Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Increasing Social Awareness Skills In Kindergarten Students, Chloe Dennis

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Social awareness is a key component of social-emotional learning and is often underrepresented in kindergarten curriculum. Students who struggle with social awareness are at a greater risk for antisocial behaviors, low academic performance, diminished self-efficacy, low motivation, and low adaptability. Jean Piagets’ cognitive-developmental theory places kindergarten-age students in the preoperational stage of development. At this stage, children are egocentric, exhibit centrated thought, and struggle to use perspective and empathic skills. Kindness, problem-solving, and maintaining positive relationships are all rooted in social awareness and require students to move away from egocentric thinking. I designed a three-part lesson on acts of kindness …

Nature-Based Education For Elementary Students With Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, Kayleigh Morrison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There are several advantages to including a nature-based curriculum and outdoor learning into state standards, and the consequences of students who do not have access to outside learning and activities can be severe. The term “Attention Restoration Theory” (ART) was coined by psychology professors Rachel and Stephen Kaplan in 1989 and claims that exposure to nature can improve mental fatigue and concentration. This senior capstone examines Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory and academic studies rooted in its philosophy as it applies to nature-based curriculum and outdoor learning. There are certain advantages for students who are exposed to a nature-based curriculum and …

Early Detection Of Atypical Motor And Neurobehavior Of Infants At Risk Secondary To Opioid Exposure: A Prospective Study, Kara Boynewicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prenatal opioid exposure has been studied in relation to infants' medical outcomes. However, large gaps exist in the literature supporting early identification of atypical neurobehavior and motor development of infants with prenatal opioid exposure. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether prenatal opioid exposure has a negative influence on a newborn infant’s neurobehavior and motor development to aid in the early identification of potential delays. Using a prospective quasi experimental design, infants motor development using the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) and neurobehavior using the NICU Neonatal Network Scale (NNNS) was assessed on 58 infants in a …

Mojave Desert Children's Picture Book, Kaesee Bourne

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Why the Mojave? Climate Change in the Mojave; Animals reaching thresholds; Current picture books available.

Exploring The Role Of Occupational Therapy In Promoting Risky Play For At-Risk Youth, Gerald Deocariza Jr., Karen Park

Spring 2022 Virtual OTD Capstone Symposium

Climbing, racing, playing by the fire, building forts with hammers, and free independent exploration are all examples of risky play. The inherent risk-taking that comes with play is essential to children’s physical and cognitive development, social and emotional well-being, confidence, self-esteem, and risk management. However, as many as two thirds of adults in United States have reported to come across at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) growing up. The exposures to childhood trauma have been linked to a variety of negative health, psychiatric, and behavioral outcomes. Societal attitudes may further refrain at-risk youth from opportunities to gain essential skills …

Serving Our Children During And After Covid-19: Application Of Shepherd Leadership At Home And School, Kong Wah Cora Chan

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Shepherding is one of humanity’s oldest known occupations, dating back thousands of years (Leman & Pentak, 2004). Yet, within the way of a shepherd lies hidden leadership treasures, which are especially valuable for parents, caregivers, and teachers during and after COVID-19. Shepherd leadership is a specific form of servant leadership. Although there are many similarities between shepherd leadership and servant leadership, theoretical or empirical studies of shepherd leadership are far behind servant leadership. The most referenced texts of shepherds and shepherd leadership can be found in the Bible. This paper examines the thinking, doing, and being of shepherds and the …

The Ethics And Philosophy Of Outdoor Education: Hidden Lessons Within The Leikskoli Curriculum In Isafjordur, Iceland, Cici Conroy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Icelandic curriculum structures itself amongst six pillars: “literacy, sustainability, health, and welfare, democracy, and human rights, equality and creativity” (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014). The United States national standards for their state public schools focus on two central points: math and English language learning (Participant 6, personal communication, 2022). The way these structures are upheld reflect values, goals, and systems of knowledge. Depending on where a child is raised, the skills learned in the classroom will result in a completely different attitude toward environment, place, and success. In the United States, success seems to be defined by …

The Mitigation Of In-Group And Outgroup Biases: Understanding The Perceptions Of Educators On The Contact Approach Theory, Brigitte Blazys

Dissertations

The contact approach theory was introduced in the 1950s, by Allport, as a method to mitigate biases. Since then, many DEI practitioners in the United States have formed alliances to create a social justice movement to combat racism, prejudice, and biases in our society. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted in the contact approach theory as these biases, initially observed as in-group and outgroup biases, originate in the early years of life. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to better understand and identify to what extent, if any, prekindergarten through third …

The Economic And Business Case For Ensuring High-Quality Childcare And Preschool, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Pathways To Resilience: Lessons Learned From Covid-19, Mary Ann Hollingsworth

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Out of the mouths of youth themselves while in the Covid-19 pandemic - pathways to build and sustain resilience in the life challenges that come our way at all stages of life.

Online Learning For Children With Disabilities During The Covid-19: Investigating Parents' Perceptions, Hasanuddin Jumareng, Edi Setiawan, Asmuddin Asmuddin, Adi Rahadian, Novri Gazali, Badaruddin Badaruddin

The Qualitative Report

This research aims to investigate perceptions from parents who have children with disabilities about online physical education classes during COVID-19. The characteristic of this research was qualitative through interviews towards 36 parents of children with disabilities from 2 provinces in Indonesia that prepared to participate in this research. Data analysis by using thematic analysis of qualitative data, including: (a) Interviews. (b) The transcribed interviews was read repeatedly by the author. (c) Given labeled. (d) Data were sorted based on categorization, coding, and highlighting. (e) A collection of similar phrases. (f) Examining. (g) Arranging the data. (h). Share themes. The study …

Caregiver Decision-Making On Young Child Schooling/Care In The Face Of Covid-19: The Influence Of Child, Caregiver, And Systemic Factors, Lauren B. Quetsch, Carrie B. Jackson, Harlee Onovbiona, Rebecca Bradley

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In March 2020, U.S. schools and daycares largely shut down to manage the novel COVID-19 pandemic. As the country made efforts to reopen the economy, American parents faced difficult decisions regarding returning to work and securing schooling and care for their young children. During the summer and fall of 2020, caregivers (N = 1655) of children (N = 2408; ages 0 – 12 years) completed questionnaires assessing their decision-making process regarding their children’s daycare or schooling situation. A mixed method approach (i.e., qualitative, quantitative assessments) was utilized. Outcomes indicated three main themes that impacted caregivers’ choices: child factors, …

Indigenous Mexicans In New York City: Immigrant Integration, Language Use, And Identity Formation, Leslie A. Martino-Velez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As indigenous Mexican immigrants migrate, settle, and raise families in the United States, parents, particularly women, and their children increasingly have contact with community institutions, such as schools. Despite their growing numbers in U.S. schools, indigenous children, youth, and their parents are often invisible due to their ethnolinguistic identities and undocumented status. Understanding what parents do to help their children is essential to understanding the first generation's integration and their children, the second generation.

To better understand this, I conducted an ethnographic research study at a bilingual Head Start program in New York City, in East Harlem, where many undocumented …

The Early Sport And Play Experiences Of Elite New Zealand Hockey Players From Rural And Regional Communities: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Robert J. Newport, Simon R. Walters, Sarah-Kate Millar, Geoff Dickson, Andrew Lenton

The Qualitative Report

The foundation of an athlete’s development is formed through their early developmental experiences. Thus, in this study we explored the early sport and play experiences of elite New Zealand hockey players from rural and regional communities. In our examination of how smaller communities contribute to the development of New Zealand’s top athletes, this research has a particular focus on the athletes’ early sport and play experiences and the influence of people around them during their growth and development. In this qualitative descriptive study, we employed semi-structured interviews to gather data from eight current and former elite New Zealand hockey players. …

Policy Effects On New York City Early Education Centers: Ecological Case Studies, Maria S. Mavrides Calderon

Theses and Dissertations

NYC’s universal Pre-K (PKFA) was implemented through New York Early Education Centers (NYCEECs) and public schools, without considering compensation parity across settings. This study investigates the impact of unequal compensation policies on the experiences of directors, teachers, and parents affiliated with NYCEECs, and how they compare or contrast with the policymakers’ discourse around those policies. While other studies have investigated the PKFA implementation (Akaba et al., 2019; Falk & Souto-Manning, 2020; Fuller & Leibovitz, 2021a; Reid et al., 2019), none have privileged the ecology of those working at and attending NYCEECs. Through critical policy analysis, this study utilized Bronfenbrenner's (1979) …

Intergenerational Learning As A Pedagogical Strategy In Early Childhood Education Services: Perspectives From An Irish Study, Anne Fitzpatrick, Ann Marie Halpenny

Articles

This study investigated the concept, role and potential of intergenerational learning (IGL) as a pedagogical strategy in five Irish early childhood education (ECE) services, through exploring the perspectives on IGL of educators (5), children (70) and their parents (43). Informed by socio-cultural theories of learning and aligned to key principles of IGL, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with educators, ‘draw and talk’ strategies with children and informal written feedback with parents. Key findings demonstrated that children’s happiness, socio-emotional competences and executive functions, all key elements of successful learning and living, were strongly supported …

Toddler Play Preferences And The Teacher’S Role In The Outdoor Play Environment, Keting Chen, Erin E. Hamel

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

Direct experience with nature is a primary component of environmental education and especially beneficial for young children. The present study examined the outdoor play preferences of toddlers and investigated the role teachers play in the outdoor space. Toddlers’ outdoor play was video recorded by GoPro cameras and coded for preferred play locations and initiator of the play. Results showed that the three most preferred spaces for toddlers in the outdoor classroom were the sandbox, swing area, and play structures; least frequently visited were open areas close to the classrooms, the garden, and the tree area. In addition, toddlers initiated play …

Searching For Mental Health Services: Search Strings And Information Acquisition, Antover Tuliao, Natira D. Mullet, Lindsey G. Hawkins, Derek Holyoak, Marisa Weerts, Anthony Inyang

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Based on decision sciences and information processing theories, how information is acquired is the foundation of decisions and choices subsequently made. Adapting the Active Information Search methodology, the aim for this study is to examine what information potential mental health clients look for in a service provider through their use of search strings. College students (N = 519) from a large public university from the southwest USA (data collection from August to December 2018) were asked in an online survey to imagine themselves needing mental health services and list down the search string they would use in a search engine …

Risk And Protective Factors For Sexual Aggression Across The Ecosystem: An Overview, Emily A. Waterman, Katie M. Edwards

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Prevention of sexual aggression (which ranges from perpetration of unwanted sexual contact to attempted/completed rape) is a complex public health and safety issue that requires attention to multiple levels of social ecology (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). The social ecological model provides a framework for understanding how risk and protective factors for sexual aggression exist at multiple levels, with some factors being more proximal such as the individual attitudes, and other factors being more distal such as the broader culture (e.g., laws and policies) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Indeed, research indicates a variety of risk …

Diversifying And Transforming A Public University’S Children’S Book Collection: Librarian And Teacher Education Faculty Collaboration On Grants, Research, And Collection Development, Alison Lehner-Quam

Publications and Research

An education librarian and faculty member collaborated on research grants to study teacher education student’s experiences with diverse books and to develop library collections. This study explores the development of internally grant-funded linguistically and culturally sustaining children’s book collections and assesses the impact of the grants with a model that analyzes research guide use, library instruction sessions, and reflection on grant-funded research, among other components. Intentional collection practices, including grant-funded collection development; faculty partnership; nontraditional bibliographic tools; and alternative forms of access, discovery, and shelving led to a vital and linguistically and culturally sustaining collection which reflects education student’s diverse …

Neo-Emancipatory Sex Education In Germany: Sexual Abuse And Gender Confusion, Bernd Ahrbeck, Karla Etschenberg, Marion Felder

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article focuses on two related areas of concern with regard to sex education and implications for children and youth in Germany. The first one is the history of the currently dominant neo-emancipatory sexual education and its implications for today. This direction of sex education is highly influenced by theories of Helmut Kentler who with the help of the German city of Berlin youth protection services department sent homeless and troubled boys to known pedophiles for care. This experiment went on for 30 years, ending in 2001. Only now has the extend of this horrific practice been fully discovered. The …

Informal And Formal Mentoring Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: A Systematic Review, Katie Edwards, Jillian R. Scheer, Victoria Mauer

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Research demonstrates that mentoring relationships can promote positive outcomes for youth across numerous domains, a topic of importance to school social workers. Whereas most mentoring research to date has been conducted with heterosexual cisgender youth, there is a growing body of literature that examines mentoring experiences among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). The purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review of informal and formal mentoring experiences among SGMY. Results from twelve studies that met inclusion criteria suggested that (1) the majority of SGMY report having a mentor/role model; (2) demographics are generally unrelated to having …

Children’S Digital Citizenship Project: Your Perspectives: A Report For Children, Harrison See, Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar, Phoebe Zeng

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This report talks about a teamwork project between the LEGO Group, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child (Digital Child) and Edith Cowan University (ECU).

In 2022, the LEGO Group, ECU and Digital Child researchers teamed up to ask children and adults in India, Korea and Australia about digital citizenship. We collected all this information together and compared our results, and then made some suggestions about how we can all do things better to help kids be safer, smarter, and happier online.

Children’S Perspectives Of Digital Citizenship In India, Korea And Australia: Report Of Findings From Children’S Digital Citizenship And Safety Roundtables, Kylie Stevenson, Emma Jayakumar, Harrison See, Yeonghwi Ryu, Shruti Das

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This report presents data and findings from Phase Two of the research project Digital Safety and Citizenship Roundtables. In this phase, which focuses on children’s perspectives of digital safety and digital citizenship, three child-focused, play-based roundtables were held in Seoul (Korea), Delhi (India) and Perth (Australia) respectively in the months of June and July 2022, with 48 children in total contributing their perspectives. Qualitative data was collected from these child participants through 90-minute play-based roundtables featuring three sections: a short introductory drawing activity using prompt cards; a discussion regarding the children’s understanding of digital citizenship; and a LEGO play activity …

Preschoolers’ Electrodermal Activity And Story Comprehension During Print And Digital Shared Reading, Gabrielle Strouse, Steven R. Chesnut, Lisa Newland, Daniel Mourlam, Danielle Hertel, Brandon Nutting

School of Education Faculty Publications

Digital picture books are increasingly available for shared reading but reports on how children engage with them differ depending on the type of measurement used. The purpose of this study was to compare pre-readers’ engagement during print and digital shared reading and test whether engagement mediated the relation between children’s preference, familiarity with the stories, and media experience and their comprehension of the story. Using a within-subjects design with order and book title randomly assigned, we captured electrodermal activity from 83 children aged 3 to 5 years during shared print and digital reading with a researcher. We also asked children …

Using Concurrent Operant Analyses To Predict Reinforcers To Increase Work Completion In Schools, Amanda Jo Schaefer

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

In this study, a concurrent operant analysis (COA) was conducted for two elementary aged students in a public school to determine if the results yielded a possible reinforcer for work completion. A simultaneous treatments design was used during the COA to evaluate choice making behavior. The results of the COA indicated the student’s choice making behavior was maintained by access to tangibles, access to attention, or escape. The results were then used to create a token economy in which the student could earn their preferred reinforcer for work completion. An alternating treatments design was used to compare work completion during …

Evaluation Of Preschool Life Skills (Pls) Program To Teach Social Skills In A Preschool Class, Zhenying Jiang

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Tier 2 PLS program on increasing critical social skills (i.e., requesting for attention, framed requesting for materials and assistant, and delay and denial tolerance) and decreasing problem behaviors for the participants with risk of delay in social domain. A multiple probe across behaviors design replicated across participants was employed. The intervention terminated due to the end of school year before skill 3 could be introduced. Two of three participants met criteria for two taught skills, while one participant did not acquire all skills. Decrease of problem behavior accompanied …

Technology’S Impact On Students In A Virtual Environment, Leah S. Sorensen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In 2020, a worldwide pandemic ensued as the coronavirus spread throughout the United States. This caused a nationwide shutdown, closing schools. All forms of education went to a virtual learning setting, where all students were expected to learn outside of a classroom. This also meant that there became a heavy reliance on technology. This setting and use of technology began to affect students’ learning and development. Through conducted research, three domains of child development are evaluated to determine the effects of this form of learning. The cognitive, physical, and social-emotional domains will be considered.

Beginnings, Elizabeth Becker

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Elizabeth Becker uses personal experiences of pregnancy alongside scholarly research on the developmental movement patterns of the human embryo, fetus, and newborn’s first year of life to explore the multiplicity of these movement patterns within and outside the womb. Becker explores the relationship between the fertilization, germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages in relation to a newborn and its mother. These movement patterns within the beginning stages of life are valuable to research because they simulate neurodevelopmental patterns, which help wire the central nervous system in early childhood. These movements also help lay the foundation for sensory-motor development and life-long …

Creating Community Of Young Readers During Covid-19 Lockdown: A Comprehensive Study Of A Digital Reading Platform: Storyweaver, Shaveta Azad, Rupak Chakravarty Prof.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Reading stories to children when they are young is the most effective way to keep them creatively engaged. Children in multilingual countries require free access to story repositories for leisure reading. In India, a country with hundreds of mother tongues, books are largely published in English and Hindi, owing to market economics. Various studies have shown that learning and reading become more important in one's mother tongue and that when a child reads in two or more languages during early years, gains a deeper understanding of language and its effective use.

In this paper, the researchers have tried to discover; …