Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Soft Space/Strong Support, Keqian Li

Masters Theses

Children with early developmental challenges such as anxiety disorders, ADHD, autism, and sensory regulation difficulties often navigate environments that are not designed to support their emotional, cognitive, and sensory needs. In many educational and community spaces, inclusion is treated as an add-on or a specialized accommodation rather than as a fundamental design principle.

This thesis argues that inclusion should be the standard, not the exception, and that interior architecture can function as an early intervention tool that actively supports children’s development. This project examines how spatial design can influence emotional regulation and social interaction for children with early developmental challenges. …

Implementing Gestures Into Vocabulary Instruction To Aid Recall And Retention, Emma Dilley

Masters Theses

This study highlighted the idea of incorporating gestures into vocabulary instruction to help the students recall and retain the new vocabulary words. The researcher predicted that with the incorporation of the strategy of gestures into instruction, kindergarten students will be able to retain more vocabulary words compared to vocabulary instruction that does not include gestures. A total of 22 students and one teacher from a rural town in central Illinois participated in the study. This study was a mixed methods study, which included quantitative data in the form of pretest and posttest and qualitative data in the form of a …

Wood In Hand: Open-Ended Wooden Play, Farnaz Dastranj

Masters Theses

This project explores the design of a sustainable, open-ended wooden toy that encourages children’s creativity, collaboration, and physical development. Recognizing the important role of play in learning, the toy aims to connect children to natural materials while supporting skills like eye-hand coordination, flexible thinking, and visual-spatial processing. Free-form linear elements constructed from wood, a renewable, durable, and biodegradable material, the toy invites children to assemble and create various structures using dowels, pegs, and fabric. By offering different connection possibilities and free-form pieces, it fosters imagination, problem-solving, and group play. This project also addresses sustainability by focusing on material longevity, reusability, …

Playful Parenting, Shloka Kartikeyan

Masters Theses

“What is the next big milestone for my child, and how can I be ready for it?”

That is the question in every parents' mind as they watch their child grow. The developmental milestones being the source of guidance and cause of worry for parents.

We are in an overwhelming era of options - the global toy market was valued at around $114.4 billion in 2024 as reported by Global News Wire* - that’s the size of options in toys alone for parents to choose from. With all these products geared towards encouraging child development, parents are often left to …

Growing Together: Cultivating The Social-Emotional Effects Of Art Education Through Trauma-Informed Pedagogy, Kaitlyn Lawrence

Masters Theses

In many societies, the process of art is recognized as a healing and transformative practice. In recent years, it has been emerging in tandem with social emotional practices and procedures in American education. However, it is also a fact that social emotional learning (SEL) does not account for all students due to its inability to account for the needs of all students in the classroom. SEL alone aims to teach healthy development and emotional management skills, but fails to account for students with varying experiences. While there are those who can and do integrate the skills from the Social Emotional …

Making Room, Rachel Strompf

Masters Theses

Massachusetts is the only state in the United States with a right-to-shelter law which guarantees shelter for families with children and pregnant women.¹ As of February 2024, 3,500 homeless families with children are being sheltered in a motel or hotel with an average length of stay of 14 months, because traditional family shelters have reached capacity.^2,3 While these families are provided temporary shelter, these shelters do not allow for the development of a true sense of “home.” While a motel meets the needs of rudimentary shelter, motels were never designed as long-term accommodations and certainly not with a …

Development Of S.T.E.A.M. Daises In Formal And Informal Environments For Educating Primary I Learners, Frances Neville

Masters Theses

The federal government has made education a competition among ourselves. Learning is not a rivalry to be imposed on our physical and cognitive development as humans. Escalating beliefs recognize education is more encompassing than CCSS, assessments and the grade level time frames in which standards are to be taught. On the precipice of anti-intellect, low expectations, and what has been termed “The Dumbing of America” an investigation into what it would take to close the achievement gap and increase student learning is overdue.

The goal for my Michigan based project, S.T.E.A.M. Daises, was to develop a program focusing on the …

Implementing Social Emotional Activities Into The English Language Arts Curriculum, Allison M. Sherbel

Masters Theses

Over the last decade social emotional learning has revealed itself to be an important element in students' academic growth. Social emotional learning requires students to learn the skills necessary to effectively communicate with others as well as maintaining a positive classroom environment, where all students feel supported, safe and heard. When students become more connected to their own emotions, they are developing an essential skill that will help them inside and outside of the classroom. Research shows that implementation of social emotional lessons can improve both immediate and long-term social-emotional ability as well as academic growth. Despite this research, teachers …

Kole, Isaiah Aladejobi

Masters Theses

This project focuses on the development of building blocks influenced by the architecture and design styles of Yoruba culture and Washington DC. These building blocks aim to provide an educational and culturally enriching experience for individuals of all ages, with a particular focus on youth.

By combining the traditional design elements of Yoruba architecture with the modern urban aesthetic of Washington DC, the building blocks offer a unique blend of cultural influences for children and adults to explore. Through hands-on building activities, users can engage with the cultural heritage of these two regions, while also developing important skills such as …

Making Pla(Y)Ces: Softening The City Through Play, Shivani Pinapotu

Masters Theses

Cities that grow naturally over time integrate spaces of gathering that allow for serendipitous happenstance. However, the cities we design today instruct and codify through intentional planning and design; they assign use, hardening specific function to place. Such strategies lead to spaces devoid of spirit, inculcating in city-dwellers to a sense of disconnect from the city.

In contrast to this, the places we make as children, express our intuitive, direct, and unselfconscious relationships with space and one other. These spaces embody softness through their malleability and adaptability, borrowing from the world around them and imbuing the ordinary with imagination. …

Assessing The Reliability Of The Five-In-20 Classroom Observation Tool, Danielle Buechlein

Masters Theses

Effective classroom management practices are crucial to fostering a positive learning environment, student achievement, and student social-emotional development, as well as teacher job satisfaction. The Five-in-20 Classroom Observation Tool (FCOT) was developed from the 21 evidence-based strategies identified by Simonsen and colleagues (2008) to assess and support teachers’ classroom management; however, its psychometric properties are unknown. The present study looks at the interobserver agreement of the FCOT, specifically at how consistent observers’ ratings are with each other and how consistent observers’ ratings are with a standard coded copy of the FCOT. Forty-four participants, using the FCOT, rated the same 20-minute …

Developing Coping Strategies For Early Elementary Students In Relation To Anxiety, Kayle M. Ogrodzinski

Masters Theses

There has been a growing concern about the number of students exhibiting anxiety in schools. Research shows that implementing interventions can help reduce the amount anxiety in students. School counselors can implement small group lessons with a focus on a theoretical approach using cognitive behavioral therapy to help address this concern. This method allows the student to be in control of their feeling and learn to cope with what is making them anxious. This project acts as a guide for school counselors to implement small group lessons. It provides an outline of seven weekly sessions for students in early elementary …

The Impact Of Healthy Living Education On Parents When Selecting Snacks For Their Children, Daphnea Lou Sutherland

Masters Theses

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has become a major health concern in the United States and other countries. Obese children are now acquiring what is considered adult diseases, at a young age. This will have detrimental effects on their health as a child and even more so as an adult, resulting in poor quality of life and a shorter lifespan. An obese child also faces delays and shortages in meeting developmental standards, such as physical development, psychosocial, emotional development, cognitive, and so forth. When obese, children will have a harder time concentrating on learning materials and will struggle in …

Examining Gender Differences In Play Choice In Kindergarten, Danielle Bily

Masters Theses

This study explored the gender differences in play choice in a kindergarten classroom in rural Illinois. Kindergarten expectations support free choice time to enhance classroom behavior, interactions with peers, and conflict resolution. Participants were 12 male students and 11 female students in one general education classroom. Students were given an individual survey to label various pictures of toys as being for males, females, or both males and females. Parent questionnaires were sent home to measure what children play with outside of school hours. Results suggested that (a) it may be important to display images that include both males and females …

Predictors Of Bullying Role Behavior In Preschool, Kristen Kocher

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

An Examination Into The Instruction Of The Alphabet During Preschool Years, Amanda Titus

Masters Theses

Instruction of the letters of the alphabet is a controversial topic among early childhood educators. Not only is it debated whether letter instruction is developmentally appropriate but there is then the discussion concerning how the letters are best taught once a program deems it is developmentally appropriate. In this study, 87 children were assessed at two separate times during the school year to determine a method of instruction that proved most effective. The study took place over three consecutive school years. The first year, 27 students were exposed to alphabetic instruction through a combination of music and mnemonic device assisted …

Effects Of Adult Modeling On Literacy Behaviors Of Head Start Preschoolers, Stephanie L. Kerbel

Masters Theses

This project explored the uses of literacy artifacts in the dramatic play of preschool children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds who live in poverty in Kalamazoo County. The purpose of this 9-week study was to determine the impact of adult modeling on the frequency and quality of use of literacy artifacts during the dramatic play of at-risk preschoolers. Two Head Start classrooms received different types of intervention: (a) a literacy-enriched dramatic play area with adult modeling for 5 minutes at the start of each play period ( once per week); and (b) a literacy-enriched dramatic play area without adult …

Analogical Processing Skills In Three Modalities In Fifth, Eighth, And Eleventh Graders, Amy Sirrae Cashen

Masters Theses

This study examined the ability of fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders to complete multiple modality analogy tasks. Three groups, for a total of 201 subjects--68 fifth graders, 66 eighth graders, and 77 eleventh graders--solved word, picture, and figure analogies. A significant difference was found in the performance of the three groups, indicating that analogical processing skills increase with age. No significant difference was found between males and females on the combined analogy tasks. A significant difference was found for modality, indicating that the three sets of analogies were different in difficulty. The grade-by-modality interaction also was found to be significant, …

The Effect Of Early Childhood Special Education Teaching Theories On Their Classroom Environments, Cheryl L. Mortimer

Masters Theses

With passage of P.L. 99-457 educators in the United States are going to need to take a very close look at early childhood special education. There will be many new programs beginning in areas where teachers and administrators may be poorly informed. Early childhood special education is effective,but an examination of what part of these programs make it effective needs to be addressed. This study examined how a teachers theoretical orientation toward teaching can affect their preschool special education classroom environment. The environment was evaluated by a section on a survey in which points were accumulated for different environmental factors …

The Effects Of Self-Evaluation Procedures On The Numbers And Accuracy Of Alphabet Letter Writing Behavior Of Preschool Children, Kevin R. Coleman

Masters Theses

This study assessed the effects of self-evaluation procedures on the rate and accuracy of alphabet letter writing. Three preschoolers served as subjects. During Phase I, students were given instructions, and the experimenter modeled accurate letter writing. During Phase II, instructions and modeling were again presented. Additionally, the students were given a rule statement that instructed them to use a stamper and a stamp pad to stamp their paper after first writing each of a row of four letters. The results indicated that the introduction of self-evaluation procedures was associated with immediate increases in frequency of attempts, but a decrease in …

The Effects Of Do-Say And Phase Sequencing On Correspondence Behaviors Of Preschool Children, Catherine M. Mcmanus

Masters Theses

This study assessed the effects of a do-say procedure and phase sequencing on the correspondence behaviors of seven preschoolers. Three subjects received correspondence-content (Group A) phase sequencing training and four subjects received content-correspondence (Group B) phase sequencing training. During the Content Phase, subjects received reinforcerrent (socials, stickers, snack, etc.) for verbalizations about engaging in a pre-determined non-preferred activity. During the Correspondence Phase, subjects received reinforcement for verbalizations about the non-preferred activity only when they had actually engaged in play with that specific non-preferred activity. The results indicated that in most instances, reinforcement of verbalizations alone results in increases in those …

Reduction Of Aggressive Behavior Of A Preschool Child Using Extinction And Teacher Attention Procedures, Greg Randle

Masters Theses

The subject was a 2 and a half-year-old male who engaged in a high rate of aggressive behavior that appeared to be maintained by teacher reprimands and physical contact. An extinction procedure in which all aggressive behavior directed toward peers was ignored was used in conjunction with teacher attention directed to the victim. Teacher attention was also used to positively reinforce the subject for interaction with peers. These procedures reduced the subject's aggressive behavior to a much lower rate. Although the subject's undesirable behavior was modified, a questionnaire responded to by the teachers indicated the need for open communication between …

Verbal And Non-Verbal Curricula For Teaching Color Names To Preschool Children, Cynthia A. Wagner

Masters Theses

This study examined the effects of curriculum type on the acquisition and retention of color names. Ten 2 to 3 year old subjects were divided into two experimental groups of five each; subjects were of both sexes and approximately equal language ability . In a modified multiple -baseline design, one experimental group received the verbal curriculum and the other experimental group received the non-verbal curriculum. Data were gathered through regular testing of all subjects. Results indicated that the curricula were equally efficient in teaching color names in their respective modalities; there was no significant difference in the mean number of …

Teaching Self-Protective Behaviors To Preschool Children Using A Videotape Training Program, Paul James Yoder

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effectiveness of a videotape training program to teach self-protective skills to preschool children. Children were taught to say, "I have to ask my teacher/parent," and to run to their teacher/parent when presented with one of two lures commonly used by child molesters. The videotape incorporated the direct instructional techniques of active pupil responding; the model, lead, and test format; and use of minimally different stimuli to teach children to discriminate between correct and incorrect responses. The results showed that although none of the subjects showed any improvement in responding after only one viewing, five of the …

A Study Of The Varying Degrees Of Creativity Manifested By Kindergarten Children From Open Or Traditional Classrooms, Susan Spelman Lewis

Masters Theses

Visual and verbal techniques derived from Wallach and Kogan’s test of creative thinking abilities (1965) were administered to fifty-seven Title I kindergarten children from four different kindergarten settings in an attempt to assess the impact of open versus non-open situations on children's creativity. Classroom populations were similar socioeconomically, racially, and with regard to the student-teacher ratio. Kindergartens were chosen in order to test young children not influenced by other school situations. The degree of classroom openness was determined using Evans' Classroom Rating Scale (1971).

Creativity scores varied positively with the degree of classroom openness. Differences among the mean scores of …

The Effects Of Two-Day Vs. Seven-Day Prompts On Attendance At A Preschool Screening, Susan Simonds Savage

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Structured Versus Unstructured Instruction On The Generalization Of Language Concepts In The Preschool Child, Cheryl A. Milford

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Prompting And Stimulus Novelty On The Frequency Of Play With Toys, Gloria J. Gasparotto

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Classroom And Home-Based Reinforcement To Increase Verbal Responses To Questions In Preschool Children, Katherine Anne Muir

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

"Project Dial": An Early Childhood Screening Program, Lewis S. Sarff

Masters Theses

This field study addressed the problem of "actively seeking" out and identifying children (ages 3 to 5 years) likely to develop late learning problems upon school enrollment. The procedures developed and reported in this paper deal with initial public relations, facilities, personnel, an evaluation instrument Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL), hearing and vision testing, and reporting of results to parents and school personnel.

The paper also includes means and standard deviations for DIAL subtest scores by one year age groups and by sex, as well as simple and multiple r's for each of the DIAL variables individually …