Early childhood has been proven critical for science learning and development, but there is a dearth of empirical research comparing the effects of different teaching approaches in the Chinese context. This study had three main objectives: (1) to observe early science teaching systematically in urban kindergartens in Mainland China; (2) to develop three different teaching approaches (constructivist, instructivist and combined) for a science curriculum for 5-year-olds based on these observations and current views on appropriate early science pedagogy; (3) to implement and examine the effectiveness of the differing approaches to early science teaching. In Study 1, classes in three kindergartens rated as good, average and unsatisfactory by the government regulatory body were video-recorded in their science classrooms with 6 lessons on appointed topics and 6 on self-chosen topics. Teaching behaviors were analyzed in terms of the instructional approach and its effectiveness. The results indicated variations in teaching approaches across the kindergartens. The teacher from the unsatisfactory kindergarten adopted a typical instructivist approach in science teaching, whereas the other two teachers gave children hands-on experiences as well as group discussions and direct instructions; nevertheless, there was poor connectedness among them. All three teachers were weak in considering the scientific conceptions embedded in the topics as well as the children’s prior conceptions when planning their teaching. To examine the appropriateness of teaching approaches in a Chinese context, the researcher developed three sets of early science programs for 5-year-olds, each of which contained three topics: ants, trees, and shadows. The three programs adopted instructivist, constructivist, and combined approaches. Employing the above programs, Study 2 was conducted in another kindergarten rated as average by the regulatory body. The participants were 4 qualified teachers and their 117 five-year-old students. The children were assigned randomly to four groups, one using an instructivist approach, one a constructivist approach, one combined approaches, and a control group. During the 15-week intervention, each group had science lesson once a week. Three teachers were invited to implement the provided programs and accepted ongoing training. The fidelity of their implementation of the curricula was also assessed. Pretest, posttest, and follow-up (12 weeks delayed) tests were administered to the children, covering three aspects of their science learning: content (curriculum-related and general knowledge about science), process (observation, scientific thinking, and problem-solving skills), and attitude (scientific interest and curiosity as well as approaches to learning). A repeated measures ANOVA yielded a significant main effect of time but no effect of group. Further analyses indicated that the combined approach was more effective than the control group’s approach in promoting children’s development of conceptual knowledge and curiosity. These findings provide empirical evidence about the teaching and learning of science in kindergartens in a Chinese context. The study has implications for the reform in early science teaching approach and corresponding in-service teacher training in Mainland China. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The teaching and learning of English is pervasive in Hong Kong, and children begin to learn English as a second language from as early as when they enter kindergarten at the age of three. Early vocabulary development (i.e., the knowledge of word meanings) is one of the important building blocks for reading development in English. This thesis portrayed two contexts, namely the home and the school, within which the teaching and learning of English vocabulary occurred for young children in Hong Kong. Two studies were conducted to (i) describe the home literacy environment and the English vocabulary skills of children from different socioeconomic backgrounds; (ii) explore the relationship between the home literacy environment and children’s English vocabulary skills; (iii) describe the contexts in which English vocabulary instruction occurred; and (iv) identify the teaching strategies adopted by teachers during English vocabulary instruction in early childhood classrooms. In Study 1, participants were 65 Chinese children (including 40 girls) and their mothers or fathers from four kindergartens. Children’s nonverbal IQ and receptive and expressive vocabulary were assessed. Parents completed a questionnaire which tapped family demographics and the home literacy environment. There were significant differences in home literacy practices and English vocabulary skills as a function of socio-economic status. The home literacy environment, as measured by book reading practices and the teaching of print-related skills, accounted for unique additional variance in English receptive and expressive vocabulary after controlling for the effects of child age, nonverbal IQ and maternal education. In Study 2, English vocabulary instruction was observed in six early childhood classrooms from three kindergartens over the course of a week. From 23 sessions of observations and 535 minutes of data, field notes were coded to identify the contexts of vocabulary instruction and the strategies used in teaching words. The teaching of vocabulary occurred in 12 out of 23 sessions and words were taught within the context of theme-based learning, systematic phonics instruction and storybook read-aloud. Teachers predominantly used certain strategies that promoted children’s recognition and memorization of words, such as the use of visuals, the emphasis on the pronunciation and written form of words, and pointing and labeling of words. This thesis provides an account of the home and school context for the English vocabulary development of Chinese children learning English as a second language. The findings highlight the importance of a rich home literacy environment for the support of second language vocabulary development and reflect the instructional strategies used in early childhood classrooms to facilitate word learning. Implications of these findings are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Wang, Ying. / Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-107). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on September, 2016).

During the past fifteen years there has been increasing interest in the role of reflection in professional development, especially amongst teacher educators. Yet although many preservice programs now place considerable emphasis on encouraging and assisting student teachers to reflect on their practice, reflection remaings a problematic notion. There is little consensus, for example, about what constitutes reflection, how it might be identified, and whether it can be promoted. This thesis reports a longitudinal study conducted over four years which explored the above issues within the context of an early childhood teacher education program, in Sydney (NSW), Australia. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate changes in student teachers' reflection on their professional development and practice during their enrolment in the Guided Practice component of their preservice program. A strength of this study is its focus on reflection as a multidimensional phenomenon involving far more than the processes of analytical thought typically addressed by most previous research in this area. Drawing on an eclectic range of literature, this thesis argues that emotion, imagination, intuition, and contemplation can also play an integral role. As such, it asserts that reflection can be seen, in effect, as a complex and holistic search for meaning. Conceptualising reflection in this holistic manner raises numerous methodological challenges. These challenges and the methodological decisions made in response to them are outlined prior to developing profiles of the participants' reflection. These profiles indicated that there was little consistent change in the reflection of eight of the 18 participants. For four student teachers, on the other hand, there was some change, while for six, there was considerable change. Several factors which appeared instrumental in hindering or promoting these student teachers' reflection are identified. These include commitment (or lack of) to teaching and to reflection; an epistemological perspective of received or constructed knowing; and the extent to which the learning environment was perceived as supportive. The study concludes with a discussion of some of the implications for teacher educators and for those intending to undertake further research into reflection.

During the past fifteen years there has been increasing interest in the role of reflection in professional development, especially amongst teacher educators. Yet although many preservice programs now place considerable emphasis on encouraging and assisting student teachers to reflect on their practice, reflection remaings a problematic notion. There is little consensus, for example, about what constitutes reflection, how it might be identified, and whether it can be promoted. This thesis reports a longitudinal study conducted over four years which explored the above issues within the context of an early childhood teacher education program, in Sydney (NSW), Australia. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate changes in student teachers' reflection on their professional development and practice during their enrolment in the Guided Practice component of their preservice program. A strength of this study is its focus on reflection as a multidimensional phenomenon involving far more than the processes of analytical thought typically addressed by most previous research in this area. Drawing on an eclectic range of literature, this thesis argues that emotion, imagination, intuition, and contemplation can also play an integral role. As such, it asserts that reflection can be seen, in effect, as a complex and holistic search for meaning. Conceptualising reflection in this holistic manner raises numerous methodological challenges. These challenges and the methodological decisions made in response to them are outlined prior to developing profiles of the participants' reflection. These profiles indicated that there was little consistent change in the reflection of eight of the 18 participants. For four student teachers, on the other hand, there was some change, while for six, there was considerable change. Several factors which appeared instrumental in hindering or promoting these student teachers' reflection are identified. These include commitment (or lack of) to teaching and to reflection; an epistemological perspective of received or constructed knowing; and the extent to which the learning environment was perceived as supportive. The study concludes with a discussion of some of the implications for teacher educators and for those intending to undertake further research into reflection.

The need to improve early mathematics education in the United States is very clear, given the importance of early mathematics learning and the consistently poor math performance of children from low-SES backgrounds. It is crucial to engage these disadvantaged children in meaningful math learning as early as possible. With the continuous infiltration of technology into our lives, the powerful affordances of tablet computers may enable the development of powerful math applications. Given the limited evidence of using well-designed math applications to enhance young children’s math learning, the primary goal of this dissertation was to examine the efficacy of a research-based math software application on low-income preschoolers’ number sense performance. Twenty-eight 4- to 5-year-old intervention participants completed MathemAntics (MA) training 15 minutes a day, 3 days a week for 4 weeks. The other 28 control participants stayed in their classroom and received general class instruction. All participants were given a pretest and a posttest to evaluate their number sense performance. Results indicated that the intervention group outperformed the control group on number sense assessment, and the intervention participants’ mean standardized Addition & Subtraction gain was the highest among the seven subtests, with the mean Standardized Compare Quantities gain being the lowest. Results also indicated that prior knowledge of identifying numerals predicted the overall post-assessment performance and the lack of knowledge on Addition & Subtraction predicted the standardized overall gain. The MA training analyses showed that the participants improved adequately on most of the MA activities during intervention. The use of MA tools was also discussed. The results provided direct evidence for demonstrating the efficacy of MA and added valuable information to the field of math software design. The results of this study also suggested that future studies can examine how the MA activities can be effectively integrated into the math curriculum and whether the MA activities are appropriate for home numeracy development.

This research considers the predictive utility of 10 decoding skills on a student's ability to read. The 10 skills are Consonant Blends/Digraphs, Decode Multi-Syllable Words, Decode Patterns/Word Families, Letter Identification, Manipulation of Sounds, Matching Letters to Sounds, Phoneme Identification, Phonological Awareness, Syllable Types: CVC, CVCe, R-Control, and Vowel Digraphs/Diphthongs. The research also examines the nature of the relationships between the decoding skills and reading ability. Furthermore, the research decomposes reading ability into segment 1 assessing decoding, and segment 2, assessing comprehension. Specifically, the study assesses the manner in which each of the 10 skills contributes to the variance in the two segment scores. The literature is limited to efficacy studies related to programs used to teach reading, and prior studies addressing skills have failed to extend examination beyond correlations between phonological and phonemic awareness, and a student's ability to read. These issues were examined in the present research using assessment records of 541 kindergarten, first, and second grade students who had each been administered the 10 aforementioned decoding skills tests as well as a reading assessment administered in two parts (decoding and comprehension). All records reflected assessments occurring within the same school year for each student assessed. The dependent variables are scaled scores with a valid range from 100 to 350 and represent the combined reading score plus each of the two segment scores. Multiple regression analysis was employed to consider the predictive utility and examine the correlations between the variables. Hierarchical regression was employed to further scrutinize the variance accounted for by each decoding skill. As a group, the 10 decoding skills indicated that students scoring higher overall on decoding also scored higher on overall reading ability, segment 1, and segment 2 (p < .001). However, the coefficient of variation indicates the grouped decoding skills may not be useful for prediction purposes for the segment 1 assessment (CV = .103). Correlations between all independent variables and the dependent variables were moderate to high (.617 to .880), with the exception of Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds which were low to moderate (.248 to .500). The correlation between Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds was moderate (.579). Post hoc analysis indicated the inclusion of Letter Identification and Matching Letters to Sounds did not account for any statistically significant additional variance in the combined reading score (p = .459), the segment 1 score (p = .261), nor in the segment 2 score (p =.749). By itself decoding does not sufficiently predict reading ability. This study brings to light the nature of the relationship between discrete decoding skills and reading ability for early learners. The research identifies additional information for consideration by educators providing early literacy instruction which may help them zero in on difficulties students may be having as they advance in their literacy.

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Inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood settings remains a goal for many early care and education centers and professionals. In this study, the perceptions of supports needed to accomplish this goal were examined. Early childhood teachers from a university-based child care center, which is inspired by the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, were interviewed and asked to explore their feelings and thoughts on fully including children with disabilities in their classrooms. An examination of their perceptions led to the identification of four major themes: a) everyone is valuable in the classroom community, b) additional training is needed, c) support from administrators, peers, specialists, and therapists, d) experience fosters success. From these themes the researcher found that teachers felt support from administrators(staffing, policies and procedures, time for meetings), peers, and on-site consultants, additional training, and an over arching philosophy of accepting differences were crucial to successful inclusion. The participants also indicated that all new teachers, whether in pre-service or through in-service should have access to these supports and be provided with information about the benefits and positive experiences of others who have included a child with a disability into their classroom. This study will add to the continuing discussion of early childhood inclusion and provide additional information for programmatic decision making within a particular setting.