Digital Commons Network^™

Dinner At Dinosaurland: Invention, Dialogue, & Solidarity In The Early Childhood Classroom, Selena L. Hoy, Jessica L. Lea, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This Ideas from Practice piece highlights a storytelling practice called story circles as a routine classroom practice with the potential to catalyze shared ideas in the classroom by spurring invention, dialogue, and invention. Examining the slow-growing unfolding of stories about the invented world of Dinosaurland, we illuminate the potential of the language of story as a way for children to sustain and develop ideas through sharing imagined worlds.

Can We Bring Notions Of Groups Back Into Research On Children’S Peer Groups? Differentiating Peer Groups At School According To Their Functions For Academic Development, Anamika J. Vaughan

University Honors Theses

Strategies to examine children’s peer relationships at school can be broadly distinguished into studies of Sociometric Acceptance (Social Status), studies of Social Crowds, studies of Friendship Groups, and studies or Social Networks of frequent interaction partners. Sociometric groups and social crowds are defined as social categories, that is, groups containing students with similar characteristics or lifestyles who often do not share close relationships. In contrast, friendship groups and groups of frequent interaction partners necessitate close and mutual connections between the members of each group.

This study focuses on interaction groups and the ways in which the labels that children assign …