Sidman and Tailby (1982) established procedures to analyze the nature of stimulus to stimulus relations established by conditional discriminations. Their research describes specific behavioral tests to determine the establishment of properties that define the relations of equivalence. An equivalence relation requires the demonstration of three conditional relations: reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity. The equivalence stimulus paradigm provides a method to account for novel responding. The research suggests that equivalence relations provide a more efficient and effective approach to the assessment, analysis, and instruction of skills. The present research examined the effectiveness of the formation of an equivalence class in teaching young children coin value relations. The second aspect of the study was to determine if there was a relationship between equivalence class formation and generalization of the skills established to other settings. Five children, 4- and 5-years old, were selected to participate in the study based on their lack of skills in the area of coin values and purchasing an item with dimes or quarters equaling fifth cents. The experimental task was presented on a Macintosh computer with HyperCard programming. The experimental stimuli consisted of pictures of dimes, quarters, and Hershey candy bars presented in match-to-sample procedures. Two conditional discriminations were taught (if A then B and if B then C.). The formation of an equivalence class was evaluated by if C then A. Generalization across settings was tested after the formation of an equivalence class by having the children purchase a Hershey candy bar with dimes at a play store. A multiple baseline experimentaldesign was used to demonstrate a functional relationship between the formation of an equivalence class and generalization of skills across settings. The present research provides supportive evidence that coin value relations can be taught to young children using equivalence procedures. The study also demonstrated generalization of novel, untaught stimuli across settings, after the formation of an equivalence class. A posttest on generalization across settings was conducted 3 months after the study. Long-term stability of equivalence relations was demonstrated by three of the subjects. / Department of Special Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which tri-weekly evidence-based vocabulary lessons implemented throughout the regular school day would increase kindergarten students’ expressive and receptive vocabulary development, thus decreasing the vocabulary gap exhibited between low-income children and their more advantaged peers upon entering kindergarten. The participants in this study were kindergarten students at an elementary school in the Midwest. The students in the control group received their normal vocabulary instruction from the district’s adopted reading series. The experimental group students received instruction from the evidence-based direct instruction vocabulary lessons found in Judy Montgomery’s The Bridge of Vocabulary. Data was collected before and after the intervention took place using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition and the Expressive Vocabulary Test, Second Edition, and was analyzed using an ANOVA to compare growth. Analysis showed that students who received the vocabulary intervention made significantly greater growth in both expressive and receptive vocabulary development than students who received vocabulary instruction from the adopted reading series. More specifically, the students from poverty who received the intervention made significantly greater vocabulary development than the students from poverty who did not receive the intervention. / Department of Elementary Education

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Elementary Education

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-133). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR30876

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed June 26, 2009). PDF text: 233 p. : col. ill. ; 5 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3350449. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2004. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 202-231).

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Learning to self-regulate one's behavior is a core developmental task in early childhood. Regulation of behavior is a challenge for young children largely due to cognitive constraints, specifically in the areas of attention and memory. As such, it has been theorized that both caregivers and a child's environment can support the development of behavioral self-regulation by providing cues as to what constitutes acceptable behavior in any given context. Although much research has been conducted on the role caregivers play in this regard, little is known about how a child's environment may also serve to support emerging self-regulation of behavior. The present study sought to identify differences among children's daily activities in terms of their degree of structure and routine and how they related to changes in patterns of self-regulated behavior over time. Twenty-one children ages 6 to 60 months in three age-graded classrooms at a constructivist child-care center were video-taped at three measurement points over a six-month period as they engaged in a variety of daily activities (i.e., free play, meals and clean-up). Trained observers coded for nine self-regulatory behaviors and the daily activities during which they occurred. It was hypothesized that structured and routine daily activities would scaffold the development of self-regulation and internalization such that these behaviors would occur more frequently during activities high in structure and routine. Over time, practice during activities that are high and low in structure and routine should support self-regulated behavior in the absence of structure and routine as well. Overall, results demonstrated that in the presence of environmental cues for expected behavior (i.e., structure and routine) children tend to engage in more self-regulated behavior than in the absence of such cues.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this project is to examine the power of play, guided discovery, and hands-on experiences in the early childhood classroom, specifically as it relates to early childhood science experience. This paper will also propose a science curriculum encompassing a hands-on, guided discovery, play-based approach.