The intricate challenges of the modern world demand students to be equipped with advanced skills and knowledge to thrive in an increasingly competitive global landscape. Science, technology, ...engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practices can help develop these capabilities in students from an early age. However, as technology continues to advance rapidly, STEM education has experienced a rapid transformation with seamless integration of various technologies. Students in the K-12 education is required to keep up with the growing innovation and to bridge this gap, pedagogical approaches play a crucial role. Therefore, this review presents the current landscape, developmental trends, and future directions of the various pedagogical practices used to integrate innovation in K-12 STEM. The characteristics and environmental perceptions that influence the development of innovation in students using such approaches are examined. Results from 42 systematically shortlisted studies indicate positive correlations of personalized pedagogical approaches in promoting innovation in students, thereby increasing STEM literacy in K-12 education. However, limitations that remain with teacher competencies and school facilities to cope with various pedagogical approaches are also discussed. Finally, we conclude with our recommendations on effective and efficient approaches that can be implemented in K-12 STEM education to develop the skills and mindset in students necessary to become innovative thinkers and prepare them for a technology-driven society.
•We reviewed different pedagogical practices which help foster innovation in K-12 students.•Explored the direct and indirect impacts of these practices in K-12 STEM education.•Highlighted the effective and efficient approaches to make students innovative thinkers.•Depicted gaps in teacher competencies and school facilities for the effective execution of such pedagogical practices.
Abstract This paper addresses the research problem that arises from evidence that, despite supportive policy contexts, enactment of pedagogies that attend to young children's participation rights in ...classroom settings is highly variable. We report our exploration of the ways in which the child, and child participation are constructed in early education settings in Wales, where legislation and policy around children's rights has been a key feature of the Welsh Government agenda post‐devolution. Data were gathered via a qualitative online bilingual (English and Welsh) survey offered via email to teachers of children aged 3–7 in Wales. The overarching research question of the project was: How do teachers of children 3–7 years understand and enact the notion of participation as it relates to the children they teach? Data analysis focused on research participants' apparent constructions of the children they teach and their capabilities, and unpacked the ways in which these constructions relate to the reported opportunities for participation. The discussion is informed by the notion of the threshold concept, described by Meyer & Land as akin to a portal that opens new and previously inaccessible ways of thinking. We consider the extent to which the conceptual construction of the capable child maybe a threshold concept in shaping the realisation of children's participation rights in educative contexts.
•Experiences of match varied by child age and child race/ethnicity.•Black and Latinx children experienced less match (ages 1-3) than white children.•Latinx children who spoke non-English languages at ...home experienced more match.•White children who spoke non-English languages at home experienced less match.•Match was not predictive of parent or child outcomes in this sample.
Recent examinations of racial/ethnic match within early education settings have found that child-provider racial/ethnic match is associated with positive outcomes for children. However, much of this work has concentrated on preschool, with a need for more research on younger children. This study explores racial/ethnic match between children and their providers (home visitors and center-based teachers) in a sample of children and families receiving Early Head Start services (N = 407) from ages 1 through 3 years in 2009-2012. More than half of children in the full sample experienced match all 3 years in the program (63%), with a higher percentage of children in the white subsample experiencing match all 3 years (79%), and a lower percentage of children in the Black (47%), and Latinx subsamples (53%). When considering the predictors of match experiences, regression analyses found that white children experienced statistically significantly more match compared to Black and Latinx children. Some predictors functioned differently within the subsamples. For example, white children whose home language was not English experienced less match over the 3 years compared to white children whose home language was English. However, Latinx children whose home language was not English experienced more match compared to Latinx children whose home language was English. Regression assessed the associations between match and child and parent outcomes, finding that child-provider racial/ethnic match was not associated with outcomes in this study. Findings suggest the importance of better understanding the predictors and outcomes of child and provider racial/ethnic match in programs for young children and highlight the need for additional research examining racial/ethnic match for young children.
In this paper we argue that the quality of early education programs or classrooms can be defined in terms of features of teachers' interactions with students observed using the Classroom Assessment ...Scoring System, or CLASS. We present evidence suggesting that dimensions of teacher-student interactions can be described, observed, and measured consistently across cultures and countries and that such dimensions also have modestly positive influence student development and learning. Evidence is summarized indicating that interactions can also be improved systematically through professional development interventions. The paper relies on a framework that describes core features of effective teacher-student interactions present across countries' highly varied settings and cultural contexts. Limitations of the study include exclusive reliance on the CLASS and that most countries were not low or middle income. We discuss the cross-cultural applicability of the framework and outline suggestions for education policy and practice and future directions for research.
•Black girls’ language, math, and social–emotional skills were examined between preschool and kindergarten.•Three profiles emerged called Consistent Learner, Struggling Learner, and Excelling ...Learner.•Family income, parenting, parental health status, parent–teacher communication, and child–teacher relationship predicted likelihood of being in the optimal transition profile.
This study used pre-academic and socioemotional data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth (ECLS-B) Cohort to examine the profiles of Black girls’ school readiness skills from preschool through kindergarten. In addition to examining profiles that emerged, analyses were conducted to determine whether family socio-economic status (SES), parenting, parental functioning, community social support, neighborhood quality, and early education experiences predicted the likelihood of being in a particular profile. Three profiles emerged: (1) Consistent Learner, (2) Struggling Learner, and (3) Excelling Learner. There was heterogeneity within these prekindergarten-to-kindergarten learning profiles; however, a relatively large group showed low achievement and aggression during these early years. Family demographics, parenting, parental functioning, and early education experiences predicted likelihood of being in a particular profile. Implications of how to support Black girls’ learning and adjustment from preschool through kindergarten are discussed.
•Provider subsidy participation is examined in a mixed methods statewide study.•Centers’ operations and funding structures are related to subsidy participation.•Centers in high poverty areas are more ...likely to accept subsidies.•State policies play an important role in subsidy participation decisions.•Center, community, and state level factors can influence subsidy participation.
The number of early care and education centers that accept child care subsidies has declined, limiting access for children and families from low-income backgrounds. This statewide mixed methods study explores how centers make decisions about accepting subsidies in Arkansas. Quantitative results suggest that provider and community characteristics are important, while qualitative results help to enhance our overall understanding of the decision-making process by emphasizing the importance of a center's overall operational and financial structure and state subsidy policies. Integrated findings suggest the importance of the combination of a variety of factors at the center, community, and state levels. Findings from this study point to ways that policymakers may encourage early learning programs to accept child care subsidies.
Diskurse über Jungen und Bildung sind im akademischen Feld nach intensiven Debatten in den 2000ern und frühen 2010ern seltener geworden. Zwar gibt es ein anhaltend aktives Feld der pädagogischen ...Praxis, die Jungen und deren Lebenslagen geschlechterreflektiert adressiert. Doch die Anzahl an empirischen Studien zu Jungen und Bildung ist überschaubar. Dabei gibt es durchaus eine Vielzahl aktueller erziehungswissenschaftlicher Fragen im Kontext der Transformation von Geschlechterverhältnissen und ökonomischem und kulturellem Wandel. Der Band stellt empirische Studien vor, die sich diesen Fragen in Bezug auf Früh- und Schulpädagogik, berufliche Bildung, offene Jugendarbeit sowie Berufsbildungsbiographien widmen. Zudem enthält er theoretische Reflexionen zu Männlichkeitsforschung und zum Verhältnis von Jungen und Bildung. (DIPF/Verlag)
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of a training program on language support strategies and dialogic reading for caregivers working in specialized preschool programs. ...These programs serve children without a regular childcare place who grow up with one or more languages other than German as the environmental language. Recent studies investigating the development of children attending these programs found only moderate improvements in German receptive language skills, while language support quality of the programs was rated as average. We assessed receptive second language competencies in vocabulary and grammar of
= 48 children and language support competencies of
= 15 caregivers using an interventional pre-posttest design. Receptive vocabulary skills of children supported by trained caregivers (intervention group) were compared to children supported by untrained caregivers (control group,
= 43). We found that both children's and caregivers' competencies increased from pre- to posttest, whereas the control group's receptive vocabulary skills did not increase noticeably. The caregivers' language support competencies influenced the increase of children's receptive grammar but not vocabulary skills. The comparison between the intervention group and control group consistently showed no effect of group membership on children's receptive vocabulary acquisition over time. Since the control group data came from a secondary analysis, only receptive vocabulary skills could be compared. The preliminary results of our study suggest that a caregivers' training on language support strategies and dialogic reading in everyday educational situations support bilingual children's grammar acquisition.
Policy makers in California intend to provide free preschool to all 4-year-olds solely within public schools by 2026, becoming the nation’s second largest single pre-K program in the United States ...after Head Start. This initiative builds on the state’s existing Transitional Kindergarten (TK) option that has served a modest share of 4-year-olds since 2010. Tracing the historical growth in TK enrollments, we find that just 30, mostly urban school districts, enrolled two-fifths of all children served by 2020, responding to funding incentives and displaying stronger organizational capacity. Meanwhile, one-third of California’s nearly one thousand districts enrolled fewer than 12 TK children. Black, white, and Asian children remained disproportionally under-enrolled as a share of their respective populations, as enrollments climbed past 90,000 children prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying factors that may explain widely differing gains in TK enrollment, merging education and local census data, we find the suburbs began to catch-up with cities in serving additional 4-year-olds, as well as districts offering school choice (e.g., charter schools). We discuss implications for other nations attempting to rapidly expand preschool, including the inequities that may inadvertently arise.
