Possible Worlds, Possible Minds

Reading Minds ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Henry M. Wellman
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
The World ◽  
Initial Framework

Across the world and across history, adults have developed widely divergent beliefs about people and their minds and actions, capacities and limits. Yet, these spring from, and depart from, early childhood theories, which are remarkably similar worldwide. This chapter considers what some of these divergent beliefs about people are like and how they arise from earlier understandings. How? Universal processes and beginnings allow and propel the development of vastly different belief systems, and theory of mind plays a particularly powerful role in these processes and outcomes. Human children worldwide share a framework theory of mind even when adults’ conceptions of people are less similar worldwide than children’s. Cultures have centuries in which to develop unique understandings of persons, selves, and societies. At the same time, all of them are grounded in the same initial framework of young children.

Using Technology in the World of Play

2011 ◽  
pp. 130-145
Author(s):  
Laura Baylot Casey ◽  
Kay C. Reeves ◽  
Elisabeth C. Conner
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Child Development ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Natural Combination

Child development experts have been raising alarms about the increasingly didactic and test-driven path of early childhood education as many programs eliminate play from their schedules. This limits the potential of technology use in play which is a natural combination for young children as play technologies become globally accepted as leisure time and learning activities. Play and technology both have their unique place in society and are often thought of as two separate entities. However, in today’s technology driven world, the separateness of the two is no longer as apparent as the two are beginning to blend. This blend is exciting but leaves educators with questions. Specifically, questions related to the following: (a) How do educators ensure that the child is challenged in every developmental domain and (b) How do educators create and facilitate opportunities for exposure to the traditional stages of play while also making sure that the child stays abreast of the latest and greatest technological advances? This chapter begins with the history of play and walks the reader to the issues educators are facing when technology and play merge.

scholarly journals The best game in the world: Exploring young children’s digital game–related meaning-making via design activity

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pekka Mertala ◽  
Mikko Meriläinen
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Male Character ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Drawing Task ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Questions

Although digital games have become a constituent part of young children’s lives, not enough is known about the kinds of meanings children give to games and gaming. This qualitative study contributes to resolving this need by engaging 26 5- to 7-year-old Finnish preschoolers in an open-ended drawing task to answer the following research questions: What aspects of digital games appear meaningful for young children when they act as game designers? Why are these aspects meaningful for young children? The findings suggest that children are not mere passive consumers of digital games but are agentic meaning-makers who are capable of critically evaluating digital games when a safe and supportive space and the appropriate medium are provided. The children refined, modified, and personalized existing influential games by replacing the leading male character with a female one or by having a player operate as the antagonist instead of the hero. The findings suggest that there are vast unexplored dimensions for scholars to engage with in young children’s gaming cultures, children’s perceptions of game content, early game literacy, as well as children’s meaning-making in games. Implications for pedagogy of early childhood education are discussed.

Building Epistemic Awareness in the Early Childhood Classroom

2010 ◽  
pp. 177-216
Author(s):  
Denise L. Winsor ◽  
Sally Blake
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Early Childhood Classroom ◽  
Academic Environments ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
The World ◽  
New Thinking

It is evident from the information in the previous chapters in this book that there is much to be learned about how technology fits into the world of early childhood education (ECE). This chapter discusses some exciting new thinking about epistemology and how children and teachers learn and how this could relate to technology and all learning with young children and their teachers. The new understanding of preschool education potential demands new approaches to these vital years of schooling if we are to prepare our children to succeed in the increasingly demanding academic environments.

The art of the early childhood researcher: Rediscovering music and movement in language

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Gloria Latham
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Look Back ◽  
The World ◽  
Teacher Researcher ◽  
Initial Research

The initial research undertaken was an attempt to understand what it is like for young children to be in the world. The study was a search to reclaim a sense of place for the teacher/researcher and the children, and to capture young children’s profound wondering. This article is a reflective look back at that study and attempts through methods of reflection and disruption to gain further clarity, to extend yet complicate what was known. The reflection also explores three of the central challenges that were encountered when evoking and ultimately re-visioning the lived experiences. Taking the time to look back on the research with testimonial readings, provided greater perspective and clarity to the role of emKeybodied teacher.

Early Childhood Corner: Collecting Data Outdoors: Making Connections to the Real World

1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Carol G. Basile
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Direct Observation ◽  
Real World ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Spatial Sense ◽  
The World ◽  
School Yard

The most enjoyable experiences that I have had with young children are those that occur outdoors. Taking children on walks in the woods, at our local park, or simply around the school yard can prompt many discoveries about the natural world. As we walk, children gain knowledge and skills by using their senses to collect information about the world around them. Traditionally, we think of providing these experiences as part of children's scientific learning. However, direct observation is also an important piece of mathematical learning that is essential for identifying patterns, promoting problem solving, and developing spatial sense and reasoning.

scholarly journals Embracing Make Believe Play and Theories of Early Childhood: Understanding Children's Spirituality and the Spiritual Essence of a Young Child

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 12-21
Author(s):  
Kathleen I Harris
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Children's Spirituality ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
The World ◽  
Secure Environment ◽  
Teachers And Parents ◽  
New Discovery

Young children are born with a unique development that captures the spiritual essence of wonder and signature style of their own capabilities, strengths, interests, personality, temperament, and learning styles. Spiritual moments experienced by young children are often direct, personal, and have the effect, if only for a moment, of uplifting us by capturing the essence of spirituality through playful moments.  Children’s spirituality involves questioning, exploring, and belonging by building close relationships in comfortable environments and from caring caregivers who provide a secure environment and routine in which to grow and nurture in. Spirituality, together with the efficacy of make-believe play invites young children to be awakened with an awareness of community and purpose with the world around them.  Each new discovery made by a young child is a potential source of wonder and delight.  Through a child’s imagination and make believe play, teachers and parents may be given opportunities to be aware of this aspect and witness their spirituality. In this paper, children’s spirituality is defined and the characteristics of spirituality are discussed connecting to the dynamics of play for young children and the contributions of major early childhood theorists to the growth and understanding of children’s spirituality are featured.

Young Children and Narrative Meaning-Making to Promote Arts and Technology

2019 ◽  
pp. 484-504
Author(s):  
Susanne Garvis
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Home School ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
School Environments ◽  
Home Environments ◽  
The World ◽  
Children’S Voices

Around the world, many young children under five years of age engage with arts and technology in their home environments. Engagement with arts and technology becomes a form of sense making and communication for the young child. When children enter early childhood educational settings, the same access to digital technology may not be visible. A divide between home environments and school environments may exist, with different cultural norms. Leven and Arafeh (2002) describe this as digital-disconnect between home-school contexts. This chapter will explore the importance of narrative meaning-making to promote arts and technology communication by young children. Narrative interactions allow children's voices to be at the centre of decisions by the educator regarding arts and technology engagement. By allowing children's voices to be heard around their engagement of arts and technology, we can reflect on reducing the gap between home environments and school environments for learning.

Young Children and Narrative Meaning-Making to Promote Arts and Technology

2015 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Susanne Garvis
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Home School ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
School Environments ◽  
Home Environments ◽  
The World ◽  
Children’S Voices

Around the world, many young children under five years of age engage with arts and technology in their home environments. Engagement with arts and technology becomes a form of sense making and communication for the young child. When children enter early childhood educational settings, the same access to digital technology may not be visible. A divide between home environments and school environments may exist, with different cultural norms. Leven and Arafeh (2002) describe this as digital-disconnect between home-school contexts. This chapter will explore the importance of narrative meaning-making to promote arts and technology communication by young children. Narrative interactions allow children's voices to be at the centre of decisions by the educator regarding arts and technology engagement. By allowing children's voices to be heard around their engagement of arts and technology, we can reflect on reducing the gap between home environments and school environments for learning.

With shadows, dust and mud: Activating weathering-with pedagogies in early childhood education

2020 ◽  
pp. 146394912093920
Author(s):  
Tonya Rooney ◽  
Mindy Blaise ◽  
Felicity Royds
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Environmental Humanities ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Matters Of Concern

In response to the perception that climate change is too abstract and its consequences too far-reaching for us to make a difference, recent feminist environmental humanities scholars have drawn attention to connections that can be forged by noticing the intermingling of bodies, relations, materials, places and movements in the world. Inspired by these ideas, Tonya Rooney has proposed that there is potential in working with child–weather relations as a pedagogical response to making climate change more connected and immediate for young children. Mindy Blaise and her colleagues have also shown how ‘matters of fact’ dominate early childhood teaching, and call for new pedagogies that attend to ‘matters of concern’, such as climate change. In this article the authors build on these ideas by drawing also on María Puig de la Bellacasa’s suggestion that we extend our concern to ‘matters of care’ as an ‘ethically and politically charged practice’. The authors report on their work with educators and children in an Australian-based preschool where they have started to engage with matters of concern and matters of care to create new types of pedagogies that they call ‘weathering-with pedagogies’. These are situated, experimental, embodied, relational and ethical, and, the authors suggest, reflect a practice of care, thus providing young children with new ways of responding to climate change. The authors take as their starting point Donna Haraway’s invitation to ‘muddy the waters’ as a way to stir up the possibilities, tensions and challenges in doing such work.

The Bridge between Policy and Practice: Implementors’ Belief Systems

1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Z. Mcgrevin ◽  
Anne Spidell Rusher
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
The State ◽  
District Level ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Makers

The belief system of teachers and principals regarding what constitutes sound educational practices for educating young children is a key ingredient in implementing successful early childhood educational programs. This fact must be taken into consideration by policy makers at the state and district level as they formulate policies affecting the education of our nation's young children.

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