Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Examining Contributors To Preschoolers’ Classroom Engagement Using Structural Equation Modeling, Hongxia Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate whether and how teacher-child interactions, teacher-child relationships, children’s self-control, parents’ education levels, teachers’ teaching experience and education levels, and classroom physical environment impact children’s engagement levels. Preschoolers from Head Start programs and a university childcare center (N = 135, M = 54.93 months, SD = 7.50) and 15 preschool classroom teachers in East Tennessee participated in the study. Classroom head teachers rated child’s engagement, teacher-child interaction, teacher-child relationships, and children’s self-control using provided questionnaires. The primary researcher assessed the classroom physical environment and determined the reliability for the Children’s Physical Environments …

Effects Of Print In Early Childhood Programs, Marcie Lentsch

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This paper will discuss the effects of print on early childhood classrooms. The first goal was to determine if referencing print during read alouds would increase foundational literacy skills. The second goal, was to identify if implementing the Sit Together and Read (S.T.A.R.) framework would increase emergent literacy skills with three, four and five year olds students. Two early childhood classrooms from the same school district were included in the study. One classroom embedded print references and the S.T.A.R. framework during repeated read alouds. The other classroom continued with normal read aloud routines. Data was analyzed using the Early Literacy …

Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Growth Portfolio Model In Tennessee, Amanda Pickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this quantitative study was to discover perceptions of pre-K and kindergarten teachers within public schools in Tennessee regarding the appropriateness of the student growth portfolio model. This study explored teachers’ perceptions of the appropriateness of the math standards, English language arts standards, and the scoring guide included within the SGPM. A quantitative survey was used to understand pre-K and kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of the appropriateness of the 2017-2018 student growth portfolio model. There were 16 pre-K teachers and 51 kindergarten teachers who participated in the survey. Single sample t-tests were used to analyze responses. Research indicated that …

Educators’ Perceptions Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication To Facilitate Communication Among Preschool Students With Disabilities, Honey Meadows

Doctor of Education in Special Education Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how preschool educators perceive augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and how those perceptions influence AAC utilization in preschool classrooms. Specifically, this investigation focused on gaining better understandings about educators’ views, beliefs, and attitudes about AAC utilization to facilitate communication. Semistructured, open-ended interviews, classroom observations, and document review were the data collection sources used. Findings suggest that preschool special educators value the use of AAC and understand the basic human right for all students to participate. However, special education teachers and special education paraprofessionals perceive their roles and responsibilities, as communicative …

The Role Of Popular Culture In Preschool Children’S Emergent Writing/Composing: An Exploration Of The Writing Process And Tensions Surrounding One Preschool Writing Center, Stephanie Winters

Dissertations

Over the last several decades research has been conducted surrounding popular culture and children’s writing/composing. Much of this research focused on children in early elementary school classrooms. I discovered, when preparing for this project, that there was very little published research (written in English) surrounding preschool-aged children’s compositions (with or without the emphasis on popular culture), and what happens in the writing center. This study helps fill the gap in the research by documenting how preschool children in a mixed-age (ages three to five years) classroom, who attend a public school in an urban, Midwestern area, write/compose when given the …

Was The Professional Development I Conducted In South Africa Evident In Teachers’ Practices Many Years Later?, Darlene Demarie

Journal of Practitioner Research

I conducted professional development by working alongside the teachers I hired at a child development center in South Africa. I spent one year and 9 months there while I was a Fulbright CORE Scholar from 2007 to 2009. After 8 years with only two short visits back, the digital tools (photographs and videos) I used and reviewed with teachers at the time of the professional development also helped me to assess the impact of that professional development. I saw how it influenced the teachers' practice and noted what was similar and what had changed over the years.

Authentic Learning Environments: Designing A New Standard For Public Education, Stephanie Griffith, Stephanie J. Griffith

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The intention of this thesis is to explore the architectural problems of public primary school learning environments and propose possible solutions. This thesis draws from various public blog and public web article accounts and experiences of those working in or studying the institutions of primary education and the problems they are struggling to address. The architectural focus brings to light that while most educators argue that teaching can happen anywhere, this body of research will propose an optimal learning environment in which a set of ideal values are defined as authentic learning and is used to encourage and support a …

L’Dor Vador: Storytelling For The Holiday Cycle In A Jewish Early Childhood Setting, Krista Bogetich

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Storytelling is an effective and appropriate method of engaging young children in complex concepts such as values and ethics. This paper provides rationale for using storytelling in an early childhood setting, background information on Jewish holidays, and highlights the values in the stories told during those holidays. It includes synopses of stories told through original storytelling, descriptions of activities incorporated in the experiences, as well as children’s responses and photographs of children’s work.

What Happens During Language And Literacy Coaching? Coaches’ Reports Of Their Interactions With Educators, Rachel E. Schachter, Melissa M. Weber-Mayrer, Shayne B. Piasta, Ann A. O’Connell

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

Research Findings: This study investigated coaches’ interactions with educators in the context of a large-scale, state-implemented literacy professional development (PD). We examined log data and open-comment reports to understand what coaches found salient about their interactions with educators as well as how those reports aligned with the initial design of the PD. Coaches reported spending a large proportion of their interactions with educators completing administrative tasks. Our findings also indicate that coaches disproportionally targeted instructional content from the PD while also adding unrelated instructional content to their coaching. Although coaches reported focusing on relationship building, they reported using less efficacious …

Leisure Reading Behaviour Of Young Children In Singapore, Shaheen Majid

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Leisure reading is important for personality development and mental growth of children. Reading habits developed during early childhood are likely to continue rest of the life. The main purpose of this study was to investigate leisure reading habits and preferences of young children in Singapore. A questionnaire was used for data collection and 254 children, aged between 6 to 12 years, participated in this study. It was found that reading was among the top five leisure-time activities of the surveyed children. Mostly mothers, followed by fathers, encouraged children to read books. The major reasons for leisure reading were to learn …

Nebline, July 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Pretty things that sting

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

The Effect Of Digital Tablets' Applications On Reading Achievement Of First Graders In Two Private Schools, Sean Corcoran

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The focus of this research study was to determine the impact of integrating tablets into reading instruction in four first-grade classrooms in two private elementary schools in the southeastern United States. This is important because many schools are utilizing tablets in the instructional process and this seeks to determine if there is an academic value to their use in the classroom. The study was based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning by Richard Mayer. The researcher sought to identify any possible differences in standardized test scores of students who used tablet applications during reading instruction versus students who did …

An Investigation On Gender And The Effects On Behavior In Early Childhood Classrooms, Chia Jung Yeh, Aspen Rae Yordy, Ajay Singh

Journal of Research Initiatives

Researchers who have studied children behavior in early childhood classrooms have found that classrooms are the first place where children learn about acceptable behavior and societal norms. Gender and behavior have been studied on children of later ages, i.e.; elementary, middle, high school, and higher education, but little has been researched regarding children of younger ages. Researchers of this study used quantitative methods to investigate, gender and the effects on children behavior in early childhood classrooms? The researchers recruited a total of 105 preschoolers from seven different classrooms in the Southwest Central region in the United States, to investigate, if …

A Correlational Study Of 5th Students' Handwriting Legibility And Scores On Writing Samples In A Northwest Georgia School, Julia Houston

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study explored the relationship between legibility in handwriting scores and compositional scores of students in grade five in one Northwest Georgia school. The ability to recall and write the letters automatically may impact the composing skills of students engaged in the writing process. Handwriting, often considered a motor skill in young children, may have a greater impact on literacy learning than is often considered. The strong connection to literacy learning along with the importance as a skill in communications both contribute to the importance of this study. Data was collected from one elementary school in Northwest Georgia. The school …

The Use Of Expansions To Increase The Mean Length Utterance Of Preschool Students, Kaitlyn Carley Geffen

LSU Master's Theses

Language is an important area of development addressed in preschool, as it is the foundation for literacy development and the way children express their thoughts and understandings. Mean length utterance (MLU) can be used as a measure of a child’s expressive language development. One intervention that has been used to increase MLU is expansion. Expansion is when an adult responds to a child’s utterance by expanding their sentence to form a more complete or complex sentence. This study used an Expansion Intervention to increase the MLU of preschool aged students. The subjects consisted of three preschool children attending a …

Supporting Primary Students’ Story Writing By Including Retellings, Talk, And Drama With Strategy Instruction, Zoi A. Traga Philippakos, Sarah Munsell, Logan B. Robinson

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Story writing and story grammar have been studied extensively in an effort to improve students’ reading comprehension. Instruction on story structure and on elements of stories can improve the writing quality of students’ papers. This paper explains a process of supporting primary-grade students’ story writing. The approach is based on strategy instruction and incorporates talk and dramatic play as ways to support the development of characters, descriptions of characters and events, and dialogue between characters. Guidelines are provided and step-by-step directions for teachers to use this work with their students.

Correlation Between Instructional School Culture And Student Achievement In An Urban District, Wayman Graham

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The Teachers Talent Toolbox needed a tool that could compile usable information on any given learning institution through data collection and analysis and provide usable qualitative and quantitative data that could be used to identify the causes of low achievement and provide necessary interventions within the school to improve student outcomes. To answer this need, the Instructional Culture Index/Insight Survey was developed by the New Teacher Project in 2016 and has been widely used and implemented in many schools and districts. This survey instrument was validated and deemed reliable by the RAND Corporation also in 2016. The purpose of this …

Building Bridges Between Home And School For Latinx Families Of Preschool Children, Gigliana Melzi, Adina Schick, Lauren Scarola

Occasional Paper Series

All children, regardless of their backgrounds, enter the classroom environment with a set of cultural and communal resources known as funds of knowledge (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Educators can support children’s learning and achievement by incorporating these funds of knowledge – which include, for example, cultural and familial values and traditions, family activities, and home language – into classroom learning experiences. All too often, however, educators fail to take advantage of these resources, and instead draw on mainstream values, traditions, and practices that have historically been embedded into classroom culture and protocol. Even …

Rethinking “Parent Involvement”: Perspectives Of Immigrant And Refugee Parents, Zeynep Isik-Ercan

Occasional Paper Series

I arrived in the U.S. 15 years ago as a master’s student in early childhood education after teaching in elementary schools in Turkey. Becoming a permanent resident in my new country and parenting my two Turkish-American boys fueled my scholarly interest in the experiences of immigrant communities with their children’s early school years, specifically the ways they negotiate cultural and linguistic identities in educational settings. Among many encounters with my children’s teachers, one is particularly memorable.

Shortly after Enis, my older son, began attending the campus preschool at age two, his teacher asked me to speak only English at home …

Administrators’ Roles In Offering Dynamic Early Learning Experiences To Children Of Latinx Immigrants, Alejandra Barraza, Pedro Martinez

Occasional Paper Series

Principals and school administrators play a critical role in creating learning environments that are sensitive to the needs of students from immigrant families. School administrators, particularly principals, are tasked with making decisions that directly and indirectly impact what happens in a classroom. They act as instructional and visionary leaders as well as resource managers and so they determine both the culture and pedagogy of the school. They determine whether the main focus of the early learning classrooms will be academic skill development (literacy, numeracy), cognitive skill development (social competence, behavioral self-regulation, problem-solving, and decision-making), socio-emotional processing (helping others, empathy, sharing), …