Improving Early Childhood Development Outcomes in Times of COVID-19: Experimental Evidence on Parental Networks and SMS Messages

This paper presents novel evidence of an intervention to foster preschool students cognitive skills during COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a policy experiment that provided preschool student parents with a SMS text message program to support student learning at home. Taking advantage of existing parent networks, we study the direct effect of being selected to receive the SMS text messages, and the spillovers of being part of a parent network. We show that after 15 weeks of intervention, SMS text messages increase student cognitive skills by 0.11 to 0.12 standard deviations. The effect is driven by an increase of parental involvement through the proposed activities. We find no evidence that information is transferred within parent networks.

Utilizing Animal Characters of a Mobile Augmented Reality (AR) Reading Kit to Improve Preschoolers’ Reading Skills, Motivation, and Self-Learning: An Initial Study

This study developed and used a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) reading kit to help preschool students recognize alphabets and read simple words more effectively. This study was based on the quantitative approach involving an experimental methodology that used a one-group pretest-posttest design. In this study, the variables of interest to be measured were students’ reading skills, motivation, and self-learning. The learning treatment involved a series of reading sessions using the novel learning application that spanned three weeks, with each session lasting for two hours. The sample of this study comprised 60 preschool students, whose ages ranged from four to six, who were selected from three different preschools. The effectiveness of the novel-reading kit was evaluated in terms of students’ learning performance, learning motivation in reading, and self-learning. The data for the former were gathered from pre-testing and post-testing. At the same time, a survey was administered to the students to elicit their opinions and feedback on the last two factors. Furthermore, all descriptive and inferential statistical procedures have been selected to analyze the data. Specifically, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to analyze the data, which demonstrated significant differences in the students’ reading skills, motivation, and self-learning before and after the learning interventions. These findings showed the students could recognize alphabets more accurately, read simple words more intelligently, become more motivated to read and be highly engaged in self-learning using the mobile AR reading kit.

Determining the Influences of a Hidden Curriculum on Students’ Character Development Using the Illuminative Evaluation Model

This study aimed to determine whether the Illuminative Evaluation Model, with its three-stage framework: Investigate, Inquire Further, and Explain, can be used as a methodology in understanding the influences of the hidden curriculum on the character development of preschool students. In Stage 1 Investigate, document analysis, observations, and interviews were conducted to examine the characteristics which were targeted to be developed through the formal curriculum, and the deviations and unintended outcomes that occurred during implementation. In Stage 2 Inquire Further, surveys, structured observations, and focus-group discussions were conducted to progressively focus on selected issues. In Stage 3 Explain, principles and patterns were organized to describe the hidden curriculum. In conclusion, the Illuminative Evaluation Model was found to be effective as a tool in determining the influences of a hidden curriculum on students’ character development. Keywords: curriculum evaluation, Illuminative Evaluation Model, hidden curriculum, qualitative evaluation, character development

Prompting Play for Preschoolers: Virtual Workshops for Educators

Date Presented 04/13/21 To support preschool students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), the educators working closely with them must be equipped with appropriate strategies. As OTs, it is our responsibility to ensure that any deficits in play are managed to increase engagement in daily activities. Through engagement in virtual workshops detailing two prompting strategies, participants' knowledge and self-efficacy regarding these techniques to support play in the classroom was increased. Primary Author and Speaker: Katherine Gammer Contributing Authors: Mor Nahum, Chen Makranz, Afik Hoba, Tamar Peretz, Nechama Silbermen, and Shai Netanel Nagary

An Exploration of the Nature of Social Interactions Between Preschool Students with Diverse Social-Emotional Skills During Engineering Activities

Peer interactions are a significant part of school experiences and influence children’s adjustment to school, however preschool students with and at-risk for disabilities are found to display a unique trajectory of social development, often requiring intentional instruction in social skills. A variety of interventions have been designed to support these students; however, they target foundational skills such as inviting peers to play and taking turns with materials, leaving a gap in the research on more complex social skills such as collaboration and joint problem-solving. The engineering design process (EDP) is a cyclical method that students follow to collectively build a solution to a problem. Engineering encompasses hands-on activity, inquiry, teamwork, and other instructional practices that develop students’ collaboration and problem-solving skills. Given that preschool students with or at-risk for disabilities require further support in social skills such as collaboration and problem-solving, and engineering activities provide naturally embedded opportunities for collaboration, students’ engagement in the EDP working along with peers is a gap in the research that needs to be explored. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of social interactions that take place between preschool students with diverse social-emotional skills when engaging in engineering activities using a qualitative single case study design. Thirteen preschool students and one preschool teacher participated in this study wherein four engineering activities were implemented in the classroom over a four-week period. Analysis of video clips of student participation in the four activities as well as teacher interviews revealed two distinct patterns of social interactions among students: a) collaboration: wherein students assigned responsibilities to each other and completed the activities in small groups; and b) “baby steps” towards collaboration: wherein students needing teacher support worked intermittently with peers. A third emergent finding concerns the nature of materials provided during these activities and the possibilities those provided for students to work together. The importance of these engineering activities in providing the platform for students with diverse needs to work together and engage in authentic peer interactions is discussed. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research including how students with disabilities can access and meaningfully participate in similar inquiry-driven activities as well as the teacher’s role in supporting their participation is discussed.

Reading Aloud as a Leading Activity With Preschool Students

We examine a teacher’s read-aloud activity with her preschool students in India. Three vignettes show how this leading activity helps young children take part in socio-dramatic play, fostering their cultural-historical development. Collaborating as teacher and researcher, we consider students’ use of words, instances of object substitution, and exploration of social roles in the story being read aloud, to demonstrate the development of their higher psychological activity. Moreover, we contend that read-aloud activities in preschool are crucial for developing student learning during middle childhood.

DISTANCE EDUCATION OF PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: AN ACTION RESEARCH

Switching to distance education due to the COVID-19 pandemic occurring worldwide and throughout the country has left us with the negative effects of the use of technology, which has been the subject of research for many years, with the increased use of technology recently. Preschool students' continuing their education online creates various concerns and this situation requires effective distance education planning. In this context, distance education in the preschool period has been designed as child-centered within the framework of the teacher's guidance role and family participation. The research is in the action research design. The study group of the research consists of 9 students and their parents. With this study, students' maximum participation in distance education was ensured by ensuring teacher-family communication continuity.

The Effect of Home-to-School Transition Program on Social-Emotional Readiness of Preschool Students

Aim: This study was done to investigate the effect of home-to-school transition program on social-emotional readiness of preschool students. Methods: For this study, semi-experimental design with pretest-posttest and control groups were used. The population included all preschool students in Isfahan during the 2017-2018 academic year who entered kindergarten for the first time. Data collection for this study included voluntary participation of two kindergartens from the city’s 5th district, and each was randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Seventeen students who were qualified to enter the interventional phase were included in the treatment and control group. The transition from home to school program was performed on the experimental group during 3 months and the control group did not received any interventions. The scale of the Social-Emotional School Readiness (Bustin, 2007) was used to collect the data. Findings: The data was analysed with one-way and multivariate analysis of covariance and the results showed that the home-to-school transition program was effective to promote social-emotional readiness of preschool student (p <0/003). Conclusion: Therefore, we can use this program for preschool student to increase their social-emotional readiness.