Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Child Development Degree Program: Careers Spotlight & Panel Discussion, Amanda Chorak, Jenae Pratscher, Dajah Bibbs, Brittany Alsvig, Kayla Deubel, Margaret Landis, Savannah Vaughan, Abigail Gentry, Alexa Gonzalez, Kaitlyn Fish, Ashley Camden, Kathleen Hammerberg, Sarah O’Neal, Kenzy Mallard, Sutton Bate, Kara Vallarta

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Join session via Microsoft Teams.

The Child Development program within the School of Education has continued to grow and strengthen its identity over the recent years. Students currently seek diverse career paths working with children and families following completion and graduation from the B.S. Child Development program. A group of undergraduate students from the spring 2024 CDEV 490 Senior Seminar will facilitate a discussion with a panel of helping professionals connected to the Child Development degree program. The panel discussion will give spotlight to the variety of career paths the degree prepares individuals for and will include both ONU Child …

Engaging Teacher-Student Relationships With All Students, Jess Teal

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Positive teacher-student relationships are essential for a safe classroom that promotes academic achievement and social/emotional development for all children. Teachers need specific practices and resources to support them in establishing positive teacher-student relationships with all their students. All students deserve a consistent adult connection and to call school a safe place to learn and grow.

Nuestra Herencia Familiar—Honoring Spanish Heritage Language Students Through Family Engagement, Lucero Saldaña, Nelly Alvarez

11th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language

Family Engagement is the cornerstone to celebrating Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) scholars. Through engaging our families and communities, we gather testimonios that give us insight into their cultural traditions, experiences, and the importance of ensuring that their child(ren) become biliterate. This collaboration with our families and communities creates strong reciprocal partnerships where open continuous dialogue has become commonplace. Subsequently, we have been able to identify opportunities for change in our Family Engagement practices. In particular, we learned that we needed to implement innovative initiatives that would honor our SHL scholars, their families, and our school communities.

In our proposed presentation, …

Healthy Media - Enhancing Healthy Living Education In Prek Students With Edtech Media, Emilio Puente Barrios

Research Symposium

Background: Young children today learn in diverse environments, including home, school, and through digital media platforms such as apps, videos, games, and songs. With the increase in screen time due to Covid-19 restrictions, digital media has become a valuable resource for remote learning, offering fun and educational interactions. However, the impact of incorporating educational technology or EdTech digital media applications into health education curricula on the performance of PK 4 students in understanding and adopting healthy living concepts remains understudied. By exploring the effectiveness of design elements and strategic approaches this research aims to evaluate newer technology-driven media in enhancing …

Peace Cafe, Ana Cynthia Saenz Jaimes

Peace and Conflict Studies Journal Conference

GAMIP Latin America presents Peace Cafe, a participatory and dialogued meeting space, virtual, face-to-face or hybrid, for critical reflection, study, promotion, and practices of Cultures of Peace. We want the exchange and respect of opinions and ideas without polarization.

Peace Cafe is for all GAMIP members and civil society actors, researchers, educational institutions, activists, business people, and governments. We hope to share a good coffee, listen and learning common issues and problems in the region.

This project is organized by GAMIP ALC and is supported for its execution by a registered member, by someone from an organization whose objectives are …

The Contribution Of Learning Trajectories To Enacting The Early Years Learning Framework V2.0, Caroline Cohrssen

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia v2.0 (EYLF) guides pedagogy and practice with children aged from birth to 5 years and states that ‘over time, children engage with increasingly complex ideas’. With 5 learning outcomes and 8 principles of practice, this requires educators to be highly skilled in facilitating children’s engagement with increasingly complex ideas. It also assumes that all educators recognise children’s demonstrations of understanding, and know what knowledge (or capabilities) likely preceded this understanding, and what comes next. As a framework, this specific information is missing from the EYLF. Learning trajectories may assist educators to recognise demonstrations …

Understanding Early Cognitive Development: Using Pat Early Years To Support Student Learning, Sandra Knowles

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The correlation between early cognitive and psychosocial development is well established. For this reason, some measurement tools, such as UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI2030), provide a single score as an overall indicator of a child’s development because performing poorly in one area is likely to mean inadequate development across all areas. While these broad indicators can be useful at a system level, understanding children’s development in discrete domain areas is essential for meaningful intervention. This presentation will explore how measurement tools, such as ACER’s Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) for the Early Years, can be used to support targeted intervention …

Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

As national and state-based reforms in early education roll-out across Australia, concern for building a well-qualified workforce to meet growing demand has intensified. In parallel with the reforms, teachers and educators are reminded by the recently released 2022 Early Years Learning Framework to design programs that support intentionality in play-based learning. However, the literature shows that despite the concept of intentional teaching being around since 2009, difficulties with how to do this remains. This presentation takes up this challenge, by 1) sharing the collective findings of 6 Australian Research Council-funded research projects into play and learning in STEM; and 2) …

Mathematical Mindsets: Fostering Student Engagement And Positive Mindsets Through The Use Of Challenging Tasks, Alison Hall

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

This paper explores the planned use of challenging mathematical tasks. These tasks provide the opportunity for students to improve mathematical thinking by working on problems that they do not yet know how to answer. This research involved a heterogeneous class of year 3 students from a Catholic parish primary school in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. A rubric was also developed to use in conjunction with these tasks, to support discussions with students, broaden their strategies in finding solutions and thereby improve their conceptual understanding. These pedagogical approaches were found to support the improvement of both students’ conceptual understanding in …

The Journey To Becoming A Reader: Relationships Between Home Activities, Attitudes And Reading, Kylie Hillman

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The Progress in International Reading Study – PIRLS for short – has been running since 2001, with Australia joining in 2011. Along with a well-researched measure of students’ reading comprehension, PIRLS includes a number of questionnaires for students, teachers, principals and parents/guardians that provide background and context for students’ performance in the reading assessment. This presentation will provide educators with an introduction to PIRLS and discuss what PIRLS can tell us about various home, attitudinal and behavioural factors that relate to Year 4 students’ performance in the PIRLS reading comprehension assessments.

We will discuss relationships between reading scores and factors …

Bringing Learning Progressions Down To 2-Year-Olds In Reading And Mathematics, Prue Anderson

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

ACER’s learning progressions in reading and mathematics describe growth that is mainly focused on skills students demonstrate at and beyond school. These progressions have recently been extended down to describe earlier levels of growth so we now have seamless progressions from skills and understandings toddlers might demonstrate up to highly sophisticated skills and concepts. This presentation briefly outlines ACER’s work and identifies key implications for educators. The pathways that support early reading development were described in progressions for listening comprehension and sounds and letters. Along with an early mathematics progression, these were conceptualised as embedded in an oral language progression. …

Does Play Belong In The Primary School Classroom?, Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Rachel Parker

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote student engagement, inclusion, and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years. If we want to build an education system preparing children for lifelong learning, we can use these strategies and achieve a balance of academic growth, holistic skills and a joy of learning. This presentation addresses the disconnect between policy, research, and practice, by summarising 5 key findings from international studies and 4 challenges to connect policy and practice. The evidence that play supports learning is considerable, and a new framework can create continuity between the early years learning …

Themes, Resources And Uptake Of Acer’S Science In The Early Years Suite, Gayl O'Connor

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The Science in the early years series was developed to assist preschool and Foundation to year 2 primary educators to incorporate the latest research in science learning into their programs and teaching practice. This paper focuses on the educator resources developed to support early years educators implement activities to assist children to develop science concepts and inquiry skills. The activities are underpinned by evidence-based research that revealed 4 themes in the early years’ science literature.

Assessment Is Coming And The Early Childhood Sector Must Lead The Way, Dan Cloney

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Assessment is a core component of quality early childhood practice. It is explicitly highlighted in the new Early Years Leanring Framework V2.0 and is a standard within Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard. In everyday early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, and in initial teacher education, assessment is often limited to observational and narrative-driven approaches. Recent reviews of the literature highlight that there are few other assessment tools readily available to educators. What assessment looks like in early childhood is changing. The Commonwealth, as part of the Preschool Reform Funding Agreement, is developing, trialling, and implementing a …

Partnerships In Early Childhood Education: Engaging Families In Professional Conversations, Simone Griggs, Greta Rollo

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Effective monitoring of learning and development involves integrating multiple perspectives from a child’s parents, carers, family, and their educators. A collaborative approach between educators and families not only recognises the family’s critical importance in their child’s life but it has also been shown to benefit children with learning difficulties, delays and behavioural concerns (Parenting Research Centre, 2012; Prior et al., 2011). Efforts made towards the integration of multiple perspectives can also support stronger inclusion of diverse families into communities of early childhood education and care. However, discussions with parents and carers about issues regarding their children’s development can be a …

Say It Louder: The Importance Of Reading Aloud In Your Pre-K Classroom., Kaleb Reiner

Andrews University Teaching and Learning Conference

When you think about the key features of growing up, one of the prominent memories is being read bedtime stories by your parents. Why is that so memorable? Because read aloud stories are an imperative part of early education and literacy. From toddlers to 2nd or 3rd grade, being read to in and out of the classroom is an immensely important tool for reading and writing, and in this poster, I’m going to show you just how important it is.

Problems Are A Gift- How To Turn Challenging Behaviors In The Classroom Into Opportunities For Growth And Connection, Lindsey Kealey

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Lindsey Kealey discusses practical ways apply a trauma-responsive approach to helping children and adults solve problems in the classroom. When you unwrap problems with students in productive, rather than punitive ways, you will find that problems are not just fires to put out or issues that weight us down. Rather, problems can be a gift to ourselves and the students we teach.

Advocacy From The Start: Understanding Inclusion, Tammy J. Wrobbel, Emily Ropars

Together We RISE (Making Excellence Inclusive)

Understanding and successfully implementing inclusion is something that families and professionals often find to be a challenge. Are you looking to support families and professionals to understand what inclusion is, how it looks and how to advocate for it? Learn about an online resource package equipped with tools that are organized for informal and formal learning for use by (and with) families, service coordinators, practitioners, faculty and administrators to understand and promote inclusion.

Evidence-Informed Early Language And Literacy Practice: Implementation Of A New Formative Assessment For Early Language And Literacy Development, Sarah Groom, Mary-Ruth Mendel, Eric Brace, Philippa Pryor

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

With one in five Australian children starting school developmentally vulnerable, there is a need in this critical period for visibility over children’s oral language and early literacy development. The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) partnered with a Northern Territory primary school to implement the Early Language and Literacy Development Index (ELLDI), a newly-created valid and reliable assessment which places children on a progression scale for oral language and early literacy development and provides meaningful, accessible recommendations for educational practice. Twenty-three children in the school’s transition cohort were measured using the ELLDI at the beginning and end of the school …

The Analysis Of Home In Children's Picture Books, Lynn Auguste, Jinhee Kim

Symposium of Student Scholars

The continued implication, either implicit or explicit of the word “Home” in children’s books has brought researchers from all over the world to investigate the topic and try to explain the true meaning of home and why it matters in children’s literature. Home does not always imply physical building as most people tend to think; there is more to it than just construction. The purpose of the research is to analyze how the home is represented in children’s books. By doing this, the research intends to provide a better understanding of the home and discuss what should be considered when …

Spiritual Leadership In Early Intervention Practice, Jo L. Mccray

Adult Education Research Conference

This study explored integrating the principles of spiritual leadership theory into early intervention therapeutic practice to enhance services provided to children and families. Semi structured interviews served as major sources of data.

Education In Australia/ New Zealand Vs United States, Lauryn Calloway

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the possible differences between the education systems in Australia/ New Zealand versus the Education system in the United States. This paper will cover a variety of topics such as Early Childhood Education Goals and Outcomes, Birthing process, midwifery, and home births, Parenting for neonatal and early childhood, Intervention strategies with young children and their families, Minorities in the country and educational support for them, Teacher education, qualification, and benefits, EECE Policy Reviews and other useful information. The goals are to research and compare the results to one another.

Keywords: Goals, …

Promoting Bilingualism And Biculturalism In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Families In South Korea, Jooeun Kim

Symposium of Student Scholars

In 2006, the South Korean government set forth a policy supporting Korean education for culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children, indicating they were incapable of learning “proper” Korean under foreign parents (Hong, 244). Considering how such children continue to be deprived of the right to acquire mother tongue in the South Korea, there have been recent efforts to develop bilingual coaching programs. In the long run, examining how it can be practically implemented and sustained as a helpful program can contribute to CLD children’s bilingual and bicultural development. The current study aims to explore perspectives and experiences of bilingual coaches …

The Impact Of Reinforcer Preference And Variation On Response Rates In Preschool-Aged Children, Jason M. Aldridge

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Impact of Reinforcer Preference and Variation on

Response Rates in Preschool-Aged Children

J. Malachi Aldridge1, Allison L. Martin1, Alicia K. Mitchell2

1. Kennesaw State University

2. Appleseeds Behavioral Center

In the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, tangible items (i.e. toys) are often used to help learners meet goals in academic, social, and adaptive living skills. While use of high preference reinforcers has been linked to improved performance, repeated use of a single item can cause satiation and reduce effectiveness. Using a variety of reinforcers can allow therapists to minimize these satiation effects (Bowman et al., 1997; Koehler & Iwata, …

Teach Pilot Study: Implementation Of An E-Learning Course In Physical Activity And Sedentary Behaviour For Pre- And In-Service Early Childhood Educators (Eces), Faith E.A Heidary, Brianne A. Bruijns, Patricia Tucker

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Early childhood educators (ECEs) are highly influential in promoting healthy movement behaviours (e.g. physical activity [PA] and sedentary behaviour [SB]) in early childhood. It is essential that ECEs gain knowledge and confidence in their ability to incorporate appropriate amounts of high-quality movement experiences for children in their care. However, ECEs do not currently receive related education in their current pre-service programs or professional development in practice.

The Training EArly CHildhood educators in physical activity (TEACH) study intends to improve ECEs’ knowledge, confidence, and intentions regarding promoting healthy movement behaviours by providing comprehensive training in PA, SB, outdoor and risky play …

Where Are We With Education About Mental Health And Illness: A Survey Research, Symphony Williams

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of my research is to investigate public awareness of mental health and illness. This study is paramount because of the mental health crisis our world faces today. I conducted a survey research in which I used Google Forms and asked a series of questions about the participants’ education, experiences, and opinions on mental health and illness. The total participants were 67. The analysis of survey responses resulted in several findings. First, 34.3% of the 67 participants had a diagnosed mental illness, and 72% of those participants suffer from some form of depression while 77.8% suffer from anxiety. These …

Still A Forgotten War? Investigation Of College Students' Understanding Of The Korean War., Symphony Williams

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of my research is to investigate how much and what knowledge college students have on the Korean War. This study is important because the Korean War is often referred to as a “forgotten war” but is a significant event in American history, as well as an ongoing issue in today’s world. Investigation into what college students know and believe about the Korean War, as well as, where and when they learned this information, is critical in evaluating and reforming how the Korean War is taught in US schools. I designed a survey using Google Forms, and gathered results …

Assessing The Needs For Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Upon Return To School After Covid-19, Emily Kurland

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

School-based mental health consultation recognizes and understands the importance of children’s emotional and behavioral needs in conjunction with educator/caregiver competencies. In early childhood classrooms, mental health consultation utilizes a problem-solving approach, creating collaborative relationships with educators to build their skills and expertise (Duran et al., 2009). Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) works to maximize the social-emotional skills of all children while minimizing the vulnerabilities of children experiencing behavioral difficulties (Low & Shepard, 2010). As emotional and behavioral challenges are increasing in early childhood settings, it is evident that mental health consultation is becoming increasingly necessary and beneficial (Green, Everheart, …

Relationships Between Expressive And Receptive Language Ability And Play Initiation In 2-Year-Olds, Jessica Glasshoff

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

For most young children, social initiations develop during natural play contexts, along with language. However, not all children learn language typically from an early age. At 2 years of age, these children are generally referred to as “late talkers” or as having “late language emergence” (LLE). LLE usually involves between 10-15 percent of 2-year-olds. Delayed language development is associated with delays in play sophistication; however, little is known about the association between LLE and child initiations during play. The purpose of the study was to further determine the relationship between receptive and expressive language proficiency and play initiation for toddlers. …

The Influence Of An Early Childhood Endorsement Program On Early Childhood Leadership Competencies, Kanyon Chism

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The call to improve high-quality educational opportunities for children ages birth – eight has received increased attention and federal and local funding opportunities have expanded to provide additional early childhood classrooms and to implement family engagement practices. Unfortunately, systems of support for principals aimed at increasing knowledge and skills necessary to lead an aligned Preschool – third-grade system within an elementary school remain relatively sparse. The purpose of this study is to examine the alignment between an early childhood endorsement program and early childhood leadership competencies.

This study will examine the perceptions of school leaders participating in an early childhood …