Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Dead Bird (1965/2016) By Margaret Wise Brown, Peter Shea

Picture Books

Children come upon a bird that has just died. It is still warm. They bury it, sing a song they have made up, and plant flowers. They visit the grave every day to put fresh flowers on it and to sing to the bird, until they forget. Margaret Wise Brown’s The Dead Bird is a story about how a new ritual happens, spontaneously, out of a shared experience of grief, expressing a shared reverence for one kind of life. The children are thinking, in a way: they are keeping something in mind for a long time, in a beautiful form. …

Lorax (1971) By Dr. Seuss, Megan Jane Laverty

Picture Books

Megan Jane Laverty interprets Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (the 1971 book, the 1972 television cartoon, and the 2012 feature film) as a multi-layered philosophical fable. First, she examines how the story reveals the dangers of our enthusiastic but short-sighted pursuit of innovation, success, and wealth—ambitions that can lead to far-reaching and often tragic consequences. Secondly, she explores how the narrative vividly illustrates the environmental devastation that results when commercial enterprises treat nature as an inexhaustible resource for production and progress. Laverty proposes several ways for students to engage with the story’s philosophical themes, including the aesthetic exploration of their local …

Alexander Von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist, And Environmental Pioneer (2019) By Danica Novgorodoff, Peter Shea

Picture Books

As a young boy, Alexander Von Humboldt came up with divergent questions about the birds and mountains and animals he saw, and brought all those questions together under two big questions that stayed important for him over a long life: “How are these things different?” and “How are they nevertheless connected?” As the reader watches Humboldt looking at a hawk and a mouse, volcanoes and farmland, palm trees and pine trees, Europe and Ecuador, Europeans and Indigenous people, one comes to expect what he will say: “They are different, and yet they are connected.” This idea is much bigger than …

Mis Dos Pueblos Fronterizos / My Two Border Towns (2021) By David Bowles, Amy Reed-Sandoval

Picture Books

When children talk about migration and displacement, they generally speak and inquire about people. Why are some people forced to leave their homes—or why was I forced to leave my home? Why won’t other countries let them in—or why won’t other countries let my family and me in? What does it feel like to live in a shelter, or in a refugee camp, or on a bridge between two countries—or why must my family live this way, while others do not? This picture book shows how philosophical questions about migration can be inspired by, and embedded in, communities and characters …

A Model For Children’S Digital Citizenship In India, Korea, And Australia: Stakeholder Engagement Principles, Emma Jayakumar, Kylie Stevenson, Harrison See, Yeonghwi Ryu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This white paper communicates research activities and findings investigating digital safety and digital citizenship through multistakeholder collaborations in three countries—India, South Korea, and Australia. Performed by an Edith Cowan University-based research team from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, supported by the LEGO Group, this research additionally responds to many recent policy and practice reviews arguing for institutional and policy engagement in the Asia Pacific (APAC) that build children’s digital safety, literacy and citizenship. These include the UNESCO data-driven report, Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP): Insights into children’s digital citizenship (UNESCO, 2019), an earlier UNESCO review of …

Who Is Leading The Early Years? An Investigation Of Early Childhood Pedagogical Leadership In School Settings, Amie L. Fabry

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The early years of primary school in Western Australian is a complex space fraught with confusion and challenge as teachers experience competing demands on their pedagogical practice. In the early years, Kindergarten (starting at 3 1/2 years) through to Year 2 are mandated to use the Principles and Practices of the Early Years Learning Framework and are school audited on a modified form of the National Quality Standard. However, Kindergarten and Pre-primary teachers report concerns about the pushed down curriculum and the impact that pressure for academic achievement and formal learning is having on their pedagogy. Early childhood pedagogical leadership …

Transforming Transitions To School: Using Funds Of Knowledge And Identity, Lennie Barblett, Fiona Boylan, Amelia Ruscoe

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This resource describes a project where ten Western Australian Independent Schools embraced a way of viewing children and their family’s transition to school.

Participating teachers came together as a community of practice and engaged in different ways of thinking and investigating accepted practice.Transition practices were affirmed or challenged as teachers were mentored through design-based thinking. Transition ideas were explored focussing on children’s funds of knowledge and identity. This resource outlines why transitions are important, considers transitions through a funds of knowledge and identity lens, and describes each school’s journey as they re-imagined transitions in this project. Finally, the ideas and …

Discovering Child Sexual Abuse Material Creators’ Behaviors And Preferences On The Dark Web, Vuong Ngo, Rahul Gajula, Christina Thorpe, Susan Mckeever

Articles

Background: Producing, distributing or discussing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) is often committed through the dark web in order to remain hidden from search engines and regular users. Additionally, on the dark web, the CSAM creators employ various techniques to avoid detection and conceal their activities. The large volume of CSAM on the dark web presents a global social problem and poses a significant challenge for helplines, hotlines and law enforcement agencies.

Objective: Identifying CSAM discussions on the dark web and uncovering associated metadata insights into characteristics, behaviours and motivation of CSAM creators.

Participants and Setting: We have conducted an …

Elementary Teachers’ Experiences And Responses To Student Engagement While Teaching Eureka Math Virtually During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jamika D. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

The Covid-19 Pandemic shifted the structure of public education by forcing public schools in Georgia and across the world to shift from a traditional, face-to-face model to a virtual model. This study was conducted to explore elementary teachers’ experiences and responses to issues with student engagement in their virtual Eureka Math classrooms during the Covid-19 Pandemic. A qualitative research design was used to conduct a hermeneutic, phenomenological study that included a document analysis, classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews using six elementary school teachers as participants. The resulting data was coded and triangulated using the thematic analysis of overarching themes, which …

Elementary Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of Poverty On Instruction And Support With Elementary Students Experiencing Rural Poverty In A Rural Title I Elementary School, Mitzi Mccann Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly 30 million people in the United States live in households with an annual income of less than @25,962 for a family of four. To the United States Census Bureau, this income threshold constitutes a family (or individuals in a family) as being in poverty. Poverty is not solely about income thresholds; rather, how much income levels impact learning, education, and teachers is a greater area of concern. The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers’ perceptions of poverty impact how they instruct and support elementary students experiencing rural poverty, what differences exist in instruction and support between …

Growing Within An Ecology Of Practices: The First-Year Experiences Of Teaching Artists, Gigi Schroeder Yu, Juana M. Reyes, Patricia Goubeaux

Education Department Faculty Articles

This research reveals two teaching artists’ dynamic practices that emerged from participating in the Collaboration Laboratory (CoLab) professional development and coinciding classroom arts-based co-inquiry projects of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). The researchers draw upon the 60-year-old Reggio Emilia Approach as one of the most widely recognized examples of sustainable partnerships with contemporary artists in an educational system with notable comparisons to CAPE. The Reggio Emilia Approach and CAPE disrupt educational systems that narrowly define curriculum by working with contemporary artists to co-create arts-based inquiries with teachers and students. The following research question guided the investigation: How do the …

Family Drug Treatment Court Program Effectiveness As A Protective Factor For Parents In Prevention Of Substance Abuse Foster Care Re-Entries: A Mixed Methods Study, Eugenia Ann Richardson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Foster care re-entry rates are high. Studies show that many foster care entries are due to substance abuse. These parents may enter a Family Drug Treatment Court Program that offers intensive therapy for the parent as well as services for the family. This study looks at the effectiveness of a Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court Program at preventing foster care re-entry for those who graduate the program. This study uses a mixed methods research design. Caseworkers for the Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court were interviewed. Quantitative secondary data was also obtained from the Missouri County Juvenile Office. Results …

Score Equating Between Aeps-2 And Aeps-3 For 0-3 Year Olds, Yuyan Xia

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Over the past two decades, the emphasis on educational equity in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) has highlighted the importance of assessment through policies and regulations. Ensuring accurate assessment scores is a fundamental aspect of this trend. The release of the Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System for Infants and Children, Third Edition (AEPS-3) in December 2021 led to a shift from the Second Edition (AEPS-2) in child development scoring. In order to harmonize the previous and updated assessment versions for children aged 0-3 across six developmental domains, a common item non-equivalent design, featuring fixed parameter …

Leaving Kindergarten Well: First-Grade Readiness In Outdoor Waldorf Kindergartens, Garry H. Oak

Leadership for Sustainability Education Comprehensive Papers

This article proposes an intervention to address the complex needs of children in outdoor Waldorf kindergartens. The intervention suggests integrating cultural responsiveness practices, remedial education, and outdoor teacher training competency into existing teacher training programs. By adopting this comprehensive approach, new teachers can acquire the necessary tools to meet the diverse needs of their students and adapt to the challenges of modern education. Ongoing professional development programs are also recommended to enable teachers to continuously enhance their skills throughout their careers. This multi-pronged solution aims to establish a more equitable and effective educational system that considers various dimensions of children's …

Owl Moon (1987) By Jane Yolen, Peter Shea

Picture Books

A father and daughter go out together at night to visit an owl. This simple story opens discussions about what fathers owe their children, about what humans owe to wild creatures, and about going outside our comfort zones – what we owe ourselves, as multi-dimensional beings enclosed in just one small life. The pictures take the reader along on this simple and astonishing adventure, a model perhaps for how adults can sometimes be helpful to children.

Preservice Elementary Teachers Conceptions And Self-Efficacy For Integrated Stem, Deepika Menon, Deef A. A. Shorman, Derek Cox, Amanda Thomas

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Educational reform efforts have emphasized preparing highly competent and confident preservice teachers to deliver effective K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) instruction. Self-efficacy is a key variable that influences motivation and performance, and therefore it is necessary to support the development of preservice teachers’ integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy. This mixed-methods study investigates how preservice elementary teachers’ integrated STEM teaching self-efficacy is shaped during their participation in a newly redesigned STEM semester consisting of three concurrent methods courses (science and engineering, mathematics, and technology methods courses). The quantitative data sources included the Self-efficacy for Teaching Integrated STEM instrument administered as …

A Scientific Approach To Sight Word Acquisition In Early Childhood, Emma J. Powers

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Teachers have commonly taught sight words through viewing the word as a whole unit and committing it to memory through repetition, but this practice bears little connection to phonics. While this method may work for some, for many students, especially those with specific learning disabilities (SLDs), it is not enough. Through this honors project, the teacher candidate will research new instructional methods based in the Science of Reading, which utilize orthographic mapping, or letter-sound connections, to chunk sight words into recognizable and phonetically regular spelling patterns (Ehri, 2014). To do so, she will investigate a body of evidence from relevant …

Examining Foods And Beverages Served And Child Food Insecurity Across Early Care And Education (Ece) Programs In Communities With High Rates Of Obesity And Food Insecurity, Deepa Srivastava, Lucy R. Zheng, Dipti A. Dev

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

The purpose of this study was to examine implementation of serving food and beverage evidence-based practices (nutrition EBPs) across CACFP participating licensed childcare centers (CCCs, n = 51) and family childcare homes (FCCHs, n = 49) in central California. Results indicated that FCCHs reported significantly higher (p < .05) implementation of nutrition EBPs and barriers than CCCs. Both CCCs and FCCHs refer families to WIC/SNAP when they observe child food insecurity and control how much food is served to children. It is important to consider organizational structure (CCCs, FCCHs) and child food insecurity when developing policies/interventions for improving implementation of nutrition EBPs in ECEs.

The Impact Of Teacher Student Relationship On The Academic, Behavioral And Socioemotional Growth And Development Of Students Aged Pre-K To 12, Graciella Arrascue

Education Theses

Fostering strong relationships with students is a pedagogical approach which can benefit both students and teachers. This research analyzed the application of this methodology in classrooms with students aged pre-k to 12. Based on this research, teacher student relationships can positively benefit student outcomes in academic, behavioral, and social emotional areas. The findings show how to establish these strong relationships, how relationships are a tool for classroom management and how relationships affect student motivation.

Exploring Early Childhood Educators’ Attitudes About Addiction And Their Association With Student-Teacher Relationships, Megan E. Mikesell

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project aimed to address significant gaps in literature around addiction-related attitudes by identifying early childhood educators’ addiction-related attitudes and how these attitudes associate with their relationships with students who come from homes with addiction. A sample of 501 ECEs completed an online survey which included the Public Attitudes About Addiction Survey (PAAS; a 54-item measure used to identify a person’s beliefs about addiction across five models), the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; a 15-item scale used to measure the level of closeness and conflict), and various demographic and community questions. Path analysis revealed that both moral and nature aligned attitudes …

Student With Twice-Exceptionalities Iep Meeting Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

General education teachers should remember that all students are general education students, first. We need to be prepared to work with students of all abilities in our classrooms. As general education teachers, we have an active role on a child’s IEP team and an active role during the IEP meeting. This assignment asked preservice teachers to develop a script of what they would say at an IEP meeting of one character from four different novels that would be considered a child with twice-exceptionalities.

Exploring Professional Dispositions With Preservice Teachers Assignment Description, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

The dispositions needed to be an educator is vast. Some dispositions come naturally to teacher candidates and others are nurtured by teacher education programs. According to the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (2008), professional dispositions expected of teacher candidates include “the ideal of fairness and the belief that all students can learn (p. 22). This assignment provides teacher candidates an opportunity to explore, analyze, and discuss various professional dispositions needed by educators using six examples of children’s literature, all of which by the author, Patricia Polacco.

The Journey Box: Promoting Language Development While Exploring One’S Identity, David Wolff

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

A Journey Box allows students to explore and share their family’s historical narrative using primary sources like interviews and artifacts. Students explore different facets of their own family’s history and journey to America while engaging in a larger shared experience among classmates to understand different perspectives. The Journey Box develops oral and written language skills while supporting individual’s exploration of their culture and identity.

Executive Function & Self-Regulation In Preschool Age Children: Mindfulness Intervention, Larissa Lamarca

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Executive function is an umbrella term used in psychology to define a number of cognitive processes that are important for success in daily life. Both self-awareness, being able to focus one’s thoughts and behavior, and self-regulation, being able to manage emotional and behavioral responses, are important components of executive function. Between three- and five-years of age, children begin developing such skills rapidly which are necessary for school readiness. This study recruited children participants from four local preschools to test for improvement in attention and self-regulatory skills. Two schools completed a mindful yoga activity for five consecutive days, while a second …

Assessing The Fidelity Of School-Level Professional Learning Community Implementation, William W. Thigpen Ii

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

As schools face increasing accountability, many have turned to professional learning communities (PLCs) as a possible solution. The challenge is that many schools are not implementing PLCs with fidelity. It is imperative that school leaders assess PLC practices to ensure that critical components are being implemented effectively. This research provides a framework for school leaders to assess school leader, teacher, and support staff perceptions of various PLC dimensions. Descriptive statistics were used to determine levels of agreement with statements related to six PLC dimensions. A one-way univariate analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) was used to analyze differences in mean …

Practice Elements Delivered By Teachers To Support Children Who Display Challenging Behaviors In Business-As-Usual Early Childhood Settings, Navneet Kaur

Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 15-25% of children ages 3 to 5 years in early childhood settings display chronic challenging behaviors that increase their risk for developing an emotional and behavioral disorder. The early onset of emotional and behavioral disorders has long-term negative implications for these children. Therefore, it is vital to address these problems early on. One approach is through teacher-delivered practices (i.e., specific strategies, such as praise) and programs (i.e., manualized interventions that contain a collection of practices) in the classroom. Some practices and programs have shown positive outcomes for children. However, when practices and programs do not outperform business-as-usual group (BAU), …

How Do Early Interventionists Adapt Instruction When Delivering Services In Natural Environments?, Brian C. Wysong

Theses and Dissertations

Early Interventionists (EIs) play a pivotal role in supporting development for young children with disabilities. It is vital that they are able to support child and family outcomes through building strong partnerships with families, utilizing best practices, and individualizing services to children and families. The purpose of this study was to explore early interventionists’ perceptions regarding how they adapted instruction when delivering services in natural environments. Specifically, this study aimed to understand how changes in the child’s skill level, interests, and level of engagement affected early interventionists’ decision-making process during service delivery. A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing semi-structured …

Collaborative Lesson Study: A Qualitative Case Study Of Elementary Teachers’ Professional Learning Experience, Arlene D. Harmon

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher collaboration practices in schools have impacted how teachers work together to prevent professional isolation. The mandate of collaborative practices has resulted in some teachers expressing frustration and a lack of benefit from their current experiences. The purpose of this qualitative case study, conducted in the Southeast region of the United States, was to determine if lesson study provided a more meaningful collaborative approach during focused group sessions. Using New London Group’s (1996) designs of meaning concept encapsulated in the Pedagogy of Multiliteracies Theoretical Framework to gauge the relevance of lesson study, I sought to explore a deeper understanding of …

Discovery: A Visual Arts Elementary School, Cindy J. Perdomo

Theses and Dissertations

On average, school-age children spend more time in the classroom environment than they do at home. Why not provide environments that stimulate children’s curiosity to learn through visual arts? Including visual arts in educational programs can enhance students’ cognitive development, problem-solving abilities, cultural awareness, and critical thinking skills.

As someone who has attended various public schools in Florida, I’ve found that incorporating arts education into the curriculum can enhance students’ overall engagement with learning. Unfortunately, many students lack access to arts education due to a lack of funding and resources. Traditionally, the arts have been viewed as an opportunity for …

A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Factors Associated With Burnout Among Early Childhood Education And Care Providers, Lee Wells

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Burnout among the early childhood workforce has gained widespread attention in research and policy due to greater awareness of the negative impacts on children, providers, and organizations. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers create supportive and nurturing environments that facilitate early learning and development for young children. Accordingly, ECEC providers are the connective tissue between program intentions and outcomes. Despite the critical nature of the field, early childhood providers continue to be underpaid, under-resourced, and undervalued, leading to a high risk of burnout. With turnover rates of ECEC providers higher than ever, the link between burnout and attrition has …