Academic literature on the topic 'Preschool in three cultures'

The literacy experiences of a small group of culturally-diverse children were examined in this study. The experiences, too, were diverse – and influential. The children, five girls aged four – five years, attended the same Preschool, in an inner suburb of a large city in Australia. Data were gathered at home, during the last two months of the preschool year and, for three of the children, during writing sessions in the first six months of Year One. Vygotskian ideas on meaning-making were integrated with other perspectives on development, literacy learning and teaching from a sociocultural, theoretical framework. The purpose was to identify dimensions of children’s literacy experiences and provide insight into ways in which children negotiate culture, literacy, and schooling, challenge current perspectives, contribute to research knowledge and determine how teachers might take account of cultural diversity in classrooms to better support children in literacy learning. A grounded theory method was employed using multiple data collection tools and techniques in both home and school contexts. Data were coded using a process of constant comparison to identify features, characteristics and dimensions of children’s literacy experiences. Independent inter-rater agreement on the coding of features at home, Preschool and school was 98.4%. Findings included a variety of values, beliefs and perspectives amongst parents and between teachers in relation to literacy learning, roles and relationships, and home-school connections. Children’s literacy experiences at home differed in terms of nature, frequency and resources and experiences in each of the settings were very different. A major finding was that children acted as agents of their own learning: mixing, transferring, trying out, adapting, and experimenting to determine appropriate practices and make decisions including when to exercise choice to enact agency. These assimilation and accommodation adaptations were identified as akin to code-switching, labelled as culture-switching, and identified as areas requiring further research.

Two curricular needs exist for the elementary art classroom: multi-cultural lessons which are customized to address North Texas ethnicities, and art history materials for early grades, whether taught by art teachers or regular classroom teachers. This thesis addresses both of these concerns by developing lesson plans to meet the needs, and executing an evaluative study with North Texas art and regular classroom teachers of kindergarten and first grade. The teachers represent four districts, including rural, suburban, and urban demographic populations. Findings address time limitations for public school teachers, cultural exchange differences between demographic groups, and differences between presentation of the units by regular classroom teachers versus art teachers.

I samband med att samhället utvecklats har populärkulturer explosionsartat uppkommit,kanske till och med lite för snabbt. För att göra det möjligt att kunna ta del av all populärkulursom varje individ har, handlar det om att se helheten. Populärkultur styrs av kontextenberoende på situationen och vem som upplever den.Syftet med studien är att se närmre på hur förskolebarns vardagliga populärkulturer kan se utoch hur barn kan använda sig utav sina erfarenheter för att skapa artefakter ifrån sinapopulärkulturer. I studien framkommer det att populärkulturens artefakter möjliggör barnsutveckling och lärande, då de samlar på sig erfarenheter som ger en fylligare ryggsäck tillderas fantasier. Teorin som varit tillhjälp i studien är Vygotskijs, grundaren till detsociokulturella perspektivet. Relevansen i teorin har varit aktuell där de sociala samspelandesituationerna berikar fantasi och erfarenhetsvärld. Populärkulturer kan ses som komponenter ibarns omgivning och i sociala sammanhang, där av har teorin används i studien. Studiensempiri har insamlats med hjälp av observationer och informella samtal enligt en kvalitativmetod. Resultatet som framkom är att barn använder sig av olika artefakter som är relevant tillderas lek av populärkultur och att barns populärkulturer kan vara en väg in till literacy.Slutsatsen i studien är att barn använder sig utav olika artefakter för att nå dit dem vill vare sigde har en medvetenheten om det eller inte. Barns populärkulturer blir som ett hjälpmedel ideras livsvärld och som bidrar till utveckling och lärande.

In this study l/the researcher sought to examine the correlational and classificational agreement (sensitivity and specificity) between two very popular screening instruments which have undergone recent revisions-The Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning-Revised (DIAL-R) and the Denver Developmental Screening Test-ll (Denver-ll) and one more recently published new screening instrument on the market--The Early Screening Profiles (ESP). The sample for this study consisted of 60 preschool children attending two federally and state funded preschool programs in Western Kentucky. The children were of the correct age to enter kindergarten in the fall of 1993. Results of this study revealed that the three instruments themselves showed an inability to classify children similarly. Using the DIAL-R as a criterion, the ESP and Denver-ll showed high specificity (88.9%-100%) but low sensitivity (25%-30%). While the correlation between the DIAL-R and ESP scores was moderately high (.72), its classification agreement was discrepant. One further interesting finding was that the group mean scores for children were significantly higher on the DIAL-R than on the ESP (mean difference=9.74 points). As the true job of any screening instrument is to accurately identify children who fall into high risk categories, these instruments appear to be "missing" many children. Analyzing all three instruments' classification agreements together resulted in discrepant identification of children.

<p> Many preschool students enter kindergarten without the oral language and phonetic awareness skills necessary for academic success. Qualitative research is also limited about the instructional practices preschool teachers use to improve the literacy skills of their students. The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers used developmentally appropriate instructional practices to improve the literacy skills of preschool students. The conceptual framework was based on the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in relation to language development. A multiple case study research design was used. Participants included 6 teachers from 3 different preschool programs in an urban school district in the eastern United States. Data were collected from individual interviews with preschool teachers, observations of literacy instruction in classrooms, and related program documents. For the single case analysis, coding and category construction were used to analyze the interview data, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the observation data. A content analysis was used to analyze the documents. For the cross case analysis, data were examined across all cases for emerging themes and discrepant data. A key finding was that preschool teachers used developmentally appropriate instruction to improve oral language, phonological awareness, and written expression and supported play through learning centers; however, limited teacher&ndash;child interaction was found in relation to quality of feedback and language modeling. This study contributes to positive social change by providing educators with a deeper understanding of the need to improve the literacy skills of young children.</p>

Many preschool students enter kindergarten without the oral language and phonetic awareness skills necessary for academic success. Qualitative research is also limited about the instructional practices preschool teachers use to improve the literacy skills of their students. The purpose of this study was to explore how teachers used developmentally appropriate instructional practices to improve the literacy skills of preschool students. The conceptual framework was based on the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky in relation to language development. A multiple case study research design was used. Participants included 6 teachers from 3 different preschool programs in an urban school district in the eastern United States. Data were collected from individual interviews with preschool teachers, observations of literacy instruction in classrooms, and related program documents. For the single case analysis, coding and category construction were used to analyze the interview data, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the observation data. A content analysis was used to analyze the documents. For the cross case analysis, data were examined across all cases for emerging themes and discrepant data. A key finding was that preschool teachers used developmentally appropriate instruction to improve oral language, phonological awareness, and written expression and supported play through learning centers; however, limited teacher--child interaction was found in relation to quality of feedback and language modeling. This study contributes to positive social change by providing educators with a deeper understanding of the need to improve the literacy skills of young children.