Editors

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 4-5, 1996

N/A

Olivia N . Saracho, Bernard Spodek

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 7-19, 1996

The literacy activities in a kindergarten play environment were examined. Five-year-old children in three kindergarten classrooms were interviewed about their concepts about reading and their activities were videotaped during their free choice play. The interviews and videotaped observations focused on Literacy activities that promote reading and writing during the children s play. The teachers in the kindergarten classrooms provided a literate environment including writing centers, writing activities, and print labels. A qualitative analysis indicated that the children viewed reading as writing because they could read their own marks on the page. The observations showed a wide range of language or literacy components in activities, some directly taught by the teacher, others the result of careful planning and provisioning.

Joe L . Frost

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 21-35, 1996

Noise, commonly described as unwanted sound, has adverse auditory and nonauditory effects on people. The effects of noise are cumulative and are more severe for children than for adults. Long-term exposure to noise of high intensity or of long duration, can have permanent, negative effects on children with the extent of damage dependent upon number of exposures, levels and duration of exposures, and the relative susceptibility of individuals. The damaging effects of noise include hearing loss, stress, psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular disease and decline in school achievement. Situation specific solutions for noise pollution include avoidance of noise, reducing noise at its source, and reduction of noise inside and outside buildings. Noise pollution is linked ecologically to other forms of pollution and ultimate solutions will require extensive education and cooperation between nations.

Greta G . Fein, Lynn Dietrich Darling

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 37-57, 1996

The notion that the communication styles of men and women differ is currently a popular topic of discussion. Tannen (1990) even claims that it is reasonable to assume that boys and girls grow up in what are essentially different cultures. If so, talk between men and women can be viewed as cross-cultural communication. Tannen documents gender differences in both the communicative content and the communicative behavior of second grade American children who are already enculturated into their respective gender`s communication styles. When instructed to discuss $quot;something important,$quot; two boys fidget constantly in their chairs, avoid direct eye contact with each other, and converse in one-sentence exchanges about what they would like to play. In contrast, two girls sit close together, maintain constant eye contact, and converse in large blocks of speech about traumatic events in the lives of family members (Tannen, 1990). These children clearly have different notions about how to talk to each other and what is important enough to talk about. Gender differences are marked by ways of talking infused with different views of what is worth saying. Of special interest are differences in how boys and girls represent the contents of social life. Little is known about the beginnings of gender differences in children`s social representations. We assume here that children s pretend play and stories reflect the different ways boys and girls represent the world, especially differences in how they imagine physical and human relationships, in what they desire and in what they fear. In this article, we explore early gender differences in the fictional narratives of American preschoolers. The themes, settings, characterizations, actions, and emotional content in the stories of 16 four year-old children are examined in order to identify early gender disparities in children`s world views as revealed in their story representations.

Young Ja Lee, Jong Sook Lee

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 59-88, 1996

This study is to examine: (1) the effects of whole language program on 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds` literacy developments, and (2) the effects of whole language program of kindergarten on children s communications and literacy developments at the 1st grade. This study shows that the whole language program facilitates the children`s literacy development such as emergent literacy concepts and retelling of the stories read to them, and the children s writing development. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of the whole language program on the communication skills in the lst grade. This study shows that children in whole language program grasp most of the emergent literacy concept and abilities during the time period of 3-, 4-year-olds. Therefore, it is advisable to apply the whole language program early on.

Martha B . Bronson

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 89-111, 1996

This study shows the usefulness of a classroom observation measure of social and mastery behaviors in a small longitudinal study. A collaborative day care and public school intervention program for children in public housing was evaluated with the Bronson Social and Task Skill Profile. The intervention group and comparison children from the same classrooms, were observed four times over a two year period in their prekindergarten and kindergarten years. Comparison children came from the same neighborhood, but were economically more advantaged had few minority group members. The results demonstrate a progressive $quot;catch-up$quot; effect in most observed behavior categories for the intervention group in relation to the comparison sample. Very poor performance in a few children, eligible for the intervention but not served, underlines the effectiveness of the intervention. Observational assessment of both social and mastery variables provided valuable information on areas of skill and weakness in the samples.

Yong Hee Hong, Daniel J . Walsh

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 113-142, 1996

This article presents results from an ethnographic investigation of group time in a preschool classroom. The teacher in this classroom was selected because of her commitment to and success at group time. Group time presents unique opportunities for socially constructed learning through rich dialogue. It is mutually and reciprocally constructed by the teacher and the children. To show the complexity of the teacher`s efforts at group time, we make the teacher`s hidden work visible by discussing three strategies: becoming ready for conversation, exchanging contextualization cues, and using different types of group conversation. Rich and meaningful learning at group time becomes possible through the mutual efforts and support of the teacher, children, and parents.

Elisa L . Klein, Karen L . Murphy, Nancy W . Wiltz

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 143-156, 1996

The present study examined preservice teachers` beliefs about developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood classrooms using the Teacher Beliefs Questionnaire developed by Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, and Hernandez(1991). The questionnaire was administered three times over the course of the students` first year in an early childhood education teacher preparation program. Results indicated that students entered the program with conflicting beliefs about appropriate practice with young children, but beliefs about the importance of developmentally appropriate practices increased over the course of the year while beliefs about the importance of inappropriate practices decreased. Three clusters of items (discipline practices, instructional strategies, literacy practices) were identified as tapping different dimensions of teaching practices. The proportion of individual preservice teachers who held conflicting beliefs for each of the three dimensions decreased over time. Results are discussed in terms of the influence of prior belief structures and current program content on the emergence of beginning ideas about practice in novice teachers.

Lea Lee

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 157-165, 1996

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of public preschool education on kindergarten preparedness for $quot;at-risk$quot; children participants versus $quot;at-risk$quot; children nonparticipants. The result of the study using one-way Analysis of Variance found that the participants of the preschool program scored significantly higher on the Early Prevention of School Failure screening instrument than did the nonparticipants. The means of the experimental and control group differed significantly {F(1, 58)=13.9, p$lt;.01 }. It was concluded that the $quot;at-risk$quot; children who had participated in a preschool program entered kindergarten more academically equipped for early school success than those with no such experience.

Jianhong Wang

DOI: Vol.1(No.0) 167-173, 1996

In today`s society, China has realized the vital function of early childhood education and its lasting effects on a child`s development throughout life. Many parents, especially parents in big cities, are willing to invest, no matter the cost, into their child`s education including early childhood education. This attitude coincides with the country`s current profound and speedy social changes. The central task of economic construction leads to tremendous achievements and the national strategy of vitalizing the country by developing science and education. Consequently, a gigantic project of pursuing educational modernization is gradually in the making. Meanwhile many problems remain in our education system, which certainly cannot meet the society`s demands for qualified personnel at present and in the future, and therefore, calling for a deep reform in all levels of education. As the starting point of a person`s educational life, early childhood education is now facing significant challenges as it leans towards modernization.