The infant’s view redefines the problem of referential uncertainty in early word learning

The learning of first object names is deemed a hard problem due to the uncertainty inherent in mapping a heard name to the intended referent in a cluttered and variable world. However, human infants readily solve this problem. Despite considerable theoretical discussion, relatively little is known about the uncertainty infants face in the real world. We used head-mounted eye tracking during parent–infant toy play and quantified the uncertainty by measuring the distribution of infant attention to the potential referents when a parent named both familiar and unfamiliar toy objects. The results show that infant gaze upon hearing an object name is often directed to a single referent which is equally likely to be a wrong competitor or the intended target. This bimodal gaze distribution clarifies and redefines the uncertainty problem and constrains possible solutions.

Importance of Toy Play in Special Education for young Children: Perspectives and Approaches

Special needs children have different needs compared to typically growing children in various aspects of life. Their learning is hampered due to the difficulties they face in the normal way of learning. Special education practices have been adopting various play-based methods to address special needs children's difficulties and needs. This research reviews toy play as a learning method and its importance in young special needs children's education. The paper takes different perspectives on play and how it is characterized. A study of Toy Play taxonomies is also presented from the perspective of the learning needs of special needs children. Three prominent special education approaches are studied, and a synthesis of how to play fits into these approaches is presented. The future of toy play and further research areas is discussed. Early childhood play is a normal phenomenon that has much use in early intervention, early childhood special education, and early childhood education. Among these areas, there are still many disagreements about how to characterize and use play. These tensions jeopardize evaluation, action, and curriculum planning practices, as well as their links to science and practice. This essay examines play in early learning, early childhood special education, early childhood education, and how play is viewed and used in these settings.

A school-based intervention to reduce gender-stereotyping

Children’s adherence to gender stereotypes can be detrimental, yet interventions to tackle stereotyping have achieved mixed success. Few studies have examined interventions developed collaboratively by educators and researchers, and the impact of interventions that focus on increasing perceived similarities between genders has yet to be tested. The present study evaluated an intervention among 6- to 10-year-old British children (47 boys; 37 girls) compared to a control group (61 boys; 47 girls). Led by their class teacher via weekly 30-minute lessons, over a four-month period, children learned to identify and challenge stereotypes, and explored similarities between genders and diversity within gender (e.g., not all girls like pink). Key measures of gender flexibility in relation to toy play, occupations, and perceived similarity to gender groups were utilised. After controlling for baseline scores, the intervention group felt more similar to the other gender and reported that they could do a wider range of occupations in the future. Those who showed less flexibility around toy play at baseline were more flexible after the intervention. Boys in the intervention group reported that gender stereotypes were more unfair than did the control group. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of gender stereotyping and intervention research.

A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE GRADUATE THESES ON “TOY”

On the one hand, toy is considered as a miniaturized form of objects used by adult people, on the other hand, it refers to materials used as a game tool. However, while the tools used by adult people in their plays are accepted as play materials; the tools that children use while playing play function as toys. In this respect, the toy is the most important part of the child’s plays. For this reason, in this study, the materials used by children in their plays have been accepted as toys and the study has been conducted in this direction. In recent years, with the importance of the child in the tourism sector, child-friendly tourism and child-friendley hotels have been investigated in the tourism literature. Within the scope of this research, the literature review method has been used as a data collection tool and the scans have been conducted in the context of the words “toy”, “play material”, “play object” and “play tool”. By scanning, 100 master and doctoral theses in the database of the Council of Higher Education National Thesis Center and open to access have been reached, and these graduate theses have been subjected to bibliometric analysis. This analysis has been carried out in line with the data parameters specified for bibliometric analysis in the literature. The analysis process was carried out between 13 January and 27 January 2021, and the Excel file was used in the analysis. The findings obtained as a result of the analysis are presented in six stages in the study. According to the results obtained in line with the findings, the importance given to toys has increased with each passing year, toy has become a multidisciplinary study subject and has been subject to different study areas. However, despite the importance of children in tourism and the subject of toys in many different fields, it has been observed that the subject of toys has not yet been reflected in the graduate theses written in Tourism Management Departments. Therefore, this study is expected to be a guide for the tourism field.

Using head-mounted eye tracking to examine visual and manual exploration during naturalistic toy play in children with and without autism spectrum disorder

Multimodal exploration of objects during toy play is important for a child’s development and is suggested to be abnormal in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to either atypical attention or atypical action. However, little is known about how children with ASD coordinate their visual attention and manual actions during toy play. The current study aims to understand if and in what ways children with ASD generate exploratory behaviors to toys in natural, unconstrained contexts by utilizing head-mounted eye tracking to quantify moment-by-moment attention. We found no differences in how 24- to 48-mo children with and without ASD distribute their visual attention, generate manual action, or coordinate their visual and manual behaviors during toy play with a parent. Our findings suggest an intact ability and willingness of children with ASD to explore toys and suggest that context is important when studying child behavior.