The causal effects of the skills of attending and obtaining task-relevant information on the pre-reading ability of one hundred and twenty-three preschool-age Head Start children were studied. Attending and obtaining task-relevant information (OTRI) were conceptualized as latent variables. Performance on a path-referenced test entitled Social Skills in the Classroom (SSITC) provided data which were observable indicators of these latent variables. Pre-reading ability was also conceptualized as a latent variable, with performance on another path-referenced test, the Reading Dimension, providing the observable indicators of this variable. Convariance structure analysis procedures were utilized to (1) link the observable indicators to their respective latent variable, through a confirmatory factor analysis model, and (2) to examine the causal effects of the latent variables on each other. A model representing the hypotheses that age, attending, and OTRI would be causally related to reading ability, that age would be causally related to attending and OTRI, and that no reciprocal relationships between these latent variables would be found was tested. This model provided a good overall fit with the data. T-values obtained under this model, however, suggested that the causal relationship between OTRI and reading ability was not significant. A second model in which this relationship was assumed to be zero was then tested and was found to provide a good overall fit with the data. A difference of chi-square test suggested that this was the preferred model. This model supported the original hypotheses that age and attending were causally related to pre-reading ability, and that age was causally related to attending and obtaining task-relevant information. The significance of the causal relationship between attending and pre-reading ability is discussed in terms of its implications for future research into the effectiveness of instruction in skills similar to those investigated in the present study.

M.Ed. (Education) / The teaching of motor skills is to a large extent neglected in early childhood. This conclusion has been drawn from practical experience and observation obtained from teaching at a preparatory school. The research undertaken in this study has focussed on the design of a motor guiding programme in which individual motor skills can effectively be taught. Naturally the first priority has been to establish which motor skills a child must obtain at each developmental stage. Therefore this study analysed different characteristics of the growing child in the three developmental stages - the neonate, the infant and the preschool child. the next step has been to establish which criteria constitute the' basis for the motor guiding programme. The solution to this problem has been obtained from observing small children, ages three to six years as well as from scrutinizing the vast amount of empirical research on motor skills that appear in representative literature. The following criteria which emanated from the research programme, constitute the basis for the proposed motor guiding programme: individual uniqueness, the original situation, estimation of time, content, school readiness, sosializing, norm establishment, human dignitiy, positive selfconcept, realistic aims, aspiration level, stimulation, affective stability, safety and evaluation. The next stage of research was the design of appropriate teaching principles applicable to motor skills by the analysis of the cognitive, affective and motor aspects of the teaching of motor skills for preschool children. These principles appear to be: aims and goals, self actualization, sosialization, motivation, evaluation, structuring and contextualization. Having analysed these principles and criteria, a motor guiding programme has been developed.

Preschoolers can often rattle off a long sequence of numbers in order, but have problems in reporting the exact number of objects even in a small set, and have trouble in comparing numerical relation of two sets that differ by exactly 1 item. The present study showed that representing and highlighting sets by showing a circular, enclosed diagram around them with or without a grouping gesture helps children to enhance their understanding of cardinality and to improve their overall math competence. Nighty-three preschool students, ages ranging from 3years-10 months to 4 years-9months (M= 51.82 months, SD= 3.56 months), from three public schools in Harlem, New York participated in this study. Children from each school were ranked based on their pre-test score on the Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA-3), and were then assigned randomly to one of the three math comparison groups or the reading control group. Children in diagram-plus-gesture math group, were asked to draw a bubble by making a grouping gesture around each of the two sets on a touch screen device, indicate the number of fish in each bubble, and judge whether there were the same number of fish in each bubble, and in case the number was not the same, indicate which set had more fish. Children in the diagram only condition simply saw bubbles around sets without the need to do a grouping gesture around them. Children in the no diagram- no gesture condition neither saw a bubble nor did a grouping gesture. All participants played on the software for 4 sessions within a two-week time period and the data were examined microgenetically. Results showed that all children in the math comparison groups improved in their math scores during the game-play and improved in their overall math competence from pre- to post-test, unlike the children in the reading control group. More importantly, children who saw the circular diagram (bubbles) around sets with or without the grouping gesture outperformed children who never saw bubbles nor made a grouping gesture in their accuracy, understanding of cardinality, and overall math competence from pre to post. Further, children with lower executive functioning skills benefitted from performing the grouping gesture in addition to seeing the circular diagram. Gestures can have the same form as diagrams, and hence, they may carry information that is redundant with diagrams. Such redundancy reinforces the message by presenting information in two modalities-- a redundancy that may not be necessary for some, but beneficial to others (i.e. children with low executive functioning skills). Finally, over the course of game-play children who did the grouping gesture never counted the two sets together as one set when asked to compare their numerical relation-- a mistake many preschoolers make; children in the other groups made that mistake occasionally. Because gestures are actions and dynamic by nature, they appear to be especially suited for changing actions and promoting early counting skills.

This study was designed to determine degree to which self concept and reading readiness of kindergarten children might be affected through a bibliotherapeutic intervention program. The procedure employed oral reading of selections by the teacher, retelling of stories by children, discussion questions, and follow-up activities.The population consisted of ten kindergarten sections (six experimental and four comparison) in four elementary schools within Harrison District #2, Colorado Springs, Colorado.Assessment instruments included scales from the Stanford Early School Achievement Test,, and three subcategories and total self concept measures from the I Feel . . . Me Feel: Self Concept Appraisal.The procedures followed by classroom teachers who used the bibliotherapy program during a four-month experimental period were explicitly described in a handbook provided.A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) tested the null hypotheses of no significant differences between bibliotherapy and comparison groups on measures of (1) self concept and (2) readiness. Univariate F statistics revealed that factors contributing to the significant F included three measures of self concept--Self, Others, Surrounding--and one reading readiness measure--Word Reading.The hypothesis of correlation between self concept employed a one-tailed t statistic. Statistically significant correlations were evidenced between self concept total and two readiness subtests--Math and Environment.Findings included:1. Significant differences for all three self concept measures favoring the bibliotherapy group.2. Statistically significant differences between the bibliotherapy and comparison groups for one of the two reading readiness measures with no significant difference for general areas of readiness.No statistically significant correlations between self concept and reading readiness measures; statistically significant correlations for two areas of general readiness.Among the population studies, it was concluded that bibliotherapy appeared to have a favorable impact on pupil perceptions and achievement. Use of bibliotherapy by teachers was recommended as well as further research to establish potential effectiveness.

The purpose of this study was to train teachers and peers to increase social interactions of children who had been identified as having a lack of social interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea. Four children with disabilities were identified by teachers as lacking social interactions with peers and teachers, and were the focal subjects of the study. The focal children, four teachers, and four classes of peer children participated in two interventions, an initial training on naturalistic teaching strategies with teachers and a training on social skills with peer and focal children, and a combined intervention. A multiple probe design was employed to examine effects of the two interventions during free choice play periods. The four teachers were trained on naturalistic teaching strategies, and peers and focal children in each class participated in a training on social interactions for the first intervention phase. The second intervention was a combined intervention consisting of both naturalistic teaching strategies of teachers and a ‘group game’ in which peer children used social interaction skills with focal children. This study consisted of baseline I, training teachers and children with baseline II, the combined intervention, and the maintenance phase. The results of this study indicate that focal children’s mean percentage of social interactions with teachers and peers in free choice play periods increased from baseline I after the initial training with baseline II. The maintenance phase indicated that mean percentages of social interactions of focal children increased from the mean percentages of social interactions in baseline I. This study may contribute to issues of training teachers on naturalistic teaching strategies and children on social skill interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea, and the United States, for promoting social interactions with children with disabilities. / text

Chinese orthography is morphosyllabic and its script differs in unique ways from other alphabetic, phonemic syllabic and morphemic scripts. Hence the teaching of Chinese literacy is challenging and requires considerable practice on the part of learners. This thesis reviews the methods which have been used to teach Chinese literacy during preschool years. By searching the electronic databases, we classify various articles into different types, introducing “importance of learning early literacy”, “key elements of learning Chinese literacy”, “school-based teaching methods of Chinese literacy” and “home-based teaching method of Chinese literacy”. The study analyzes that core components of learning Chinese literacy are “oral language”, “morphological awareness”, “orthographic skills,” “learning the sound, semantics and shape of the character” and “providing meaningful literacy experience”. Also the study finds three main types of school-based teaching methods, namely “bottom-up teaching method”, “whole to part teaching method” and “integrated teaching method”, of which “integrated teaching method” is the most appropriate one in enhancing Chinese literacy learning. For home-based method, the study finds that “dialogic reading with morphologic training” and “games of learning the characters by components” are the appropriate ways to provide early literacy learning at home. The study concludes that systematical learning sequence is needed in learning Chinese literacy. But it is difficult to implement a systematical sequence of learning Chinese in an integrated curriculum model. Educators need to find out an appropriate way to implement a systematical sequence of learning Chinese in an integrated curriculum model. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term Hands-On, Minds-On science process skills on the acquisition of general readiness to learn by kindergarten children.Three null hypotheses were formulated to examine differences between the scores of an experimental group of kindergarten children who had engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process investigation and a control group of kindergarten children who had not engaged in such investigation. The students engaged in approximately eight hours of science process investigation. Differences due to sex were examined in Hypothesis II. Differences which may be attributed to student ability as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were examined in Hypothesis III.A fourth factor, class effect was also examined.The research utilized a modified Posttest-Only Control Group design. The posttest was the California Achievement Test, Level 10, Form E.The participants for the study were 86 kindergarten students from four intact classes. The control group was comprised of 47 students and the experimental group a total of 39 students. These students attended a small rural school corporation with a enrollment of approximately 1,240 students.The use of the Wilk's Lambda Multivariate Tests of Significance yielded the following information at the .05 level of significance:No significant difference was found between children who had or had not engaged in Hands-On, Minds-On science process instruction. The significance of F between the two groups was .106.No significant difference was found based on sex differences of the students who participated in this study. The significance of F between males and females was .917.A significant difference was found between high and low ability students who participated in this study. The significance of F to three places, between the two groups was .000.A four-way univariate analysis of variance analogous to the multivariate analysis was performed on each component of the vector (Visual Recognition, Sound Recognition, Reading Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Language Expression, and Mathematics) and tested at the .05 level of significance. The results indicated that each component of the vector was significant at the .05 level with the independent variable ability.Based on the researcher's findings recommendations for further research were made. Two of the most promising were increased science time for student participation and development of a test which measures a broader spectrum of the curriculum, including science. / Department of Elementary Education

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-261). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xii, 261 leaves, bound 29 cm

This dissertation documents new curriculum and instructional strategies for teaching writing in a first and second grade classroom during the eight years of the Writing Box project. It is a first-person account of ongoing change as I, the teacher-researcher experienced and understood it. My descriptions of change and children's writing samples show how teaching practices and learning activities developed and evolved through incorporating writing at the core of student learning. My experiences demonstrate how substantive change can occur in elementary schools through the efforts of a teacher and students working together to create successful academic achievement. One hundred seventy-five first and second graders were given Writing Boxes to use at home and they were in a classroom that featured writing across the curriculum. Six conclusions are drawn from their experiences. First, choice of writing materials makes a difference in how willing children are to write. Interesting, open-ended materials are prerequisites for children to write all year. Second, teachers must create many writing times throughout the day. My students wrote during regularly scheduled writing times as well as before school began, during snack and "you-choose" time, and at recess and lunch. Third, how teachers talk with children about writing is crucial to children becoming active writers. I changed my vocabulary and approach to emphasize that children are writers right now with ideas and pictures in their heads to communicate to others through text. Fourth, process models for teaching writing based on the experiences of adult writers must be modified to create "a writing process fit for a child." This child-centered approach includes diverse ways of opening up writing, generating first drafts, revising and editing, and publishing. Fifth, writing can be integrated into the study of mathematics, science and social studies using "I Wonder" journals, fiction-nonfiction stories, and math comics. Finally, computers and other technologies promote writing. Having more than one computer in the classroom allowed me to do more small group instruction with writing. The machines provide different ways to write and to publish while supporting children's creativity and self-expression.