An achievement test for Chinese preschool children: Validity and social correlates

Early childhood is a crucial period for human development that has long-term implications for one’s life trajectories. During the years before formal schooling, brain size and structures, as well as cognitive abilities, undergo rapid development. Children’s cognitive abilities develop by leaps and bounds and show great malleability. Cognitive development during early childhood exerts a long-lasting influence on children’s life chances in adulthood. In China, however, there is no established reliable early childhood achievement test that can be used in a study. This study validates an achievement test for Chinese preschoolers. We analyze data from a nationally representative sample of children aged three to six who participated in the Zhang-Yeung Test of Achievement for Chinese Children (ZY-TACC) in 2012. The instrument consists of a 28-item verbal test and a 24-item numeracy test. Our evaluations indicate a satisfactory level of difficulty, as well as high internal consistency and reliability. This instrument exhibits ample ability to distinguish among children of different ages and varying family backgrounds in ways consistent with previous literature. Children’s test scores are also found to correlate in the expected direction with their behavioral indicators. We demonstrate that the ZY-TACC is a psychometrically robust, culturally and contextually appropriate instrument for assessing Chinese preschool children’s achievement. The instrument can make a significant contribution to research on early childhood development in China.

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African indigenous care-giving practices: Stimulating early childhood development and education in Kenya

South African Journal of Childhood Education ◽

10.4102/sajce.v6i2.446 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pamela Wadende ◽

Paul O. Oburu ◽

Abel Morara

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Indigenous Education ◽

Indigenous Communities ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Formal Schooling ◽

Motivational Systems ◽

Stage Of Development ◽

Care Giving

The indigenous communities in Africa, specifically Kenya, which is the focus of this article, had their own well-developed motivational systems that positively enhanced teaching and learning programmes in the community. These motivational systems were manifested in behaviours that were presented as sequential cultural tasks that demanded active engagement from children at every stage of development. The philosophical tenets of African indigenous education underscored education as preparation for life. This was a culturally based education that addressed the physical, emotional, mental and social aspects of a child’s successful development. It offered the child an opportunity to participate in practical, productive and responsible livelihood activities. This article suggests that a concert of research into these indigenous motivational care-giving practices and community participation in the activities of early childhood education may offer important insights into transitioning children from life in the home environment to that of the school and its accompanying academic tasks. When these motivational care-giving practices are incorporated in the process of transitioning children to formal schooling, then their chances of success in these new educational programmes could be enhanced.

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Application of the C4.5 Algorithm on the Effect of Watching Youtube Videos On the Development of Early Childhood Creativity

SinkrOn ◽

10.33395/sinkron.v6i1.11116 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 120-126

Author(s):

Ita Dewi Sintawati ◽

Widiarina Widiarina ◽

Kartika Mariskhana

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Human Life ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Technological Advances ◽

Youtube Videos ◽

Role Of Parents ◽

The Impact

Youtube media is one of the social media for communication used by the community, not out of reach of children. The rapid development of information technology, of course, this has an influence on human life. Talking about life in humans, it cannot be separated from human behavior. Some psychologists say that children tend to fully absorb what they see, and children will learn from what they see. This can trigger creativity for young children. The creativity of each individual can be seen in terms of how he makes something he thinks of because he sees an object that already exists and then he innovates it into a new form. This attracted the attention of the author to identify and describe the impact of watching YouTube videos on the development of early childhood creativity. This type of research is based on developing phenomena, how much influence is brought about by technological advances on YouTube social media in the formation of children's behavior. The process of completing the goals to be achieved in this study is to provide information about recommendations for child development with positive creativity, making it easier to determine early childhood development by using the Decision Tree Algorithm C4,5 method. The problem in this study is that early childhood imaginations are higher and will be affected by streaming video ads on YouTube. The results showed that children aged 3 and 4 years often watched, while children aged 5 and 6 years did not watch often, so the role of parents was more dominant in supervising children aged 3 and 4 years.

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Investigating grade R teacher institutional identity presented in policy and expressed through narrative in a time of transition

10.21504/10962/171346 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Roxanne Long

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Early Childhood ◽

South African ◽

Teacher Identity ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Formal Schooling ◽

Institutional Identity ◽

Teacher Narratives ◽

Policy Documents

This study investigated Grade R (reception year) teacher institutional identity presented in policy and expressed through teacher narratives. The study was conducted in the context of a major national policy transition that involved the physical and contextual shift of Grade R out of the Early Childhood Development sector and into the formal schooling sector. This study highlighted the way in which this shift has resulted in mixed policy messages, which have implications for Grade R teachers’ institutional identities and learning trajectories across their landscapes of practice. The thesis begins by exploring the South African Education context in general as well as the Early Childhood Development context in particular. In order to understand the institutional identities of Grade R teachers as both storied by others (in policy) and by themselves, the study conducted a documentary analysis of policy relating to Grade R teachers and Grade R teacher narrative expressions of their identities. The methodological approach of the study involved a qualitative approach, drawing on grounded theory analytical techniques to closely examine policy documents and teacher generated data gathered through interviews and questionnaires. The study was guided by a sociocultural perspective and drew on three key sociocultural theorists whose work provided complementary perspectives on teacher identity. Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) operationalization of identity as narratives was used to define the unit of analysis for the study (i.e. identities as stories). Gee’s (2000) definition and conceptualization of institutional identity was supplemented with Wenger-Trayner, Fenton-O'Creevy, Hutchinson, Kubiak, and Wenger-Trayner’s (2015) notion of identity as journeying across landscapes of practice. This complementary framing allowed for focused and detailed analysis of policy documents and Grade R teacher identity stories. The study addresses the research gap of an under-representation of identity research in early childhood teacher education and particularly in the South African context. This study is significant as it is the first study of its kind to explore the importance of identity formation for Grade R teachers as newcomers to the formal schooling landscape. Findings from the policy analysis point to mixed messages moving across a spectrum of descriptors from the not yet qualified ‘mothers and ‘caregivers’ to qualified ‘specialised’ educators. These descriptors have implications for the differentiated roles and responsibilities (institutional identity) of Grade R teachers. The findings from teacher identity narratives highlighted tension in the navigation of the policy promoted institutional identities. Teacher narratives pointed to vastly contrasting experiences of teachers with specialised and qualified institutional teacher identities to those with not yet qualified institutional identities. For the former, there were high levels of confidence in their job security and in terms of recognition received from others. For the latter, however, there was vulnerability in terms of the stability of their jobs and remuneration as well as low levels of recognition from others. The study draws on the findings from the analysis to suggest recommendations for Grade R policy, Grade R teacher education (both inservice and pre-service); as well as Grade R professional development initiatives.

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