Hana Cahová
Angewandte Chemie,
February 12, 2024, Letnik:
136, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
„My long‐term goal is to apply my chemical knowledge to understand the role of non‐canonical RNA capping… I′m always in a good mood when I have a free afternoon and evening for my work (which is not ...very often as I have to pick up my kids from school and kindergarten)…“ Find out more about Hana Cahova in her Introducing… Profile.
Rik R. Tykwinski
Angewandte Chemie International Edition,
May 22, 2017, Letnik:
56, Številka:
22
Journal Article
Recenzirano
“In a spare hour, I take a nap. I admire kindergarten teachers; where do they find the patience? ...” This and more about Rik R. Tykwinski can be found on page 5974.
Die Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt (HTL) Zeltweg ist die Technikerschmiede im Oberen Murtal. Im Rahmen von Diplomarbeiten und Projekten haben die Schüler(innen) die Möglichkeit, praxisbezogene ...Themenstellungen aufzugreifen und abzuwickeln. Dies sind einerseits technische Projekte in Kooperation mit Firmen in der Region, andererseits aber auch Projekte für soziale Einrichtungen wie für die Lebenshilfe Knittelfeld oder, wie nachfolgend beschrieben, für die beiden heilpädagogischen Kindergärten (HPK) in Judenburg und Knittelfeld. Diese Kindergärten benötigen eine Vielzahl von meist teuren Spezialeinrichtungen, Geräten und Vorrichtungen, um die bestmögliche Heilbeihilfe der Kinder sicherzustellen. Hierzu wurden für den HPK in Judenburg ein „Therapietisch“ zum Wickeln der Kinder und ein „Therapiestuhl“, der an die Bedürfnisse der Kinder angepasst werden kann, entwickelt und angefertigt. Das dritte, noch laufende, Projekt für den HPK Knittelfeld befasst sich mit der Entwicklung und Fertigung eines höhenverstellbaren und flexibel einsetzbaren „Therapiedreirads“.
The research was conducted with the aim of determining to what extent and in what manner the kindergarten sports school program affects the coordination of preschool children. The sample consisted of ...57 preschool age children. The control group comprised 31 children and the experimental one 26 children, aged 6 years ± 6 months. The experimental group applied the sports school program for a period of 8 weeks (2 x 45 minutes each week). The control group only had regular activities in the kindergarten. The level of bilateral coordination in children was determined applying seven tests and a level of balance applying nine tests at the initial and final measurement. At the initial measurement, experimental and control groups showed similar results, while the experimental group showed significantly better results at the final measurement. The tests applied in the research were taken from the BOT-2 battery of tests: the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of Motor Proficiency (Bruininks, 1987; Bruininks and Bruininks, 2005, taken from Cools et al, 2009), where body coordination as a separate composite is assessed by subtests of bilateral coordination and balance. The obtained data were processed by the SPSS 20 statistics software, and ANCOVA was used to determine the effects of the sports school program. It is assumed that the experimental program has influenced the improvement of the results between two assessments of the bilateral coordination (on three tests) and balance estimates (on one test). The obtained results point to the need for a wider application of similar programs in working with preschool age children.
Early Childhood Education (ECE) programs provide skills needed for successful kindergarten strides, especially for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. While Florida’s Voluntary ...Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program currently serves most four-year-olds, some educators have questioned the program’s quality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of Florida’s VPK program on kindergarten readiness and academic achievement for students attending the program in one county's VPK (CVPK) when compared to students who did not attend approved VPK programs in this county. The results suggest that, regardless of socioeconomic status, children who attended CVPK programs were just as prepared and performed equally as well in kindergarten as those who did not attend this program. Unfortunately, we cannot know how the CVPK program compared to specific pre-K alternatives without being able to distinguish program attendance across provider types (i.e., other ECE or no pre-K), which is something we recommend Florida begin tracking and make accessible.
Place value learning in kindergarten Mix, Kelly S.; Bower, Corinne A.; Hancock, Gregory R. ...
Journal of educational psychology,
05/2024
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Building on previous findings that preschool children develop an awareness of base-ten structure from informal exposure to multidigit numbers, we tested whether kindergarten children would benefit ...from formal place value instruction, using this informal foundation as a starting point. A total of 124 U.S. kindergarten students participated in a school-based study that used a pretest-training-posttest design. One group of students completed 20 brief lessons focused on the relational structure of base-ten symbols, using activities informed by cognitive science research on relational learning. A second group of students completed 20 practice sessions on single-digit addition and subtraction problems. Both groups showed growth in place value understanding, but students in the experimental curriculum showed greater growth than children in the control group on measures that required precise understanding of base-ten syntax (i.e., counts of base-ten units). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
•Hypothesized indirect effects of pre-kindergarten were examined to address claims of such indirect effect through either peer effects or impacts on teacher instruction when early elementary school ...classrooms have more children who attended pre-kindergarten.•Results suggested slightly larger gains in vocabulary and inhibitory control, but also small decreases in frustration tolerance when children had more classmates with pre-kindergarten exposure.•No evidence emerged suggesting indirect effects through changing classroom instruction.
Pre-kindergarten (pre-k) is thought to have both direct and indirect effects on children's outcomes in early elementary school. Direct pre-k effectsconsistently include moderate to large gains in academic skills and sometimes include increases in problem behaviors that affect acquisition of skills in school. Indirect pre-k effects assume that having more pre-k attenders in classrooms motivates teachers to provide more challenging instruction and provide children with more academically skilled, but perhaps behaviorally challenged peers with whom they interact. To date, these indirect effects have not been carefully examined. This study used a district-wide cohort study of a pre-k program (n = 2572 children, 482 kindergarten classrooms) to examine whether the proportion of children in kindergarten classrooms with pre-k experience related to gains in children's academic, executive function, and social skills during kindergarten. Results indicated that schools with more pre-k attenders served more children from low-income families and children of color. The quality of instruction in classrooms with more pre-k attenders was rated as slightly higher in terms of instructional support and focus on abstract learning when school composition was not considered. Teachers reported less focus on teachers-parent coordination of home learning in classrooms with more pre-k attenders. Children with more classmates who attended pre-k, regardless of their own pre-k attendance histories, showed slightly larger gains in vocabulary and inhibitory control skills but also showed smaller increases in ability to manage frustration. When taken together, findings may indicate that peers influence young children's verbal and social skills, but do not support speculation that increasing pre-k exposure would improve reading or math skills overall or lead to more externalizing behavior problems.
One hundred and ten English-speaking children schooled in French were followed from kindergarten to Grade 2 (M age : T1 = 5;6, T2 = 6;4, T3 = 6;11, T4 = 7;11). The findings provided strong support ...for the Home Literacy Model (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002) because in this sample the home language was independent of the language of instruction. The informal literacy environment at home predicted growth in English receptive vocabulary from kindergarten to Grade 1, whereas parent reports of the formal literacy environment in kindergarten predicted growth in children's English early literacy between kindergarten and Grade 1 and growth in English word reading during Grade 1. Furthermore, 76% of parents adjusted their formal literacy practices according to the reading performance of their child, in support of the presence of a responsive home literacy curriculum among middle-class parents.
In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to classrooms within their schools from kindergarten to third grade. This article evaluates the long-term ...impacts of STAR by linking the experimental data to administrative records. We first demonstrate that kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with outcomes such as earnings at age 27, college attendance, home ownership, and retirement savings. We then document four sets of experimental impacts. First, students in small classes are significantly more likely to attend college and exhibit improvements on other outcomes. Class size does not have a significant effect on earnings at age 27, but this effect is imprecisely estimated. Second, students who had a more experienced teacher in kindergarten have higher earnings. Third, an analysis of variance reveals significant classroom effects on earnings. Students who were randomly assigned to higher quality classrooms in grades K-3—as measured by classmates' end-of-class test scores—have higher earnings, college attendance rates, and other outcomes. Finally, the effects of class quality fade out on test scores in later grades, but gains in noncognitive measures persist.
The early prediction of math difficulties (MD) is important as it facilitates timely support. MD are multifaceted, and several factors are involved in their manifestation. This makes the accurate ...early prediction of MD particularly challenging. In the present study, we aim to predict MD in Grade 6 with kindergarten-age (age 6) measures by applying a neural networks model. We use a set of 49 variables assessed during kindergarten from the domains of early arithmetic skills, cognitive skills, the home learning environment, parental measures, motivation, behavioral problems, and gender, which have been shown to have associations with mathematical development and/or MD. A two-step approach was used: First, we examined whether the neural networks approach can provide a solution for the effective early identification of MD based on all 49 variables and, then, by using the most important predictors as identified by the initial model. The initial model achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of .818, demonstrating excellent performance. The most important predictors of Grade 6 MD came from the domains of arithmetic and cognitive skills (arithmetic skills, rapid automatized naming, number concepts, spatial skills, counting) and behavioral problems (attention-orientation). The model with only the most important predictors achieved an AUC of .776, indicating good performance. Our results provided proof of concept for using neural networks in MD prediction in Grade 6 using information already available in kindergarten. In schools, these results could be used to identify children at potential risk of developing MD and to provide access to early support.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Approximately 4%-15% of children suffer from math difficulties (MD), and many more struggle with them without a formal diagnosis. MD have been shown to put children at increased risk of lower academic achievement, lower motivation, anxiety, depression, and even higher unemployment. Predicting MD accurately and early facilitates timely support. The current study demonstrates the potential of neural networks models to facilitate the early identification of those at risk of developing MD. The performance of our model provided proof of concept for using neural networks for the prediction of MD in Grade 6 using information already available in kindergarten. In a school setting, such prediction knowledge could be used to identify children at potential risk of developing MD and to provide access to early support.
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