these settings. However, research continues to show that children do see and react to varying markers of race. This research project focused on early childhood educators’ interpretations of children’s racially coded behaviours and interactions. The results revealed four central themes: racial evasiveness; racial dis-ease; parental role in promoting racism; and limited educational preparation. This study contributes to the growing body of research on children, race, and early …

Politicizing Early Childhood Education And Care In Ontario: Race, Identity And Belonging, Zuhra E. Abawi, Rachel Berman Dr.

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) landscape, much like the K-12 education system in Ontario, is largely encompassed by bias-free, neutral and colourblind narratives of identity and social location (Author 1, 2018). These discursive practices portray young children and early learning settings as raceless and equal spaces that engage children in interactions and discussions of race and identity are inappropriate. Education in Ontario and Canada as an entity is marked by myth of the Canadian nation-state (Thobani, 2007) through celebratory, themed, recognition-based initiatives that mark differences, while leaving the status quo of whiteness unchallenged and intact (DiAngelo, 2018). The …

Introduction: Children, Race, And Racism: Global Perspectives, Kerry-Ann Escayg, Beverly-Jean J. Daniel

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

No abstract provided.

Childhood Disability: Challenges And Theory-Informed Child Life Interventions In The Healthcare Setting, Fatema-Zahra Jaffer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Children with intellectual, sensory, physical, and/or speech disabilities encounter a proliferation of challenges in the healthcare environment. Such challenges are exacerbated by insufficient knowledge in doctors, nurses, child life specialists, and other healthcare providers in bias-free and specialized healthcare delivery. To remedy this, pertinent methods informed by theoretical perspectives of atypical development that ameliorate stress and augment coping in children with disabilities are warranted. Therefore, the purpose of this independent study is to provide a synthesis of the literature that chronicles this topic. Multifarious child life interventions that are premised on contemporary developmental frameworks of childhood disability will be presented. …

Raising An Indoor Generation: Outdoor Environmental Education Impact On Adolescent Development, Daisy Elizabeth Bewley

Student Theses 2015-Present

In an increasingly digital world, children are growing up with less involvement and interaction with the environment. Hands-on and experiential learning is less popular in schools and a more test-oriented and numerical evaluation is increasingly popular. This thesis explores the decrease in outdoor environmental education and the impact that has on adolescent development and developmental milestones in children. This impact extends past just mental development and impacts the physical health development of children. Obesity, attention deficit disorders, and other behavioral issues are just a few of the signs of the problems that have arisen due to a decrease in environmental …

A Play Based Intervention To Develop Literacy: Using Foundations For Literacy To Help Students With A Developmental Delay Learn To Read, Brittany Coalwell Escobedo

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Kindergarten students with a Developmental Delay need to learn in a way that is developmentally appropriate through play and experiences. This study investigated the use of Foundations for Literacy, a play based and experiential based literacy intervention, to allow Kindergarten students with a Developmental Delay learn to read in a developmentally appropriate way. Students were taught code based and meaning based literacy skills through play and experiences using Foundations for Literacy. The results prove that a short five-week intervention using Foundations for Literacy increased letter sound identification and phonemic awareness at a faster rate than a traditional guided …

Digital Versus Paper: Comparing The Effectiveness Of Paper And Digital Resources In Parent Follow-Through In Early Intervention Home Visiting, Suzanna Holper

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this research study is to determine whether paper resources or digital resources are more effective at eliciting follow-through by parents in between Early Intervention home visiting sessions within Freshwater Education District’s service area. Specifically, the study surveys families that have reliable access to internet as well as looking at differences in the responses based on age of the respondents. The study is structured using a succession of surveys; the first has the participants review the paper resource and the second has the participants review the digital resource. Separate surveys were completed by the home visitor and the …

Using Touch Technology To Foster Storytelling In The Preschool Classroom, Eloah Decat, V Damjanovic, S Branson, J Blank, I. R. Berson

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

This practitioner research explores ways children engage in literacy learning through storytelling with the use of touch technology in a VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) classroom. With access to diverse touch technology devices but no experience using these technologies, a VPK teacher explored strategies to use the resources to enhance literacy learning in the classroom with the support of a professional learning community (PLC). The PLC consisted of a master’s student, university faculty, school director, and a technology liaison. The implementation of this study took place over three weeks, and every week children created a different story. Collected data include photographs, student …

The Missing Mirror: A Critical Content Analysis Of Multicultural Children's Literature With Black Male Characters, Wendy Harris

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

Education in America is facing many challenges, such as the adoption of common core standards and the demand for highly qualified teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2010). Further, the achievement gap lingers on, with Black males often performing poorly on national assessments of reading proficiency (Tatum, 2005). Although Black males are highly literate, they may feel alienated from traditional school systems and classroom reading selections (Kirkland, 2013). One of the most effective strategies for teachers to bridge the gap in reading is to inspire Black males to get engaged with their books and read for longer periods of time. However, children are more …

Coding Success Through Math Intervention In An Elementary School In Rural Amish Country, Megan Brannon, Elena Novak

Journal of Computer Science Integration

Coding in the elementary classroom is a relatively new movement in K-12 education that intends to engage young people in computer science and technology-related study. Coding initiatives focus on introducing young learners to coding and developing their computational thinking abilities. Coding helps enhance problem solving, mathematics skills, and higher-order thinking. Nevertheless, educators face many challenges with teaching coding at the elementary school level, because of the newness of computer science concepts and programming languages, gaps in student mathematics knowledge, use of technology, a relatively short attention span of young students and not fully developed reasoning, logic, and inferential skills among …

A Phenomenological Study Into How Early Childhood Educators Experience Gamification As An Employee Motivational Tool, Marlene C. Cooper

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how early childhood educators (ECE) experience gamification as a motivational tool. The study was grounded in self-efficacy theory and used the transcendental phenomenological methodology to uncover the lived experiences of the participants. The researcher used questionnaires, journals, and interviews to gather data from respondents. The interview utilized open-ended questions to provide respondents the opportunity to give a detailed account of their shared experiences while operating the gamified technology used in their program. Data was collected from 8 ECE teachers working at a private preschool in a mid-Atlantic state. Participant accounts described a …

Building Literacy Skills In Preschoolers Through Play, Tami Jahnke

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

Research in the field of Early Childhood Education supports that young children learn best through play. Many schools in America have taken away play in classrooms and replaced it with academic-based, sedentary learning. The removal of play has resulted in young children displaying more challenging behaviors such as aggression, running, and impulsivity. One challenge facing early childhood educators today is finding ways to incorporate play-based learning in an increasingly academic-based system. This paper synthesized current research on the effects of play-based learning on the development of preschoolers and incorporating play-based teaching methods into literacy instruction for preschoolers. The studies …

Challenges To The Implementation Of Developmentally Appropriate Practices In Early Childhood Education, Laura Ahonen

Graduate Teacher Education

Early childhood educators are faced with making many impactful decisions daily. The implementation of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) in the learning environment is one of these many decisions. Developmentally appropriate practice in the early childhood learning setting refers to the framework that helps teachers to provide an environment, activities, and materials which intentionally meet children’s current level of development. While many early childhood educators believe in the concept of DAP, barriers are often encountered which prevent the implementation of DAP in the learning environment. In order to provide children with a DAP learning environment, teachers must first recognize and understand …

Practice-Based Coaching And Early Childhood Professional Standards In A Diverse Field, Julie Betthauser

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

The field of early childhood education has long relied on professional development strategies to support teachers with varying degrees of education who enter the field from a variety of disciplines. Research indicated educators needed intensive and individualized professional development efforts that were integrated into daily practice (Rodgers, Kennedy, VanUitert, & Myers, 2019). Practice-based coaching has been used as a professional development strategy in early childhood classrooms to develop educators’ knowledge and skills in best practices for young children. Thirty-two empirical studies conducted since 2011 on the process, effectiveness, and assessment of practice-based coaching were reviewed to identify coaching components, …

Intentional Strategies That Build Self-Regulation In Preschoolers, Melissa Martin

Graduate Teacher Education

As academic standards continue to increase, young children are often challenged to attend to structured and teacher-directed educational activities for developmentally inappropriate periods of time. In response, there is an increasing awareness of how academic achievement and self-regulation are affected by difficulties in sensory processing. Traditional interventions for children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) have primarily been conducted by trained Occupational Therapists (OT) in clinical based settings. This capstone investigated research on possible collaborative interventions and environmental supports and adaptations within the classroom setting that would build self-regulation and attention in all preschool children. The studies reviewed indicated support for …

Genetics With Nettie And Friends: An Exploration Of Genetics In Children's Literature, Erin Soule, Madeleine Gray Burland

Honors Projects

Genetics with Nettie and Friends is an exploration of chromosomal disorders and its place within children's literature. The book provides a comprehensive examination the genetic composition of Downs syndrome, Williams Syndrome, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy at a level to increase understanding in children. This paper provides an insight to the development and construction of the children's book that is available for purchase on Barnes and Noble as well as why representation of genetic disorders in children's literature is needed.

Choose Your Words Wisely: Descriptions Of A Professional Early Childhood Practitioner, Ayooluwa Oke, Judith E. Butler, Cian O'Neill

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study was to understand the components that determine quality early childhood education and Care (ECEC) from the views of practitioners and parents participating in the ECCE Scheme (2010). A major component of quality ECCE as identified by practitioners in this study related to professionalism in ECEC. This paper presents a critical view on traditional perspectives on what it means to be a professional within the context of ECCE. It seems that within the ECCE model, a professional practitioner is one who finds purpose in their work. However, they are also experts in ECCE. That is, a …