This thesis investigates the relationship between educational television content and children‘s play behaviors immediately after viewing. Children ages 41-43 months of age were randomly assigned to view a television program with predominantly object-constructive or social dramatic content. All children participated in a period of video viewing, approximately 25 minutes in length, followed by a 30-minute play session. Each participant was subsequently administered a brief card sorting task to assess categorical knowledge of constructive and social activities. Each child‘s session was coded for looking at the television, toy choice, and play content (constructive or social-narrative). Video viewing condition and the interaction between categorical knowledge and condition significantly predicted children‘s subsequent play content. Taken as a whole, these findings imply that short-term priming effects of educational video viewing on children‘s play are present in 42-month old children but that these effects are moderated by children‘s categorical understanding of TV content.

This study investigated associations among different parental psychopathology dimensions and child functioning. Mothers and fathers of preschoolers with behavior problems (n = 132) completed psychopathology questionnaires when children were 3 years old. Children’s externalizing, internalizing, and social problems, academic achievement, and cognitive ability were assessed at annual home visits from age 3 to 6. In general, maternal psychopathology symptoms were associated with mothers’ reports of externalizing, internalizing, and social problems at age 3 and 6. Additionally, paternal psychopathology symptoms were associated with fathers’ reports of externalizing and internalizing problems at age 3 and 6. Mothers with more elevated psychopathology symptom dimensions had children with more mother-reported and father- reported externalizing and internalizing problems, and lower social competence at age 3 and age 6. Fathers with more elevated psychopathology symptom dimensions had children with more mother-reported internalizing problems at age 3 and 6. Only a few parental psychopathology dimensions (maternal ADHD and Cluster A symptoms, and paternal ADHD, depression, and antisocial symptoms) emerged as unique predictors of child functioning at age 3 and 6. These findings suggest that most types of mothers’ and fathers’ psychopathology may play a role in the behavioral, social, and emotional outcome of preschoolers with behavior problems.

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An integrated learning experience with preschoolers.

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This study examined 100 Arab-American families of children attending a weekly Sunday school in the Southeastern region of the US on their views about infants, toddlers or preschoolers’ touchscreen device usage patterns. Over 80 percent of the respondents have obtained at least a bachelor’s degree. Surveys were completed for 51 boys and 49 girls. Like studies on children of other ethnic groups living in the United States of America show, Arab infants, toddlers and preschoolers’ mobile touchscreen device usage patterns do not conform to the 2016 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines which suggested no touchscreen device usage for children below 2 years and 1-hour daily usage for children between 2-5 yesrs. However, Arab-American parents hold different views on the use of mobile touchscreens with young children when compared to studies from other parents living in the United States. Also, Arab American parents are less concerned about their infant, toddlers and preschools’ children damage to touchscreen devices. Thus, further studies are required to delineate why Arab American parents’ views on touchscreen devices differ to their young children reported usage habit.

This study examined social interactions between Italian preschoolers based upon sociometric status groupings. The sample consisted of 267 Italian preschoolers (mean age 64 months) taken from early childhood classrooms in southern Italy. Drawing on previous research, preschoolers' physical and relational aggression and physical and relational victimization as measured by peer nominations were analyzed. Structural equation modeling using Mplus was used to test the model, and SPSS 15 was used to run analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to examine the interaction between sociometric status and preschoolers' behaviors toward peers. Findings generally support previous research with American children as well as cross-cultural research regarding physical and relational aggression, victimization, sociability, and sociometric status groupings. Results indicate that popular children displayed high levels of social behavior, low levels of aggression, and experienced little victimization, while rejected children demonstrated high levels of aggression and victimization and low levels of social behavior. The most striking finding was that controversial children, similar to rejected children, showed high levels of aggression and victimization. Gender differences indicated that boys were more relationally and physically aggressive and victimized than girls, with the exception of controversial status girls.

To achieve multiple learning objectives, the ideal preschool activity center should promote development across all domains, from adaptive to social-communicative. Though early childhood practitioners describe the sensory table as capable of doing so, empirical accounts stand in stark contrast and suggest that it is a non-social functional activity. The intent of the present investigation was to reconcile this distinct dichotomy through the systematic manipulation of four sensory table substances (sand, soil, rocks, and water) and provision sets that differed in realism to determine their effect on preschoolers' free play behavior. Preschoolers' play forms and social participation were observed at the sensory table as they used a novel surface, which was introduced weekly without repetition, and either a set of minimally structured objects or realistic toys. Preschoolers' play and social participation were indeed influenced by the arrangement of the table. The sand, water, and provision sets yielded the most salient effects. Sand pulled for more sophisticated cognitive and social play forms while water pulled for more rudimentary ones. Regarding provision sets, the highly structured toys pulled for the most mature cognitive play form while the minimally structured toys pulled for the most sophisticated social context. The highly structured toys, with realism that lent to specific themes, appear to have functioned as a thematic anchor and cultivated a greater occurrence of dramatic play as compared to the minimally structured objects, which pulled for more functional play. Conversely, the minimally structured toy set, containing objects that loosely represented realistic objects and/or were capable of multiple functions, fostered a greater amount of socialization through parallel, social, and social-constructive play. Aside from its motoric and adaptive value, findings from this investigation suggest that under certain ecological conditions the sensory table fosters the development of cognitive and social skills. Recommendations for early childhood education practitioners are provided.

В теоретической части магистерской диссертации представлен обзор основных подходов к определению и структуре креативности, изучены особенности развития креативности в дошкольном возрасте, а также рассмотрены условия развития креативности в Монтессори-среде. Исследование креативности старших дошкольников, занимающихся по системе М. Монтессори, описанное в эмпирической части диссертации, подтвердило гипотезу о том, что дети, развивающиеся в Монтессори-среде, имеют более высокий уровень креативного мышления, чем дети, занимающиеся по традиционной системе дошкольного образования. / The theoretical part of master's thesis consists of an overview of the main approaches to the definition and structure of creativity; peculiarities of the development of creativity in preschool age and the conditions of creativity in the Montessori environment. The research on creativity of senior preschool children involved in the Montessori method, which was described in the empirical part of the master's thesis, confirmed the hypothesis that children, raised in the Montessori environment, have a higher level of creative thinking, than the children, who are learning in the traditional preschool education.