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Uno News Maverick Daily, November 24, 2015 Inclusive Early Childhood Major Approved For 2016, Uno News

Student Learning

OMAHA - Starting with the Fall 2016 semester, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) will offer a Bachelors of Science in Education with an Early Childhood Inclusive focus.

The degree program, which was approved last week by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education (CCPE) brings together faculty from UNO's Teacher Education Department and Special Education and Communication Disorders Department to prepare future educators to support a wide range of needs young learners may face during their formative years.

Children's Implicit Beliefs About Intelligence, Carly Champagne

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

Young children are commonly perceived as highly optimistic and confident, and therefore seldom arouse concern as to how they are impacted by academic failure. However, there is evidence to suggest that young children can indeed be negatively affected by failure experiences. Implicit theories of intelligence can provide individuals with a framework by which to perceive failure, though little is known about when these theories begin to develop. The current study explores whether children as young as three and a half to four years of age demonstrate patterns indicative of incremental or entity theories of intelligence as a response to challenge …

Contemplative Observation As A Tool For Self-Reflection Enhancement Of Early Childhood Graduate Students, Sasilak Khayankij

Journal of Education Studies

Being an astute observer of children is a primary skill for early childhood teachers. This paper reports on a project conducted in Thailand that investigated the use of the contemplative observation method as a tool for developing the ability of being non-judgmental. The aim of this study was to improve the processes of self-reflection of early childhood graduate students in order to build the quality of their observational skills for practice with children. Eight female early childhood graduate students were assigned to practice observation across 13 weeks involving two major types of contemplative observation practices: (a) self-observation comprising dancing meditation, …

Effect Of A Wildlife Conservation Camp Experience In China On Student Knowledge Of Animals, Care, Propensity For Environmental Stewardship, And Compassionate Behavior Toward Animals, Sarah Marie Bexell

Sarah M. Bexell, PhD

ABSTRACT EFFECT OF A WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CAMP EXPERIENCE IN CHINA ON STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS, CARE, PROPENSITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP, AND COMPASSIONATE BEHAVIOR TOWARD ANIMALS by Sarah M. Bexell The goal of conservation education is positive behavior change toward animals and the environment. This study was conducted to determine whether participation in a wildlife conservation education camp was effective in positively changing 8-12 year old students’: (a) knowledge of animals, (b) care about animals, (c) propensity for environmental and wildlife stewardship, and (d) compassionate behavior toward animals. During the summer of 2005, 2 five-day camps were conducted at 2 zoological …

Loris Malaguzzi And The Teachers: Dialogues On Collaboration And Conflict Among Children, Reggio Emilia 1990, Carolyn Edwards, Lella Gandini, John Nimmo

Zea E-Books Collection

In 1990, three American scholars participated in an extraordinary research experience with Loris Malaguzzi and the educators of the Diana School in Reggio Emilia, Italy. They were studying “cooperation”— how preschool educators promoted collaboration and community in their classrooms and schools—and they used videotapes of classroom episodes to provoke teachers to reflect on the meanings suggested by the actions of themselves and others. In October 1990 the three traveled to Reggio Emilia and spent several days with the Italian educators.

The Diana School faculty viewed these encounters as powerful opportunities for their own professional development through the documentation process, rather …

Outcomes Of Community-Based Infant/ Toddler Teacher Preparation: Tiered Supports For Pre-Service Early Childhood Education Teachers In Early Head Start, Adam S. Kennedy, Anna Lees

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study examined results associated with a field-based undergraduate early childhood teacher education program designed as a response to calls for enhanced field experiences and community-situated teacher education that narrows the preparation-to-practice gap. Specifically, classroom observations were used to assess undergraduates’ progress in developmentally appropriate adult-child interaction during a portion of a semester-long professional preparation sequence focused on infants and toddlers offered in an urban Early Head Start program serving low-income children. During the sequence, a model relying on guided apprenticeship with classroom teachers and continuous direct supervision from university faculty was employed. In addition, a tiered model including universal, …

Stem Professional Development For Early Childhood Teachers., Kimberly Brenneman, Alissa A. Lange

Alissa A. Lange

No abstract provided.

The Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model: Early Literacy In Context, Leigh Rohde

Leigh Rohde

Exploring Interactive Writing As An Effective Practice For Increasing Head Start Students' Alphabet Knowledge Skills, Anna H. Hall, Michael D. Toland, Jennifer Grisham-Brown, Steve Graham

Anna H Hall

The current study used a pretest–posttest randomized control group design with 73 Head Start students, ages 3–5 years. The researcher served as the interactive writing teacher for the treatment group, rotating to five different classrooms in one Head Start center 3–4 days a week for 13 weeks. Children in the treatment group received a 10–15 min interactive writing lesson each day in small groups within their own classroom settings. Children in the control group received standard literacy instruction in small groups with their own classroom teachers. Child outcome data on upper case, lower case, and letter sound identification were collected …

Involving Families In The Assessment Process, Julie Rutland, Anna H. Hall

Anna H Hall

Although grounded in theory and philosophy, and mandated by federal legislation, there is often a gap in research to practice when it comes to involving families in the assessment process. As family involvement through the continuum of early childhood education is recognized as “best practice”in the field, the assessment process must not be excluded. However, teachers in early childhood programs may need additional strategies to invite families to join in the process. Strategies for parent participation as consumers,informants, team members, and advocates are discussed as well as outcomes for children and families.

Dancing Literacy: Expanding Children’S And Teachers’ Literacy Repertoires Through Embodied Knowing, Allison Leonard, Anna H. Hall, Danielle Herro

Anna H Hall

This paper explores dance as literacy. Specifically, it examines qualitative case study research findings and student examples from a dance artist-in-residence that explored curricular content using dance as its primary mode of inquiry and expression. Throughout the residency, students constructed meaning through their dance experiences in dynamic and autonomous ways, exhibiting complex literacy practices of inquiry and communication. Focusing on the kindergarten student participants’ experiences, the authors highlight three themes in their dance literacy practices: (a) artistic autonomy, (b) embodied knowledge, and (c) multimodality. As embodied knowledge, dance innately allowed for integrative literacy possibilities in the dance residency. The dance …

Dancing Literacy: Expanding Children’S And Teachers’ Literacy Repertoires Through Embodied Knowing, Allison Leonard, Anna H. Hall, Danielle Herro

Anna H Hall

This paper explores dance as literacy. Specifically, it examines qualitative case study research findings and student examples from a dance artist-in-residence that explored curricular content using dance as its primary mode of inquiry and expression. Throughout the residency, students constructed meaning through their dance experiences in dynamic and autonomous ways, exhibiting complex literacy practices of inquiry and communication. Focusing on the kindergarten student participants’ experiences, the authors highlight three themes in their dance literacy practices: (a) artistic autonomy, (b) embodied knowledge, and (c) multimodality. As embodied knowledge, dance innately allowed for integrative literacy possibilities in the dance residency. The dance …

Engaging Young Children In The Art Museum: An Educational Criticism Of An Art Museum Summer Class, Kristina N. Mahoney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project serves to identify a set of conditions leading to engagement for four- and five-year-old students in an art museum summer class. Utilizing Eisner’s theory on qualitative research, educational criticism and connoisseurship (1998), the researcher interviewed, observed, and received responses to a questionnaire in order to describe, interpret, and analyze the educational event of the summer class. By identifying the intentions of the class, the report describes a set of three objectives acting as a foundation for the classes’ implementation - comfort, empowerment, and connection to collection. Based on analysis of the implementation of these aims, as seen …

Imagining A Future In Prek: How Professional Identity Shapes Notions Of Early Mathematics, Elizabeth Graue, Anne E. Karabon, Katherine Kresin Delaney, Kristin Whyte, Jiwon Kim, Anita Wager

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

This article describes how early childhood teachers engaged in a public preK professional development program. We examine how developing teacher identities mediated engagement with the discourses of developmentally appropriate practice, early mathematics, and funds of knowledge and how they connected present practice to an imagined future. We found that helping them to connect practice experience and new mathematical content knowledge through play allowed them to envision a meaningful place for math with young children.

Exploring Interactive Writing As An Effective Practice For Increasing Head Start Students' Alphabet Knowledge Skills, Anna H. Hall, Michael D. Toland, Jennifer Grisham-Brown, Steve Graham

Anna H Hall

The current study used a pretest–posttest randomized control group design with 73 Head Start students, ages 3–5 years. The researcher served as the interactive writing teacher for the treatment group, rotating to five different classrooms in one Head Start center 3–4 days a week for 13 weeks. Children in the treatment group received a 10–15 min interactive writing lesson each day in small groups within their own classroom settings. Children in the control group received standard literacy instruction in small groups with their own classroom teachers. Child outcome data on upper case, lower case, and letter sound identification were collected …

Involving Families In The Assessment Process, Julie Rutland, Anna H. Hall

Anna H Hall

Although grounded in theory and philosophy, and mandated by federal legislation, there is often a gap in research to practice when it comes to involving families in the assessment process. As family involvement through the continuum of early childhood education is recognized as “best practice”in the field, the assessment process must not be excluded. However, teachers in early childhood programs may need additional strategies to invite families to join in the process. Strategies for parent participation as consumers,informants, team members, and advocates are discussed as well as outcomes for children and families.

Opportunities For Play-Based Experiences In Post "No Child Left Behind" Kindergarten Classrooms: The Role Of Training, Resources, And Accountability Pressures In Meeting Best Practices, Cristina Medellin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In response to No Child Left Behind (NCLB), opportunities for play-based experiences in classrooms have been challenged over the past decade. Despite research demonstrating the educational benefits of child driven play, teachers and schools have been pressured to focus on improving children's success on standardized assessments which may not relate to the developmental achievements expected from activity based experiences. To explore teachers' response to the tension between assessment driven mandates and best early childhood practices, this study investigated which factors influence teacher practices and values. Specifically, how do teacher training and classroom resources influence teachers' values about the appropriateness of …

Effects Of The Pre-K Program Of Kalamazoo County Ready 4s On Kindergarten Entry Test Scores: Estimates Based On Data From The Fall Of 2011 And The Fall Of 2012, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

This paper uses a regression discontinuity model to examine the effects on kindergarten entrance assessments of the Kalamazoo County Ready 4s (KC Ready 4s) program, a half-day pre-K program for four-year-olds in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The results are based on test scores and other characteristics of up to 220 children participating in KC Ready 4s, with data coming from both 2011–2012 and 2012–2013 participants in the program. The estimates find consistently statistically significant effects of this pre-K program on improving entering kindergartners’ math test scores. Some estimates also suggest marginally statistically significant effects of KC Ready 4s on vocabulary test …

Earnings Benefits Of Tulsa's Pre-K Program For Different Income Groups, Timothy J. Bartik, William Gormley, Shirley Adelstein

Timothy J. Bartik

This paper estimates future adult earnings effects associated with a universal pre-K program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These informed projections help to compensate for the lack of long-term data on universal pre-K programs, while using metrics that relate test scores to valued social benefits. Combining test-score data from the fall of 2006 and recent findings by Chetty et al. (forthcoming) on the relationship between kindergarten test scores and adult earnings, we generate plausible projections of adult earnings effects and a partial cost-benefit analysis of the Tulsa pre-K program. We find substantial projected earnings benefits for program participants who differ by income …

Distributional Effects Of Early Childhood Programs And Business Incentives And Their Implications For Policy, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

This is a draft of a chapter of a planned book, Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa [subsequently published as Investing in Kids, 2011]. This book analyzes early childhood programs effects on regional economic development. This chapter considers the effects of early childhood programs and business incentives on the income distribution. A key issue is whether early childhood programs should be targeted on the poor, or made universally available for free. Relevant considerations in addressing this issue include how benefits of early childhood programs benefit with family income, and the political feasibility of targeted versus …

Economic Development Benefits Of Preschool Expansion In Kalamazoo County, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

This paper examines the effects of preschool expansion in Kalamazoo County on the county's economic development. Effects on the county's economic development are defined as effects on the employment and earnings of county residents. The estimated effects are found to be large relative to the costs. In addition to their relevance to Kalamazoo County, these simulations illustrate how the analysis presented in two previous papers (Bartik 2006, 2008) can be done for an individual county or metropolitan area. Such simulations may be of interest to other counties or metropolitan areas that are considering expansions in early childhood programs.

Why Universal Preschool Is Really A Labor Market Program, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

Boosting Michigan's Economy Through Educational Improvements, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

Why Investing In Kids Makes Sense For Local Economies, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

How Policymakers Should Deal With The Delayed Benefits Of Early Childhood Programs, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

This is a draft of a chapter of a planned book, Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa [subsequently published as Investing in Kids, 2011]. This chapter considers a problem with early childhood programs: their effects on earnings are mostly long-delayed. The delay occurs because most earnings effects are on former child participants. The chapter considers appropriate discounting of benefits and how the upfront costs of early childhood programs can be delayed or reduced. It also addresses how the long-run benefits of early childhood programs can be moved up or increased.

Preschool And Economic Development, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

Taking Preschool Education Seriously As An Economic Development Program: Effects On Jobs And Earnings Of State Residents Compared To Traditional Economic Development Programs, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

The Economic Development Benefits Of Universal Preschool Education Compared To Traditional Economic Development Programs, Timothy J. Bartik

Timothy J. Bartik

No abstract provided.

Case Study Of Parental Involvement For Enhanced Kindergarten Students' Development In Low Socioeconomic Households, Robyn Tresnak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence suggests that parents in low socioeconomic households may have unaddressed educational needs about their children's development. The purpose of this case study was to discover innovative ways parents in a low socioeconomic community engaged in activities with their young children to influence academic and social development. Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory of human development and Epstein's parental involvement model, the family process model, and the family strength model were used to build the conceptual framework. Parents and educators were asked to describe parent-engagement opportunities that were provided within the kindergarten classroom. Data were collected using a focus group with 13 educators …

Teacher Mathematics Language: Its Use In The Early Childhood Classroom And Relationship With Young Children's Learning, Emma Whitman

Dissertations

Early mathematics instruction has been linked to children's later outcomes in both literacy and mathematics. One important component of this instruction, teachers' mathematics language in the early childhood classroom, has been connected to children's mathematical gains. However, this work is lacking in both scope and depth. The objective of this study was to provide a review of the use of math language by early childhood teachers and address the issues neglected in the current literature. The study looks at: the type of content that teachers' mathematics language emphasizes, the mediating effects of settings on the mathematics language that is used, …