<p> The role of school libraries in both public and private school systems has changed dramatically over the last two decades as the Internet and ubiquity of digital devices has made the world accessible within seconds just by the tap of a finger on a touchscreen or keyboard. The purpose of the school library as a functional educational space has traditionally been one that promotes information literacy, reading for information, and reading for pleasure with paper books. In today&rsquo;s ever increasingly digital world, however, well-resourced libraries are exchanging paper books and reference sets for e-books and subscriptions to online services that store information in virtual clouds rather than on bookshelves. Moreover, their coveted spaces are sometimes transformed into tactile learning spaces inspired by the recent Maker Movement. </p><p> This qualitative research study examines the functional role of the school libraries in four independent schools, an inquiry seeking to better understand how young students use libraries to develop multiple literacies&mdash;digital, informational, tactile, and printed&mdash;all of which are necessitated by the growing prevalence of electronic resources and technology in schools. How should well-resourced school libraries today, historically bound to paper collections and archives, design learning spaces and allocate resources to support a generation of students born into the digital age? It is the intersection of these two points, students born into a world dominated by technology and traditional school libraries dominated by paper resources, that the current role and purpose of school libraries is examined.</p>

<p> The purpose of this research was to explore factors influencing Kuwaiti kindergarten preservice teachers&rsquo; intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies in their future Kuwaiti kindergarten classrooms and their perceptions of using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance kindergarten student learning. This mixed methods study employed parallel collection of qualitative and quantitative data, separate analyses of the data, and then a merging of the findings. Gathered data were evaluated using the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) to predict the factors that influence Kuwaiti preservice teachers&rsquo; intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies in their future kindergarten classrooms. The central research questions of the study included the following: (1) What factors do Kuwaiti preservice kindergarten teachers describe as the best predictors of their intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies in their future classrooms? (2) What are Kuwaiti preservice kindergarten teachers&rsquo; perceptions of the pedagogical benefits of using Web 2.0 technologies in their future classrooms? (3) How do Kuwaiti preservice kindergarten teachers describe the factors that predict their intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies in their future kindergarten classrooms? (4) How do Kuwaiti preservice kindergarten teachers describe their perceptions of Web 2.0 technologies as pedagogical tools? The findings revealed that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively and significantly affect the preservice teachers&rsquo; intentions to use Web 2.0 technologies. </p><p> This study indicated Kuwaiti kindergarten preservice teachers&rsquo; intention to use YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Twitter in their future kindergarten classroom to improve student learning, communicate with parents, and share classrooms activities. Another important finding was the fact that the majority of Kuwaiti kindergarten preservice teachers did not use Wikis, Blogs, Facebook, and Skype. However, they proficiently used the popular Web 2.0 technologies in their social cultural environment. Most of the teachers believed that Web 2.0 technologies could improve kindergarten students&rsquo; learning, but they had concerns regarding inappropriate content. Hence, they were not prepared to use Web 2.0 technologies in educational settings. Finally, by using a mixed-method approach, this study offered educators a different dimension of the factors that affect preservice teachers&rsquo; intentions to use technology.</p>

Magister Educationis - MEd / The literature identifies the importance of teaching for transfer as one of the most important goals in education. According to Broad and Newstrom (1992) transfer is the “effective and continuing application of the knowledge and skills gained in training. The end goal of training is not achieved unless transfer occurs” (p.15). The literature identified various factors that have an influence on the transfer of learning, but this study focused on factors in the workplace environment. The roles of principals (managers) and peers in reinforcing and supporting what practitioners have learned in the college classroom is seen as one of the main factors influencing transfer of learning (J. Kirkpatrick and W. Kirkpatrick, 2010, p.7). The study explored HRD perspectives in the literature which provided useful information on factors in the workplace environment which support the application of learning. The literature on adult learning and training in the workplace provided insights on learning as a social process – concepts such as guided participation and communities of practice linked directly to my research question on the role of principals and peers in supporting learning transfer in the ECD workplace.

<p> This study used a phenomenological research design to investigate how process features of child care quality are experienced in Hmong licensed family child care settings. Interviewing with open-ended questions was relied on as the data collection method. The results included eight major themes: playtime and learning activities are structured to promote individual child&rsquo;s cognitive and physical development; the child care program is founded on licensing standards of health, safety, and well-being; child care provider uses child-centered interactions in their involvement with the children; child care provider uses positive behavioral guidance in shaping children&rsquo;s behaviors; fostering a bi-cultural identity in Hmong children through different approaches; the relationships between the child care providers and children are strengthened by a kinship-based-relationship and a display of affection/love and care; feeding practice is adjusted to meet the needs of each child; and the child care provider seeks support to improve his/her child care practice. The findings from this study revealed that as Hmong, the child care providers appear to perceive themselves as a bridge that connects to the next generation, and it is their moral responsibility to instill a strong foundation in cultural identity, while providing the necessary academic preparations in the Hmong children in order for those children to be a bridge for another Hmong generation. The success of bridging from one generation to another will ensure the preservation of the Hmong culture, as well as the future success of the Hmong. These results can have important implications for early childhood professionals and organizations, as well as for the Hmong community.</p><p>

<p> In 2011, the Head Start Office introduced the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework to all Head Start programs (Department of Health and Human Services, 2011a). This framework was developed to increase parent involvement in getting children ready for kindergarten. The goal of the framework was to provide technical resources and skills to improve the parent involvement level in Head Start parent involvement activities. The goal of this study is to explore the perception of the role of the father and Head Start programs&rsquo; father involvement facts at eight selected Head Start programs. </p><p> Interview, survey, and activity observation were used. Specifically, the Paternal Involvement in Child Care Index (PICCI) score and father/father figures&rsquo; demographic information, family/community coordinator interview answers were gathered from the Head Start programs that participated in the study. Three statistical techniques, independent <i>t</i>-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and multiple-regression were used for quantitative data analysis, and qualitative data was generalized into a flow chart and a father involvement model based on Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s ecological system theory. </p>

<p> Transitional kindergarten (TK) is the 1st year of a 2-year kindergarten program. It follows the requirements of California Senate Bill 1381 in providing a modified kindergarten curriculum that is both age and developmentally appropriate. The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 changed the required entry age for admittance to kindergarten and first grade and developed a TK program to implement throughout districts. The criterion to enter a TK program is that students must turn 5 between the months of September 2 and December 2. The TK program is designed to place emphasis on developing cognitive, socioemotional, and physical skills. TK implements the same core curriculum and materials as the kindergarten program, with curricular modifications and developmentally appropriate practices that will allow TK students to ultimately meet the Kindergarten Common Core and State Content Standards at the end of their 2-year program. </p><p> This study aimed to explore teachers&rsquo; perceptions about the extent to which the new TK program contributes to students&rsquo; social, emotional, and cognitive development to ultimately yield better learning outcomes for students once they enter kindergarten. Further, this qualitative study aimed to give a voice to TK and kindergarten teachers who are at the heart of the TK program implementation. It explores not only how the implementation of the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 affects teachers professionally but also how it affects the learning outcomes of students under their tutelage. </p><p> Overall, these findings of this study revealed teachers&rsquo; beliefs that the TK students needed extra time to develop the cognitive, socioemotional, and physical skills necessary to improve learning outcomes in kindergarten. Teachers viewed the TK program as developmentally appro- priate to meet the needs of all students; however, they believed that the TK curriculum did not integrate the developmental domains into teaching and learning of subject matter. In fact, the participants held diverse perspectives regarding the TK curriculum on preparing students for kindergarten. Although teachers held various perspectives on the TK curriculum, they expressed strong, unifying views on their passion for practice and the importance of their instructional practices.</p>

The Marshmallow Test, a self-imposed delay of gratification task pioneered by Walter Mischel in the 1960’s, showed that young children vary in their ability to inhibit impulses and regulate their attention and emotion in order to wait and obtain a desired reward (Mischel & Mischel, 1983). The Marshmallow Test offers an opportunity to observe and measure children’s decision-making and self-regulation in an emotionally charged context of often conflicting motivations. Additionally, this task provides a context to investigate how compliance with rules and self-regulation may depend on or compete with each other. In this dissertation, I examine the marshmallow test by comparing different criteria of ‘success’ in this task with the two ways in which children can ‘fail’ to delay, either by voluntarily terminating the task, or by breaking one of the rules. Though distinctly observable behaviors, these have traditionally been considered equivalent in indicating the end of the delay period. In two studies, I examine the cognitive, behavioral, and demographic measures that characterize these behavioral choices. First, I conducted a cross-sectional behavioral study of children ages 3-7. My findings in the first study suggest that models predicting delay of gratification performance for compliant children do not apply to noncompliant children. Secondly, I carried out a secondary analysis of longitudinal data in which the children participated in the marshmallow task at age 4.5, followed by subsequent assessments in elementary and high school (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1998). In this analysis, I found that there were no substantial differences in behavioral or cognitive longitudinal outcomes between the two modes of termination of the task, with the exception of certain academic outcomes in mathematics.

This study examines the effect of an intervention called Native Numbers on the development of number sense and quantitative skills in low-SES preschool children (ages 5 to 6) in Mexico City, using a randomized control trial (RCT). Native Numbers (NN) is a math curriculum built as an application for iPads that includes activities on number concepts, relations, ordering and counting. The study was conducted in 2014, with eight participating schools and an analytic sample of 249 students. The intervention lasted two weeks in each school, and compared students randomly assigned to a group using NN with a group using iPads with no educational content. Data was collected on pre and post measures of student’s cognitive skills, as well as contextual information from families. This study shows a small potential positive effect of Native Numbers on quantitative abilities of children, though there is a lack of statistical power to find significant effects. However, heterogeneous effects of the treatment were found for mothers’ schooling. A statistically significant interaction between treatment and mother’s years of education revealed that the impact of the treatment was significantly higher for children whose mothers had fewer years of education. The frequency of home numeracy activities was also statistically significant in this model.

In Kindergarten classrooms, teachers work to help students learn new information and skills but, as non-experts, students often make mistakes. Making mistakes and, subsequently, receiving corrective feedback are assets to the learning experience (Huesler & Metcalfe, 2012). Young children tend to be open-minded about mistakes, but around age five or six, they begin to develop a fear of failure – a sensitivity about making errors that can constrain their choices during learning (McClelland, 1958; Conroy, Coatsworth, & Kaye, 2007). Furthermore, previous research has indicated that student-teacher relationships exert a strong influence on the student academic and social learning experience (Pianta, Hamre, & Stuhlman, 2003). That said, presently little is known about the features of mistake-related, teacher-student interpersonal interactions in Kindergarten classrooms, and how the classroom context and community influence the responses to student mistakes during instruction. The purpose of this dissertation study is to more deeply explore and articulate how Kindergarten teachers respond to mistakes in real-world, classroom contexts. An analysis of teacher interviews (Study 1) yielded five central themes that illustrate common ways Kindergarten teachers respond to student mistakes. Then, the method of portraiture (Study 2) was used to create rich narratives reflecting the nature of day-to-day responses to mistakes for two teachers and their respective classroom communities. These studies offer in-depth elaborations of how teachers respond to mistakes in practice. The work is both a foundation for further research on mistakes and learning, and a resource for practitioners, school leaders, and policymakers. In particular, this research has implications for the initial training and ongoing professional feedback provided to teachers. Taken together, the two studies can be shared with teachers, particularly those working in early childhood settings, to help them better understand the strategies used by others to help students learn from their mistakes.

<p>This research project offers educators a close and intimate view of the researcher's personal teaching efforts and a reflective account of responses to instruction. This qualitative reflective self-study includes written records of attempts to create and deliver reading comprehension lessons. It also includes a detailed account of how the researcher's reflections and insights affected lesson design as well as her responses to the academic, social, and emotional needs of the students. Furthermore, this self-study examines how teachers' and administrators' attitudes impact teaching and learning, with a thoughtful emphasis on how the gifts of under-represented students may be used in effectively planning instruction. Specifically, this self-study presents how reflection is used to examine the application of various teaching strategies with eight elementary school students attending a reading comprehension intervention class at an urban school in California. The researcher chronicles her use of culturally relevant teaching practices grounded in high expectations, and a belief in the importance of student empowerment for the purpose of increasing social justice and equity for all students. In this study, reflective notes of lessons are presented. Additionally, how the lessons were designed in order to create opportunities for a small group of African American and English Language Learner students to use their talents and gifts to improve comprehension of text are detailed. This teacher-research study provides insights on how a cycle of deep reflection and consideration of planned instructional actions and design might be improved. As part of the reflection and instructional planning process described in this study, there is focus on the students' thinking and learning processes and domains that support the students as they become self-empowered, independent, and confident readers. The examination of the thinking process of the students, as well reflection and self-examination of instruction by the teacher-researcher, are the center of study. Ultimately, a vivid story unfolds of how both the students and teacher-researcher become more empowered as gifted readers, writers, and communicators of transformation.