A review: Journal of Research in Childhood Education Vol. 16, No. 2, Spring/Summer 2002. (Connecting Classroom Practice and Research).

Becoming an Infant Caregiver: Three Profiles of Personal and Professional Growth--Recchia & Loizou

This study focuses on the personal and professional growth of three student caregivers in their first year working in child care. Their relationships with children and interactions with parents emerged as fundamentally important. Working closely with families provided participants with a context for understanding and forming more meaningful relationships with children. In addition, effective team teaching was identified as essential. The participants repeatedly shared concerns about their caregiving roles and the ways they related and responded to the children. In contrast with their experiences with preschoolers, the students found they were learning new ways to work with infants and toddlers, including: observing nonverbal behavior, focusing on routines and transitions, and providing higher levels of physical care. Also of importance was learning the routines and procedures of the infant room. In addition to some universal experiences, participants also underwent unique changes as a result of different personal and professional backgrounds. Data describes individual participants' concerns with imposing limits on children, controlling the children's interactions, and needing to feel part of the learning community.

The Observed Constructions of Teaching: Four Contexts--McWilliam, de Kruif, & Zulli

This study sought to learn, through observation, the different ways in which child care teachers constructed "teaching" in a program that included children with disabilities. Eleven teachers in a single child care program were repeatedly observed and videotaped in their interactions with 63 children, ages 9.5 to 63 months. Qualitative methods of interpreting the tapes included narrative notes, cross-researcher descriptions and discussions, data reduction into categories of teaching behavior, construction of exploratory effects matrices, and development of confirming and disconfirming tables. Four "contexts" emerged as affecting or containing teaching. First, the environmental context refers to the general early childhood classroom setting, inside which the other three contexts operate. Second, the planning context consists of the daily decisions and choices individual teachers make about children's activities. Third, the approach context represents the teacher's approach to interactions with children and is characterized by the first teacher "turn" in an interaction. The fourth context, interactional, represents the specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors the teacher uses once an interaction has begun. The authors believe that teachers must plan for all four contexts, and use them to address specific child outcomes.

The Effects of Computers on the Social Behavior of Preschoolers--Heft & Swaminathan

This qualitative study examined the kind and depth of children's interactions with peers at the computer and explored teachers' interactions with the children, analyzing the impact of these interactions on children's social behavior. Fourteen preschoolers were observed while they worked on a computer, 11 times during a two-month period. Data were collected through non-participant observations, informal interviews of the children, and interviews with the teachers. Children worked at individual computers placed side by side; at least four teachers were always present. Interactions between peers, interactions between teachers and children, and conflicts emerged as significant patterns. Children's peer interactions included acknowledging each other, children making comments and being ignored, and children sharing or helping one another. The authors emphasize the value of using developmentally appropriate software and the need for teachers to facilitate greater peer cooperation.

Social Interactions and Gender Differences Among Preschoolers: Implications for Science Activities--Desouza & Czerniak

This two-year ethnography focused on the social interactions and gender differences among preschoolers engaged in science activities. The authors explored girls' and boys' different social behaviors during science instruction, which they characterized within the peer culture. The findings indicate that the structure of social interaction encouraged boys and girls to behave stereotypically. Despite short attention spans, all children were excited and enthusiastic about their work. The boys were curious, spontaneous, and showed extensive prior knowledge about vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. The boys also were aggressive, competitive, and sometimes violent. Girls were more submissive, and likely to be fearful of arthropods ("bugs"), yet they also cared for the welfare of other animals. During free time, same-gender play predominated; the boys typically played with Legos, blocks, and cars; the girls played with puzzles, books, and the housekeeping center.

Validation of a Self-Control Rating Scale in a Chinese Preschool--Wang

The purpose of this study was to validate a translation of the Self-Control Rating Scale (SCRS) developed by Kendall and Wilcox in 1979. A random selection of 204 preschool children (ages 34 months to 78 months) from a Beijing child care center were studied through a Chinese version of SCRS (SCRS-C). This 33-item instrument was rated by the teacher on a 7-point scale. The results of the analysis indicated satisfactory content validity, internal reliability, construct validity, and test-retest reliability for SCRS-C. The items in the scale were perceived by the teachers in China as measuring children's self-control and as a quick and simple instrument to quantitatively evaluate children's behavior.

Low-Income Children's Academic Achievement and Participation in Out-of-School Activities in 1st Grade--Powell, Peet, & Peet

This study examines relationships between children's participation in out-of-school activities and their academic achievement. The sample consisted of sixty 1st-grade children (30 boys, 30 girls) from low-income, ethnically diverse families. The study examined the intensity (frequency, number, length) of participation in out-of-school activities and the type of activity (literacy-oriented vs. all other type of activities). Participating parents and children were individually interviewed by trained interviewers. Regression analyses indicate a curvilinear relationship between frequency of participation in out-of-school activities and report card grades, especially among males. As the frequency of participation in children's participation in out-of-school activities increased from low to moderate levels, their grades also increased; as the frequency of children's participation in activities increased from moderate to high levels, however, their grades decreased. This overall pattern of curvilinear relationships held for boys', but not for girls', frequency of participation in all activities and in literacy-oriented activities. The length of participation in literacy-oriented activities was positively associated with higher report card grades among all children. The number of out-of-school activities was not related to academic performance.

Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children at Child Care: Descriptive Observations and Hypotheses--Rosemary & Roskos

In this study, the authors examined the nature of literacy-related, teacher-child talk during the daily routines of three different child care centers. The focus was twofold: 1) What is the incidence of talk about reading and writing between adults and child at child care sites?; and 2) What is the nature of this talk? Data were collected through audiotape recordings of speech and observations of the teacher and teaching assistant at each site for the duration of one day. The findings indicate that adults talked about reading and writing to a modest degree, compared to the total amount of talk with children. When adults did talk about reading and writing, it typically involved few children, was brief, and primarily gave information about print or met practical needs of daily routines. The incidence of the adults' literacy talk, aside from book talk, was primarily intermittent and spontaneous. An analysis of the discourse features of the teachers' literacy talk showed a similar pattern for all three teachers: one of getting/giving information and checking for understanding. These patterns reflect the natural teaching tendencies of telling, asking, and checking, and are characteristic of transmissive teaching practices. Findings indicate that while the patterns do not ignore literacy, neither is literacy promoted.

The Literacy Development of Kindergarten English-Language Learners --Araujo

This yearlong study explores how a literature-based curriculum supported the literacy growth of ESL kindergartners. Six Brazilian students participated in a full-day Portuguese-English bilingual program. The research centered on describing the interrelationships among oral language, reading, and writing development, and on tracing the children's literacy development in the context of classroom instruction. Through participant-observation, data from notes, artifacts, interviews, and other sources were collected during 65 classroom observations. Ongoing qualitative analysis revealed that literacy learning was embedded in three focal literacy events: circle reading, journal writing, and phonics/handwriting. The findings indicate that an emphasis on phonics and on constructing meaning from texts supported the children's construction of literacy understandings. Also, the findings support the notion that limited oral language proficiency does not constrain children's emergent writing and reading development. Children were capable of exploring sound-letter correspondences and of building knowledge of high-frequency words; their understandings about the functions and features of written language grew more sophisticated.

Families Reading Together: Connecting Literature and Life--Green, Lilly, & Barrett

In contrast to many studies on family storybook reading, this naturalistic study investigates the variety of ways books were shared in the context of daily family life, as well as young children's responses to picture books read to them. Participants included 11 families and 12 children (ages 14 months to 5 years). Data were collected through parent reading journals and interviews. Families were asked to maintain their customary reading routines and to record book titles, dates of reading, children's verbal responses to books, and book-related activities. Analysis revealed that books were shared regularly, particularly at mealtime and bedtime, for these purposes: to entertain, to introduce new concepts, and to explain events. The authors identified categories of children's responses to books, and drew implications for family storybook reading as a distinct social practice.

Middle School Students' Understanding of Meaningful Learning and Engaging Classroom Activities--Ares & Gorrell

In this study, the authors sought to understand the influence of reform-related activities on middle school students' learning and performance. This qualitative study addressed student perceptions of classroom practice, their beliefs about learning and schooling, and their role in decision making. Students whose teachers were participating in a school improvement project in five middle schools were observed and interviewed. To ensure representation across ethnic groups, stratified random sampling was used to select students for individual or focus group interviews (individual interviews: 26 teachers and 52 students; focus group interviews: 66 students). Classroom activities were videotaped three times during the academic year. The authors report that students' responses were thoughtful and earnest. Data provide students' descriptions of classroom environments that are active, both mentally and physically, in instructional activities that are meaningful and varied, and that involve group learning. Students' responses contrast these tasks with others that discourage their motivation to learn and participate.