Early childhood development programs enhance children's development of knowledge, skills, and processes. Despite efforts to improve early childhood education in the United States, poor student performance in early literacy and kindergarten achievement is still occurring, and questions remain unanswered about the utility of early childhood education programs. Drawing from the theory of constructivism, the purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental, retrospective study was to determine the effectiveness of early childhood programs on the literacy achievement of kindergarten children. The research question addressed the differences in literacy achievement of kindergarten children based on the early childhood programs they attended. Using repeated measures analysis of variance tests for 501 student test scores, no significant interaction effects existed between program participation and gains across time for prewriting (F [2, 998] = 0.87, p = .42), cognitive (F [2, 998] = 0.84, p = .43), or language (F [2, 998] = 1.26, p = .28). However, using the Pearson correlation coefficient, younger participants had significantly more gain from pretest to posttest for prewriting (r [499] = .14, p = .002) and cognitive (r [499] = .21, p = .001) but less gain for language (r [499] = .10, p = .03). Knowing that literacy achievement can be improved in an early childhood setting contributes to the knowledge base on the effects of early learning. Educators could benefit from these findings when implementing early childhood policies and adopting effective practices to help develop successful readers in kindergarten and beyond.

No description available.

In adults, sex and steroid hormone differences have been observed in several cognitive domains, most notably in the domains of spatial processing, language, and manual dexterity. Age-related cognitive differences have also been observed throughout the lifespan, with many improvements occurring during childhood. While cognition improves with age, other factors (i.e., sex, pubertal status, and steroid hormone levels) may also influence development. The present study compared performance on a visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) task and three simple articulation (ART) tasks. Pubertal status and hormone levels, at time of testing, were measured. Sex, pubertal status, and hormone differences were observed. This study is one of the first to provide evidence of such differences in typically developing adolescents.

This research explores the application of Viewpoints and Composition training with a cast of high school students to measure changes in the social cognitive development (SCD) of individuals and the collective group. The research centers on the writing of Michael F. Mascolo and Deborah Margolis, which takes a coactive approach to the relationship between one's social cognitive development and how it is manifested in his or her actions within a social group. Using this framework, the researcher assesses the personality types within the cast and analyzes how utilizing Viewpoints training creates shifts within these personalities. The researcher approaches this study from both a theoretical standpoint as a student during a two-week intensive training course for adults with SITI Company, and a practical standpoint in the direction of a fully mounted production with high school actors. The objective of the research is to propose a method to implement advanced Viewpoints training within a high school ensemble in order to cultivate ensemble and ultimately aid the social cognitive development of the individual actors.

No description available.

Det har blivit modernt att använda mobila enheter i tidig ålder. Studien syftar till att förstå hur barn interagerar med mobila enheter under de första 4 levnadsåren och hur de kan hjälpa föräldrar att få inlärningsfördelar för de yngsta barnen. För att möta syftet med undersökningen fanns flera formulerade frågor om hur barnens utvecklingsnivå kan påverka möjligheten till interaktion och lärande med mobila enheter, vilka fördelar och nackdelar föräldrarna upptäckt under sina barns användning. Relevanta teorin presenterades om barns fysiska och kognitiva utveckling från 0 till 4 års ålder. Den blandade forskningsmetoden strategi (enkät och intervjuer) var tillräckligt effektiva för att förstå hur barnens användning av mobila enheter skiljer sig för varje år när de blir äldre. Det presenterades också några rekommendationer till föräldrarna. / It has become modern to use mobile devices at an early age. The study aims to understand the way young children interacts with mobile devices during the first 4 years of life and how mobile devices can help parents gain learning benefits for the youngest children. In order to meet the purpose of the research there were several formulated questions concerning how the stage of children’s development can affect the possibility of interaction and learning with mobile devices and what advantages and disadvantages the parents discovered during their children’s usage of mobile devices. The relevant theory was presented regarding children’s physical and cognitive development from 0 to 4 years old. The mixed method approach (survey and interviews) was effective enough to understand how the children usage of mobile devices differs from year to year as they become older. There were some recommendations for the parents that were presented as well.

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of divorce on the will and motivation of the child in the middle childhood phase. Instruments are identified for adaptation and use in determining the effect of divorce. In addition, ways of equipping the educational psychologist to facilitate the child's adjustment during and after the divorce process are examined. A literature study was undertaken to determine the theoretical context of the effect of divorce. A study was also undertaken of the cognitive development of the child in the middle childhood phase, which could shed some light on the reactions of the child during the divorce of his or her parents. The results of the empirical investigation showed that the child in the middle childhood phase can exhibit intrinsic motivation during the divorce process. It is, however, the external factors accompanying divorce that could cause the child to display a reduced will or motivation. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Voorligting)

Reading is one of the most important skills (although a complex cognitive activity) a learner has to master during the early years of schooling. The reading process involves elements of a learner’s psychological, physical, linguistic, cognitive, emotional and social worlds. Despite the fact that all learners have to be able to read, there is an increasing awareness among professionals of the developmental and educational implications of reading difficulties with school-going learners world wide. Reading is a critical tool for the mastery of all other subjects a learner will meet and one of the best predictors of long-term learning achievement. Therefore, the need for support must be considered a priority area. After a thorough investigation and literary study, it is evident that the effective identification of learning difficulties needs a thorough understanding. Educators must realise that a given learner, who responds favourably to one instructional system, may respond very unfavourably to another, because learners are all unique individuals. To be able to combine speech sounds in a way that recipients can understand the message, learners have to be ready to develop an understanding of phonology, morphology and syntax, therefore maturation must always precede learning and, in the context of this study, emergent literacy must precede reading. Maturation is characterised by a fixed order of progression wherein the pace may vary, but not the sequence. The creative use of language is entirely dependent on the ability to assemble simple building blocks of sound into the complex structure we call sentences.It is widely accepted that music may be used to promote language development and the most crucial aspect in both music and language development is the perception of sound and the core in music and language are the ability to listen. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of music and related activities as part of an intervention strategy to improve reading skills, such as phonics, of learners who have reading difficulties. The researcher proved that a wellplanned intervention method and learning strategy through music activities may be used to develop the reading skills in learners who have reading difficulties. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Text in Afrikaans / Vanaf geboorte is die ouers en die omgewing wat hulle vir die kind skep van die uiterste belang. Ouers behoort 'n ruimte te skep waar die kind intellektueel gestimuleer kan word, begeleide leerervaringe kan ontvang en waar hy veiligheid en geborgenheid kan beleef Dit is in hierdie voorskoolse jare waar die grondslag gele word vir latere leer. Waar vroee stimulering en bemiddeling ontbreek is dit later baie moeilik om met insette dieselfde positiewe resultate te bereik. Begeleide leerervaringe is 'n essensiele komponent van en voorwaarde vir optimale ontwikkeling. Wanneer die kind aan geletterdheidervaringe blootgestel word in sy voorskoolse jare, kan hy, wanneer hy skool toe gaan, die insette en konsepte as "bekend" ervaar, omdat hy reeds vroeg al daarmee kennisgemaak het. Die ouers kan die kind se voorskoolse jare s6 ontwerp dat die kind se potensiaal optimaal verwesenlik kan word. In die empiriese ondersoek is onderhoude met ouers gevoer sodat hulle hul ervarings met hul kinders wat hulle voorskools gestimuleer het, kon weergee. Volgens die resultate blyk dit dat vroee stimulering waarskynlik 'n belangrike faktor is ten opsigte van latere prestasie. / Parents should create an atmosphere where the child can be stimulated intellectually, can receive mediated learning experiences (MLE) and where he can experience safety and security. It is in the preschool years that the foundation is laid to make learning easier later on. Where early stimulation and mediation is lacking it is very difficult later on to achieve positive results with the same inputs. When the child is exposed to literacy experiences in his pre-school years, he can experience the inputs and concepts as "known" when he attends school, as he was already acquainted with them. The parents can shape the pre-school years of the child in such a manner that the potential of the child can be realised optimally. In the empirical investigation parents were interviewed in order to determine the extent to which they supplied intellectual stimulation to their pre-school children. According to the results it appears that early stimulation is probably an important factor with regard to achievement in later years. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

為瞭解兒童在認知發展行為的表現，本研究招募國小一年級學童56名，五年級學童32名參與實驗進行。應用囚犯困境賽局與最後通牒賽局之架構設計兩個遊戲，來檢測兒童在合作與分享行為之表現。分析受試者之背叛比率、提供數量、拒絕比率等實驗資料，來檢測年齡、性別以及長幼關係是否會造成顯著影響。 實驗結果發現： （1）年齡較大兒童較傾向較合作且拒絕比率較低，這個結果和認知發展理論的結論一致。 （2）受試者資料在性別效果的假設檢定結果都不顯著。 （3）年齡較小兒童的平均提供數量都大於一半，這個結果和最後通牒賽局的理論預測相反。（4）對手為不同年齡時的背叛比率和拒絕比率都比對手為同年齡時低，這個結果支持國小開設混齡教育課程。 / This paper studies children’s behavior in an ultimatum game and a prisoner’s dilemma game with 56 children of age 7 and 32 children of age 11. With the experimental data of defect ratio, offer quantity and rejection ratio, we tested the age, sex and seniority effects under these two games. The experimental findings are as follows. （1）The older children are more cooperative and have lower rejection ratio than younger ones. These results are consistent with the developmental psychology theories. （2） We observe no significant sex effect in the three tests. （3） For younger children, the average offer quantity is higher than fifty percent, this is different from theoretical prediction and literature results.（4）We found that for pairs consisting of subjects of different ages, The defect ratio and rejection ratio are lower than pairs of the same age subjects. This evidence may provide support for mixed-age education program for some courses in elementary school.