Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Syllabus For Social Foundations Of Education, Laura Kates

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Identity, Access, And Equity: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study Of Mathematics Identity And Socialization In Pre-Service Teachers, Ashley Renaire Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Teaching practices in early childhood through post-secondary learning settings continue to reproduce inequities in mathematics education despite recognition of math’s utility and its necessity for competitiveness in the global economy. For reform efforts to be successful, teachers must change the way mathematics is presented in classrooms where students often experience differences in exposure to mathematics content and time spent covering particular mathematics topics. Therefore, teachers represent a critical component in the cycle of reproduction of unequal access to mathematics. This mixed-methods study examined the processes of mathematics identity formation and mathematics socialization in a diverse sample of pre-service elementary and …

Children And Technology: Why Technology Is Important For Our Children, Jill Mactiernan

Student Theses

Many people get scared when they hear about how much technology runs the world today. They tend to get frightened when they go to a store and have to use a selfcheckout instead of a cashier. Parents are scared of the dangers of the internet and how it will affect their children, so they tend to try to prevent/limit their children’s usage of the internet and other technologies. However, that may not always be the right move. Technology can not be avoided; it is a part of our everyday lives. With proper guidance and teachings, children can learn how to …

Computational Thinking And Coding For Young Children: A Hybrid Approach To Link Unplugged And Plugged Activities, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

In our increasingly technology-dependent society, the importance of promoting digital literacy (e.g., computational thinking, coding, and programming) has become a critical focus in the field of childhood education. While young children these days are routinely and extensively exposed to digital devices and tools, the efficacy of the methods for fostering digital skills in the early childhood classroom has not always been closely considered. This is particularly true in settings where early childhood educators are not digital experts. Currently, most of the efforts in standard early childhood settings, taught by teachers who are not digital experts, appear to revolve around “unplugged” …

Covid-19 And Racial Justice In Urban Education: Nyc Parents Speak Out, Kelly Brady, Mieasia Edwards, Whitney Hollins, José Luis Jiménez, Wendy Luttrell, William Orellana, David Rosas, Nga Than

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic and global calls for racial justice surfaced tremendous inequities and revitalized the debate about schooling and its purpose. NYC Parents Speak Out is a public engagement project, based on an interactive survey and interviews that records and reflects NYC family educational experiences during the unprecedented school year of 2020-2021. Our research collective, comprised of researchers, parents, advocates, teachers, and school leaders from the Urban Education Ph.D. Program at The Graduate Center (CUNY) identified three key recommendations based on research findings: to improve communication through family and community engagement; give greater attention to social-emotional and mental health; and …

How Do Art Teachers Describe The Ways In Which Choice-Based Art Lessons May Contribute To An Inclusive Learning Environment?, Skylar M. Gerken

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research was to highlight the many different ways art educators in New York City create lessons, prompts, and projects with the use of choice-based lessons. By using a choice-based curriculum students will become empowered to make artworks that best represent them. When working within choice-based parameters an inclusive classroom can emerge. The research is backed by literature, theorists and educators that work or have worked in the field of art education. The topic explores how choice should be at the forefront of lesson making, if educators are interested in creating a classroom that could be seen …

Teaching Children To Decode Words: Connected Versus Segmented Phonation, Selenid M. Gonzalez-Frey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two methods of decoding instruction were compared. Kindergartners who could not decode nonwords participated in the study, N = 38, M = 5.6 years. Segmented phonation, frequently used in synthetic phonics programs, taught students to convert graphemes to phonemes by breaking the speech stream (“sss – aaa – nnn”) before blending. Connected phonation taught students to pronounce phonemes without breaking the speech stream (“sssaaannn”) before blending. Kindergartners were matched and randomly assigned to the two conditions. Both groups were taught to decode the same set of CVC nonwords consisting of continuant consonants and vowels that could be stretched and connected …

A Narrative Inquiry To Explore The Connection Between Gender And Discipline In Grades Pre-K–8, Nicole Salazar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Because behavioral discipline can impact children’s development, it is important to ensure that educators work in fair and unbiased ways with all children, across gender, race, and other groups. Biased disciplining of children’s behavior in classrooms can occur as micro-aggressions (McCabe, 2009), sometimes counter to what educators may believe about their own behavior. As a means of raising awareness of gender-biased treatment in classrooms, this thesis involved narrating – a dynamic activity that elicits accounts of events – and thus as a means of reflecting on behavior in everyday practices. Educators anonymously completed a questionnaire requesting narratives of various disciplinary …

Carousel: Performance And Ritual Of A Child's Play, Erik Maniscalco

Theses

Carousel is a series of oil paintings inspired by my seven year old

daughter, as well as my work towards becoming a childhood educator. My

aim with this project is to explore the performative and ritualistic nature of

children’s play: focusing on the creative ways children stretch and reshape

their reality through imagined play narratives. Upon the carousel’s stage,

children select a character and take part in a performed ritual. I’ve long felt

connected to the visual vocabulary found within baroque and renaissance

styles, and I am fascinated by the mixture of amusement, tradition,

religion, and distortion imbued within the …

Improving Measurement And Expanding Meta-Analytic Knowledge: Social And Emotional Learning In Elementary And Early Childhood, Dana M. Murano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last several decades, the development of student social and emotional skills in educational contexts has received much attention, both domestically and internationally. Whereas previous school-based educational practices had primarily focused on the teaching and testing of cognitive skills, we now recognize that there are constituents of academic success beyond the cognitive skills that are traditionally taught and tested, and the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) has emerged as a result. This two-study dissertation attempted to fill existing gaps in the development of SEL practices by exploring new horizons in both intervention and measurement with preschool and …

Participating In Democracy: Creating A Culture Of Citizenship In Primary Classrooms, Mindi Reich-Shapiro

Publications and Research

This study explores development of civic participation in children in primary (K-2) grade classrooms. It examines how teachers and administrators create a culture of democratic participation that nurtures young children's developing civic competence and embodiment of the rules, rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship; and how young children enact these rules, rights and responsibilities within the classroom. Obstacles and challenges faced by schools in achieving these goals within the current political and socioeconomic environment that frames education in the U.S. are also explored.

The Hidden Curriculum In Financial Literacy: Economics, Standards, And The Teaching Of Young Children, Debbie Sonu, Anand R. Marri

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Musicalization: Early Childhood Music Access, Discourse, And Praxis In Nyc Charter Schools, 2014-2015, Andrew Aprile

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past two decades, charter schools have become a hallmark of education reform in the United States. Concurrent with this movement is the increasing prominence of high stakes testing. While much research has sought to compare the effectiveness of charter schools and traditional public schools in terms of standardized assessments, scant attention has been paid to the role of arts and music in charter schools, and little has been done to distinguish the distinct strands of the charter school movement. Given what we know about the importance of music education and the growth of charter schools, it was the …

Redshirting: A Critical, Historical Analysis Of The Changing Theories, Policies, And Practices Of Children's Transition Into Kindergarten, Lisa Babel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper examines the contemporary debate over redshirting within the context of a historical analysis of how schools in the United States have addressed children’s transition into kindergarten. It also considers how preparation for the transition to school is cause for concern that has varied greatly depending on the socio-economic conditions of children’s families. Redshirting is the term currently being used to define a child’s delayed entry into kindergarten, usually with the intention of creating an additional year for that child to develop socially and to strive academically. Central to understanding this phenomenon and how to address it is the …

Music And Words: Connecting The Love Of Music With Language, Eileen P. Kennedy, Raymond Torres- Santos

Publications and Research

Children from different cultures have a natural affinity for rhymes, rhythm and music. Imagine if students were able, from the beginning of their education and experiences with academic writing and literacy, to access their unconscious and original selves from which to create their writing. The study of music can help to access this aware, inventive side that can enhance anyone’s writing. As an early childhood writing teacher and a composition teacher, we draw on our experiences with young children with words and music. We examine the relationship between music and words in an effort to bring the primitive drive of …