Developmental theorists use their research to generate philosophies on children’s development. They organize and interpret data based on a scheme to develop their theory. A theory refers to a ...systematic statement of principles related to observed phenomena and their relationship to each other. A theory of child development looks at the children's growth and behavior and interprets it. It suggests elements in the child's genetic makeup and the environmental conditions that influence development and behavior and how these elements are related. Many developmental theories offer insights about how the performance of individuals is stimulated, sustained, directed, and encouraged. Psychologists have established several developmental theories. Many different competing theories exist, some dealing with only limited domains of development, and are continuously revised. This article describes the developmental theories and their founders who have had the greatest influence on the fields of child development, early childhood education, and care. The following sections discuss some influences on the individuals’ development, such as theories, theorists, theoretical conceptions, and specific principles. It focuses on five theories that have had the most impact: maturationist, constructivist, behavioral, psychoanalytic, and ecological. Each theory offers interpretations on the meaning of children's development and behavior. Although the theories are clustered collectively into schools of thought, they differ within each school.
Parents engage in joint story book sharing where adults read an appropriate text to children, usually in the home environment. Story book sharing promotes the young children's development of ...receptive and expressive language abilities as well as their emerging early literacy abilities, which have an effect on the childrens success in school-based literacy instruction. This review describes and analyses studies that have examined the parents and children's involvement in shared storybook reading. It specifically focuses on the parents teaching behaviours and storybook reading interactions during formal and informal literacy experiences including the quality of their interactions, interactions in dialogic reading, and extratextual interactions. The review also discusses studies on the value and effect of using different story book genres in particular narrative and informational texts (such as science texts as information books). These studies support that storybook reading promotes childrens language growth, emergent literacy, and reading achievement.
A Critical Discourse Analysis was used to examine the parents' social practice during shared storybook reading with young children (birth to eight-years-old). The methodology involved two phases: (1) ...educational databases were searched and (2) a template was developed and used to code the programmes' components and studies' research design. Analysis of the articles which met the selection criteria generated trends in the research questions, theories used, and types of interactions that gained their attention. This analysis describes how studies examined the parents' social practices in shared storybook reading. The results indicated that parents used several approaches in shared storybook reading such as using their personal teaching behaviours and engaging in high quality literacy interactions. High reliability estimates were found for these categories, which ranged from 65% to 100%. Results indicate that shared storybook reading promotes the children's language growth, emergent literacy, and reading achievement. The study also provides research recommendations.
Bullying is a serious problem that affects the young children’s well being. Early childhood educators find it difficult to manage bullying in the classroom. Preschool is the first environment outside ...of the home setting where children encounter difficulties when they socially interact with their peers. Based on the principles of protecting and establishing a safe environment for all children, the purpose of this review is to present current empirical evidence about the nature and distinctive facet of bullying among preschool children. It defines both the concept of traditional school bullying and bullying in early childhood education, describes the social context of young children’s bullying, differentiates between bullies and victims in early childhood education, discusses the young children’s interpretations of bullying, describes the young children’s functions in bullying, and provides a rationale for the use of bully prevention programs for young children.
This article examines the life of Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten in the 1840s. It describes how the kindergarten and its impact in Germany and the United States. It spread at the ...international level of education because German kindergarten teachers relocated it to other countries when it was banned in Germany. In the years from 1851 to 1914, kindergarten had much greater success in the United States than in Germany. In 1900, most German school authorities refused to incorporate the kindergarten into public school systems, but many American school systems included kindergarten classes after it was accepted. This paper provides a summary of Froebel's life and his gifts to children in Germany and the United States.
Major developmental theories been a resource to early childhood education researchers and educators. They help to explain how child development unfolds, sources of vulnerability and protection that ...influences child development, and how the course of development may be altered by prevention and intervention efforts. Understanding factors which may support or compromise development and integrating this knowledge into their work with children and their families are key to supporting healthy developmental outcomes and creating trusting partnerships with caregivers.
Educational pioneers believed that the early childhood curriculum was inappropriate for most of the children. It needed to be modified to meet each child's maturing needs, abilities, and interests. ...The pioneers advocated that education should be more hands-on and assist children to function successfully in society. They recommended the initiation of project learning, which would be a preparation for the children's roles in life and creation of kindergartens. The practices in early childhood education have changed gradually. Numerous practices reemerge with novel materials that appear to indicate they are actually original. When present-day practices surface, early childhood professionals respond by generating other practices. Therefore, current practices in early childhood education appear to be associated to past early childhood educators, which are the pioneers. This article describes a few examples.
Family literacy refers to parents and their children using literacy together at home. They participate in literacy experiences in a natural way during their daily routines. Studies on family literacy ...show its impact on the children's literacy development. For more than five decades, family literacy studies have demonstrated the importance of the parents' involvement in promoting their children's acquisition of literacy. Language and literacy theories have been generated based on family literacy research. Evidence supports that family literacy programmes are effective in the children's literacy development. Studies were reviewed to examine how family literacy affects the young children's literacy development. They showed that the children's acquisition of literacy depends on a variety of strategies for working with families that are appropriate for the home environment. This review describes the (1) role of the federal government in promoting the families' education, (2) implementation of parent education programmes in early childhood education, (3) US policies for family literacy, (4) family literacy programmes, and (5) family literacy intervention programmes.
Young children are able to read before they experience formal reading instruction. They have unique backgrounds, experiences, and capabilities. As a result, young children need to have reading and ...writing experiences that are of interest to them and are developmentally appropriate for them, which also include the primary grades. This review examines the concept of emergent literacy in relation to its paradigm and developmentally appropriate literacy practices. It compares the perceptions and definitions of emergent literacy in several countries within the continents. It summarizes the research, history, policy, and practice on early reading instruction such as the national reading panel and national early literacy panel and its indicators of literacy proficiency at a later age.
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