Social categories guide young children’s preferences for novel objects

To whom do children look when deciding on their own preferences? To address this question, 3-year-old children were asked to choose between objects or activities that were endorsed by unfamiliar people who differed in gender, race (White, Black), or age (child, adult). In Experiment 1, children demonstrated robust preferences for objects and activities endorsed by children of their own gender, but less consistent preferences for objects and activities endorsed by children of their own race. In Experiment 2, children selected objects and activities favored by people of their own gender and age. In neither study did most children acknowledge the influence of these social categories. These findings suggest that gender and age categories are encoded spontaneously and influence children's preferences and choices. For young children, gender and age may be more powerful guides to preferences than race.Psycholog

Sex-role stereotyping: changes in attitude of 3-,4-, and 5-year-old children

The purpose of the study was to determine if an educational intervention could change the sex-role stereotypes of three-, four-, and five-year-old boys and girls situated in preschool settings. An experimental research design, using pre and post testing with the Sex-Role Learning Index (SERLI), was used with a treatment and control group. Data were collected from 119 subjects enrolled in four preschools within the same community almost equally divided into a treatment (n=61) and control group (n=58). Teachers of both groups (treatment and control) read three books to the children each week for a period of seven weeks. The treatment group listened to nonsexist books about different occupations (the intervention), while the control group listened to a variety of children\u27s literature taken from a well- stocked preschool library. The children in each group were tested before the reading was begun and after the seven weeks with the Sex Role Learning Index, which yielded scores for sex-role discrimination scores (Own and Both), and sex-role preference scores (Children and Adult figures). A three-way analysis of variance was used to test the null hypotheses guiding the study. Major findings of the study were: 1) Overall, the educational intervention effectively changed the sex-role stereotypes held by the children in this study; 2) The intervention had a greater overall change effect on the sex-role stereotypes of the girls as compared to the boys

Developmentally Appropriate Software: Its Effect on the Language of Young Children

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect that the use of computer software which has been designated as more or less developmentally appropriate had on the language of young children. The guiding questions for the study were: (1) what common and varied patterns exist in children\u27s language in response to software that has been designated by the Haugland/Shade Developmental Scale as more or less developmentally appropriate, and (2) how do individual and pairs of children respond to software that has been designated as more or less developmentally appropriate for children in their age range? Four pieces of software which varied in developmental appropriateness according to the developmental scale were selected to be used by dyads of preschool children. Eight videotaped observations were made of three dyads using all possible high/low pairings of the software. The investigator kept a log during the computer observations and also observed each participant during an activity time in the classroom. The videotaped observations were transcribed, sorted and analyzed for common and varied patterns of language for each software program and for each dyad across all four software programs. Analyzed patterns of language included use of Tough\u27s seven categories of language, talkativeness conflict and cooperation, and language play. Tables of qualitative data were compiled to facilitate holistic analysis. Descriptions of common and varied patterns for each software program and for each dyad were written by integrating all of the data. Results of the study indicate that there was greater use of Tough\u27s language categories of self/group maintaining, directing, and reporting than there was of reasoning, predicting, projecting and imagining. Use of the four latter categories was noted more often with the most developmentally appropriate software used in the study. Since one of the least developmentally appropriate programs produced patterns of language similar to the most developmentally appropriate program in terms of use of Tough\u27s categories and talkativeness, questions remain concerning what factors other than developmental appropriateness may affect the language of dyads during computer use and concerning the criteria used to determine developmental appropriateness

Examination of Eco-Behavioral Assessments Designed for Understanding Complex Behaviors and Environments.

Second-generation intervention research requires methods for overcoming challenges to understanding complex learning ecologies and interactions of students. Eco-behavioral assessments (EBAs) are one solution to past intervention research challenges. EBAs record the effects of ecological variables in students’ behavior and daily interactions. The utility of EBAs in second-generation research has increased substantially. Numerous EBAs now exist for use with all ages of learners and provide a valid, reliable, and cost effective method for intervention research. This paper examines 18 EBAs as well as software systems designed to support and enhance the use of EBAs. The examination serves as a comprehensive resource to better understand how EBAs can be used in answering complex questions about students’ learning and for advancing second-generation research

A review of the evidence on the use of ICT in the Early Years Foundation Stage

This report reviewed existing evidence on the potential of technology to support the development of educational policy and practice in the context of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Reference is made to the use of ICT by young children from aged birth to five years and its potential impacts, positive and negative on their cognitive, social, emotional educational, visual and physical development

Preschool children's context-specific sedentary behaviours and parental socioeconomic status in Finland : a cross-sectional study

Objectives This study examined the associations of parental socioeconomic status (SES) with preschoolers' objectively measured sedentary time (SED) over the course of a week and with parent-reported children's screen and reading times at home as indicators of sedentary behaviours (SB). Design Cross-sectional. Setting In years 2015 and 2016 in Finland. Participants 864 children, aged 3-6 years, with their parents. Outcome measures Children's accelerometer data were transformed into average SED minutes per hour in different contexts (preschool, home during preschool days, weekend and total). Parent-reported children's screen and reading times were expressed as average daily minutes. The SES indicators (maternal and paternal education and relative household income) were grouped into three categories. Linear or logistic regression analyses were used, with municipality, season, and children's gender and age as covariates. CIs were adjusted for clustering at the preschool group level. Results Children with low maternal (beta=17.21, 95% CI: 8.71 to 25.71) and paternal (beta=10.54, 95% CI: 0.77 to 20.30) education had more overall screen time at home than their more advantaged counterparts. SES differences in overall screen time were mostly explained by TV viewing. Children with low as opposed to high maternal education (beta=-2.66, 95% CI: -4.95 to -0.38) had less reading time at home. Children whose fathers were on the middle (beta=-1.15, 95% CI: -2.01 to -0.29) educational level had less weekend SED than those with high paternal education. Otherwise, parental SES was not related to objectively measured SED. Conclusions The results of this study highlight the fact that the associations between parental SES and preschoolers' SB are dependent on the indicators of SES and SBs, and vary between different contexts. Generally, parental SES was not associated with SED, whereas some SES differences existed in screen time and reading time at home. Interventions aiming to diminish SES differences in children's SB should focus on home hours.Peer reviewe

Mastery Motivation and Executive Functions as School Readiness Factors: Enhancement of School Readiness in Kenya

The overall goal of this study is to enhance school readiness assessment in Kenya by developing an easy-to-use tablet-based android app that can support teachers and learners during the assessment of Pre-academic skills, Mastery Motivation (MM) and Executive Functions (EF) in the Kenyan context. We operationalised MM and EF as components of Approaches to Learning (ATL): one of the poorly assessed domains of school readiness. This research was based on the theory of ATL and followed a non-experimental longitudinal research design. One study was a Scoping Review that identified the gap in the literature in the assessment of School Readiness domains using game-like apps. This study formed the basis for developing Finding Out Children's Unique Strengths (FOCUS) app for Kenya following Education Design Research Approach. Two studies tested and evaluated the psychometric properties of the FOCUS app in the Kenyan context. Another two empirical studies focused on adapting the Preschool Dimension of Mastery Questionnaire 18 (DMQ 18) and the Childhood Executive Functioning (CHEXI) to complement the assessment of MM and EF, respectively. In addition, one study addressed the role played by MM and EF on school academic performance. A total of 40 teachers, 497 preschool and 535 grade 1 children were involved in this study. Both parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses were used to analyse the generated data. The FOCUS app, CHEXI and DMQ 18 fit well with the data and exhibited strong psychometric properties, thus being suitable for the Kenyan context. Furthermore, both MM and EF were directly and indirectly, involved in grade one children's academic performance. FOCUS app tasks, pre-academic skills, and number and letter search tasks at preprimary II strongly predicted preschool and grade one academic performance. MM assessed using the FOCUS app as a better predictor of academic performance than the DMQ 18. Interventions to improve MM and EF promise to enhance School Readiness in the Kenyan context. The FOCUS app can greatly complement Kenya School Readiness Test to give teachers and parents a broader spectrum to make correct decisions concerning the child

A Comparison of Traditional Preschool and Computer Play from a Social/Cognitive Perspective

Twenty females and twenty-three males from the Utah State University Children\u27s House participated in this study which compared traditional preschool play with computer play. The Parten/Smilansky nested social/cognitive play hierarchy was used. Sociometric and cognitive assessments were incorporated in order to more clearly define behaviors. Five types of play were observed: computer, art, locks, manipulative toys, and the dramatic area. No gender differences were found in terms of the amount of time or type of play at the computer. However, sociometric status did influence computer play. Children who engaged in more positive social interactions used the computer constructively, while those who engaged in more negative interactions used the computer in a more dramatic fashion. Duration of play at the computer was similar to duration of play with blocks and art activities, but different from duration of play with manipulative toys and in the dramatic area. Group play was the most common level of social play observed at all types of play centers, including the computer center, suggesting that computers do foster socialization in young children. Summing across all centers, including the computer center, constructive play was the most prevalent type of cognitive play observed. When each center was analyzed individually, games with rules, the highest level of cognitive play, was observed significantly more often at the computer center. Thus, computers may be fostering higher cognitive levels of play

A comparison of the ways that teachers, parents and preschool children classify toys into gender categories

This study compared the ways that teachers, parents and children classified toys according to gender categories. Fifty-eight teachers and seventy-eight parents completed a toy survey in which they were to sort a list of 49 preschool classroom toys into gender categories. The six toys most often rated masculine and the six toys most often rated feminine by the teachers were used in a toy sorting task for preschool children. Seventy-four preschool children were asked to sort pictures of the twelve toys into gender categories. One-way analyses of variance, t-tests, and Least Significant Difference multiple comparison procedures were used to examine parents\u27 classifications of toys, comparisons between teachers\u27 and children\u27s classifications of toys, and children\u27s classifications of toys as related to sex and age. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between teachers\u27 and children\u27s classifications of toys as related to sex of children. There was, however, a significant difference between teachers\u27 and children\u27s classifications of toys as related to age. The three-yearold children disagreed more often with the teachers\u27 masculine and feminine ratings of the toys while the fiveyear- old children agreed more often with the teachers\u27 masculine and feminine ratings of the toys. Analyses showed that the majority of parents classified toys into stereotypical categories of masculinity and femininity, whereas the majority of teachers classified more toys as neutral (a toy for either a boy or a girl). Data did indicate, however, that there was a substantial percentage of teachers who agreed with parents\u27 masculine and feminine ratings of the toys. Results showed that there was not a significant disagreement between boys and girls on the masculine and feminine ratings of the toys. However, there was a difference in the way different age groups of children sorted the toys. The three-year-old children were less likely to classify the toys along stereotypical lines than were the five-year-old children