Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (January 14, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-38)

Zugl.: Wuppertal, Univ., Diss., 2006

Universiẗat, Habil.-Schr., 2001--Köln.

Η παρούσα έρευνα επιχείρησε να ανιχνεύσει το βαθμό στον οποίο τα παιδιά προσχολικής ηλικίας αντιλαμβάνονται ορισμένες από τις βασικές έννοιες της Θεωρίας των Πιθανοτήτων. Παράλληλα, αξιολογήθηκε ένα κατάλληλα σχεδιασμένο εκπαιδευτικό πρόγραμμα με στόχο την εισαγωγή μίας μικρής ομάδας νηπίων στις συγκεκριμένες έννοιες. / The present research attempted to reveal the level of understanding of kids of preschool age as concerns some of the basic concepts in the Theory of Probabilities. Furthermore,we evaluated an appropriately designed educational program which aimed at introducing a small group of infants to these concepts.

Στην παρούσα εργασία ερευνάται η οργάνωση και η λειτουργία της γωνιάς της βιβλιοθήκης ως τόπος εφαρμογής πρακτικών γραμματισμού, που συντελούν στη μετάβαση των παιδιών από τη φυσική γραμμή γλωσσικής ανάπτυξης στον επίσημο εκπαιδευτικό λόγο. Ως προς τη γλωσσική ανάπτυξή τους, τα παιδιά έρχονται στο νηπιαγωγείο με διαφοροποιήσεις στο επίπεδο φυσικού γραμματισμού –ανάλογα με τις πρακτικές οικογενειακού γραμματισμού στις οποίες συμμετείχαν. Η μετάβαση στο επίσημο εκπαιδευτικό πλαίσιο συμβάλλει στην επιτυχή σχολική –και αργότερα κοινωνική– εξέλιξη του παιδιού. Το νηπιαγωγείο αποτελεί το πρώτο δομημένο σχολικό περιβάλλον, που χρησιμοποιεί επίσημο εκπαιδευτικό λόγο. Η έρευνα μέσω ενός ειδικά κατασκευασμένου εργαλείου καταγράφει τον τρόπο οργάνωσης της γωνιάς της βιβλιοθήκης και τις δραστηριότητες που πραγματοποιούνται στα ελληνικά νηπιαγωγεία. Σκοπός είναι να αποτυπώσει εάν προωθούνται δραστηριότητες που συμβάλλουν στη μετάβαση των παιδιών στον επίσημο εκπαιδευτικό λόγο και εάν υποστηρίζεται και ενισχύεται η ενασχόληση των παιδιών με τα βιβλία. Τα δεδομένα της έρευνας αναλύονται στατιστικά και παρουσιάζονται αναλυτικά. Κατά την ανάλυση γίνεται προσπάθεια ανίχνευσης και συσχέτισης παραγόντων που επιδρούν θετικά ή αρνητικά στην οργάνωση και τη λειτουργία της συγκεκριμένης γωνιάς. / In this dissertation we explore the organization and the function of the “library corner” as a space for the application of literacy practices which contribute to the transition of the students from the natural sequence of their language development to the official discourse of the educational system. Regarding the language development, children enter the pre-school environment with different levels of physical literacy, depending on the family literacy practices in which they have been participating. The transition to the official educational environment contributes to school success – and later to the consequent social development of the student. The nursery school is the first structured educational environment where official educational discourse is used. Our study used a special developed research tool to record the organization of the “library corner” and the various activities that are implemented in a series of Greek nursery schools. Our aim is to inquiry whether the activities within the function of the corner are contributing to the aforementioned transition and whether the process is supporting and empowering students towards their further developmental involvement with books. Our findings are statistically analyzed and presented descriptively. The analysis tries to identify and correlate factors that may have a positive or a negative effect in the transitional functionality of the “library corner”.

Let us go out and run! A study of how teachers are using the movement in preschool. In this essay I will demonstrate how kindergarten teachers included movement during their daily activities. Preschool teachers must follow regimented curriculum that makes their work important. During my four preschool observations and interviews; I have used the phenomenological theory; which is the understanding of how humans act in social surroundings, as well as the theological concept movement plan described by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. During my observations I have found that teachers seem to want to be outside more than inside. I noticed that the environment sometimes is in the way of the children’s movement. The children can run freely outside versus inside, where they had to run around arrangement of furniture. Another issue was the number of kids in a group. This is a big factor to why they can’t move around inside as easily. The teachers created therefore smaller groups to increase learning experience and distraction. I found that movement in preschool is highly recommended and will improve children’s motor skills. The teachers wish that there were better spaces for movement, but do the best to take advantage of the environment they already have.

Young children begin to draw spontaneously, and their drawings develop in complexity and skill as they become older. Previously, children's drawings have been utilized to assess aspects of emotional and cognitive development. On the other hand, very few studies have used children's drawings as a tool for understanding their language development. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential for using drawing as an assessment tool for language skill. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between pre-kindergarten children's drawing and language development and stability of this relationship over time. This study also examined whether children's English-language status influenced the drawing-language relationship. The study's subjects were 34 children who attended a pre-kindergarten program in a local elementary school located in a Mid-Western university town. These children participated in take-home reading and drawing activities once a week for one school year. Children's drawings that were completed after reading storybooks with their parents served as data documenting their drawing skills. Classroom teachers' observations of the children's language use were recorded on the Work Sampling System's developmental checklists, and this served as data to document their language skills. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that children's drawing skill was a significant predictor to their language skill and explained 10% of the variance in language scores. This finding was consistent at both the beginning and end of the school year. Children's English-language status did not make a statistically significant difference in the predictive relationship of drawing for their language skills. Therefore, this study concluded that children's drawings can be used as a supplementary assessment tool to provide information about children's language skills, regardless of their primary language. However, more than half of the language variance was not identified from this study; this is an area for further investigation.

My thesis presents a comparison of English and Turkish Early Years/Kindergarten teachers’ understandings and practices of outdoor activities. Comparative research provides a wider understanding of the two different cultures’ current circumstances in outdoor activities. Such research provides in-depth understanding of educational aspects in different cultures, and produces enhancement opportunities for educational pedagogies (Alexander, 2001). I had been conscious of possible differences in cultural perception of childhood and its temporal effects on historical developments as well as on the way children play and engage in outdoor activities and this informed my approach. This thesis was based on ethnographic research involving two sets of observations and interviews exploring English and Turkish teachers’ perceptions and practices of outdoor activities. The observations and interviews were held both before and after an intervention that I introduced. This intervention used social media to allow teachers to exchange photographs and comments about their outdoor learning practices and share ideas across the two countries. Four main themes emerged from the research: professional learning in the early years, barriers, freedom and pedagogic roles. The interaction that allowed them to see different practices had a notable impact on the teachers; enhancing their approach to outdoor activities and contributing to their professional development. Therefore, this research reveals the importance of cross-cultural research as well as the practicality of the new model: The Online Interactive Professional Learning Model based on the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT).

abstract: The transition to kindergarten is a significant milestone for children and families in the United States. Education reform movements and early childhood policy initiatives have had significant impact on the transition process in recent years, and as a result, there is greater emphasis on promoting "ready children" for school. Previous research on the transition to kindergarten in the U.S. consists primarily of adult perspectives, examining parents and teachers' expectations for kindergarten and explicating their concerns about the transition. While adults impart important considerations about the transition to kindergarten, members of the early childhood community should also pay attention to children's perspectives as they too offer critical insight on getting ready for school. This dissertation foregrounds children's and experiences getting ready for and being in kindergarten, bringing attention their participation in transition activities and school routines. In addition, this study examines ways parents structure children's participation in transition activities and school routines to provide background information on children's experiences preparing for school. This study used data from a large-scale qualitative research project conducted in Arizona to understand children's experiences transitioning to kindergarten. Specifically, interviews with preschool-aged children, kindergarten-aged children, and mothers were analyzed to impart a deeper understanding of children's viewpoints becoming and being kindergarteners. Findings illustrate how mothers' understandings of kindergarten, and constructions of readiness have influence over the transition process. Moreover, findings offer thick descriptions of how children learn about kindergarten, make meaning of school rules and routines, and form membership within classroom communities of practice. Moreover, interpretations of children's viewpoints contribute nuanced understandings of situations that promote or hinder children's participation in transition activities, and subsequent engagement in kindergarten classrooms. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on kindergarten readiness. The viewpoints of children and parents on getting ready for and being in kindergarten provide alternative perspectives, contributing to a more holistic understanding of the transition experience. Further, a key implication of this study is that children's perspectives be given due weight in practical, programmatic, and policy initiatives aimed at promoting positive and successful transitions to kindergarten. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2012

This diploma thesis deals with the physical burden for teachers in kindergartens in relation to the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders among teachers. The main objective was to examine the physical demands of the profession of preschools educational staff. The work is divided into theoretical part and practical part.The research was conducted using qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with kindergartens teachers and LIFT / BEND score calculation. Fifteen teachers from three of kindergartens in the South Bohemian region participated in this research. Data from the interviews were evaluated by encoding method according to Švaříček and Šedivová (2007) and divided into schemes with a description. LIFT/BEND score was calculated according to Kovářová (2006) methodology. The calculation was based on the evaluation of the frequency of lifting, bending and handling of children.Reasearch questions were also answerd during the reasearch. The first research question contains "Is there a difference in the frequency of performing physically challenging activities in relation to the length of work experience in preschool facilities?" It was found that there is no difference between teachers in physical performance in relation to the length the practice. The analysis was performed using the LIFT / BEND score calcutation and testimonies of teachers in the interviews. The majority of teachers with the length of service over 20 years stated that avoids positions and activities that are unpleasant to them, such as kneeling, tying childrens shoes, bending over tables and more. Frequency of activities between younger and older teachers are not much different, but differ in subjective way of carrying out physically demanding tasks. The second research question is: "Is age a significant variable in the occurrence of musculoskeletal diseases?" From the primary perspective can be determined that age gains more musculoskeletal trouble, but according to the testimony of teachers and statistical evaluation, this relationship has not been confirmed. Age of teachers is not prerequisite for the development of musculoskeletal problems. According to nonparametric Spearman correlation this relationship is not statistically significant.From the findings of this research as well as international authors who have examined the relationship between physical load of lifting and bending while performing work in the so-called helping profession, age factor and length of service exhibits no significant importance, and vice versa occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders significantly affects the way of carrying out these activities in terms of their proper implementation. Therefore it should be ensured that teachers recieve education in health during preparations for their future careers.