The Center for Early Childhood Education is pleased to announce the release of Encouraging Physical Activity in Preschoolers, an educational video that discusses the importance of physical activity for children's development. Dr. Darren Robert, Professor of Health and Physical Education at Eastern Connecticut State University, offers several ways to incorporate physical activity into the preschool daily routine. Two teachers describe their efforts to physically engage preschoolers through yoga, dramatic play, and active book-reading, and to involve parents in encouraging physical activity at home.

The video is the 7th in the e-clips series of educational videos for early childhood professionals. Each e-clip features an expert describing how early childhood professionals can use the latest research to enhance children's learning, and includes video footage from preschool classrooms at Eastern's Child and Family Development Resource Center. Supplementing each e-clip are suggested readings, additional on-line resources, and discussion questions to support conversations within instructional teams, in staff meetings, or in college-level courses.

To read more about the e-clips project and to view the videos and supplemental materials, go to: http://www.easternct.edu/cece/e-clips_main.html.

Keynote Presentation: Projects That Power Young Minds: You Can Do It and Here's How  by Judy Harris Helm

Change is so rapid that our children will live in a future we can't even imagine. Is your classroom developing the mind/brain capacity your children will need? Would you describe your learning experiences as mindful or mindless? Based on recent discoveries from neuroscience and cognitive research, this keynote reveals, in a humorous way, the typical intellectual life of early childhood classrooms. Then you will see The Movie Theater Project, a mind enhancing, literacy building application of the project approach in a pre-k classroom. See how it is done! Be inspired!

 

For more information about the conference, visit: http://www.easternct.edu/cece/investigations_conference.html

 

CEUs are available for conference participants. 

 

The Center for Early Childhood Education is now accepting nominations for the 2012 TIMPANI Toy Study. The annual scientific study works to identify toys that best engage preschool-aged children in intellectual, creative, and social interactions. The study:

• Helps preschool teachers make good decisions about what toys to put in their classrooms
• Gives parents information about the kinds of toys that help children learn the most
• Helps researchers understand how children's play with toys contributes to their development

We need help from parents, teachers, early childhood faculty, and others who work with or care for young children to identify promising toys that should be studied. (We do not accept nominations from toy manufacturers.) Nominated toys are placed in preschool classrooms with hidden video cameras. Researchers then rate the toys based on how children play with them. Results are shared through press releases, conference presentations, and our website.

 

To nominate a toy, visit http://7.selectsurvey.net/easternct/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=n42K7n4.

 

Update on 2/2/12: Nominations for the 2012 study are now closed.  You may nominate a toy for the 2013 study at: https://7.selectsurvey.net/easternct/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=n220l8m.

The Center for Early Childhood Education is pleased to announce the release of Supporting Children's Individual Needs, an educational video that discusses the challenge of planning for the entire classroom while meeting each child's individual needs. Dr. Ann Gruenberg of Eastern Connecticut State University stresses the importance of observing children and assessing their strengths and needs to determine how best to support them, and preschool teacher Niloufar Rezai reflects on strategies she used to identify and support a child's learning needs, including working closely with the child's family and giving them ideas for activities to do at home.

The video is the 6th in the e-clips series of educational videos for early childhood professionals. Each e-clip features an expert describing how early childhood professionals can use the latest research to enhance children's learning, and includes video footage from Eastern's preschool classrooms. Supplementing each e-clip are suggested readings, additional on-line resources, and discussion questions to support conversations within instructional teams, in staff meetings, or in college-level courses.

To read more about the e-clips project and to view the videos and supplemental materials, go to: http://www.easternct.edu/cece/e-clips_main.html.

Researchers at Eastern Connecticut State University's Center for Early Childhood Education have announced the results of the 2011 TIMPANI Toy Study. The toy receiving the highest ratings of all toys studied this year was "TINKERTOY Construction Set" by Hasbro/PLAYSKOOL. Study findings were announced at the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and at a press conference on Eastern's campus on November 14th.

According to principal investigator Dr. Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, "This year's findings confirm what we've been finding over the years with the TIMPANI study: basic, open-ended toys tend to be more beneficial to children's play and learning than some of the more elaborate and commercial toys that are on the market."

The TIMPANI toy study is an annual empirical study that looks at how young children in natural settings play with a variety of toys. Each year, nominated toys are placed in preschool classrooms and videotaped using remote cameras. Researchers use a scientific instrument to determine which toys best promote children's development in three areas: thinking and learning, social interaction and cooperation, and self-expression and imaginative play.

 

The high scoring TINKERTOYS Construction Set features easy-fitting, durable pieces that children can fit together to make all kinds of creations. This year's study looked at a plastic version of the toy. Researchers noted that children using the toy engaged in high levels of creative play--constructing bridges, lollipops, and other items--and used advanced language to describe their efforts. There was a high level of social interaction as children worked cooperatively to build robots and other creations.

 

In addition to providing useful information to parents and teachers about toys, the TIMPANI toy study provides opportunities for a number of Eastern Connecticut State University students to participate in research. Early childhood education student Kelly Zimmermann noted what she learned as a student researcher: "It was very interesting to see how some toys encourage children to use their imagination, taking something simple to create something very unusual."

 

For more information about the TIMPANI Toy Study and to watch a video illustrating how children played with the toy, visit www.easternct.edu/cece/timpani.html.

The Center for Early Childhood Education is pleased to announce that three research briefs on the importance of physical and outdoor play are now available on the Head Start Body Start website. The Center received a contract from Head Start Body Start in 2010 to conduct research on the developmental benefits of outdoor and physical play for children from birth to age five. The Center reviewed over 100 studies in an annotated bibliography, and summarized the findings in a comprehensive literature review. Using these findings, the Center created five video clips and developed five research-into-practice briefs to help early childhood providers implement practices that research indicates promote physical and outdoor play. The following three briefs are now available from Head Start Body Start:

• Learning to Move and Moving to Learn: Integrating Movement Into the Everyday Curriculum to Promote Learning
• Moving with Feeling: Nurturing Preschool Children's Emotional Health Through Active Play
• Lullabies, Leaping, and Learning: Supporting Thinking in Infants and Toddlers Through Active Music and Play Experiences

To read the briefs, watch the videos, or learn more about the project, visit http://www.easternct.edu/cece/physical_play_abstract.html 

The work of six Eastern students assisting in Center research was featured in a Hartford Magazine article entitled "Through the eys of a child: ECSU students study how play affects learning." The July 2011 article describes the work students did to support research by Dr. Sudha Swaminathan and Dr. Jeffrey Trawick-Smith on how teacher-child interactions during play influence children's mathematical abilities. The study was funded by the Spencer Foundation. The students involved in the research were Christina Cammisa, Claire Fryer, Tasia Supino, Eliza Welling, Jennifer Wolff, and Kelly Zimmermann.  Read the article Hartford Magazine article.pdf.

The Center for Early Childhood Education has been awarded a 2011 Telly Award for "The Importance of Play," the fourth video developed for the e-clips educational video series. The award-winning video discusses the importance of play and advises early childhood professionals to look at several elements of children's play, including engagement in make-believe play, social interaction during play, and play complexity.

The Telly Awards honor television, video, and film productions and programs, as well as work created for the Internet. Each year, the Telly Awards receive thousands of entries from throughout the United States and abroad. "The Importance of Play" received a bronze award in the category of Online Video: Education. The Center received a Telly Award in 2010 for "Five Predictors of Early Literacy."

The Center for Early Childhood Education congratulates the following faculty, staff, and students involved in the development of the video: Dr. Denise Matthews, Producer; Julia DeLapp, Executive Producer; Ken Measimer, Production Coordinator; Dr. Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, Content Expert and Host; Kerin Jaros-Dressler, Student Editor; and Jessica Barbieri, Student Production Assistant.

The Center also thanks the teachers and children at the Child and Family Development Resource Center for appearing in the video and being interviewed on camera.

To view the video, visit http://www.easternct.edu/cece/e-clips_play.html.

The Center for Early Childhood Education at Eastern Connecticut State University is pleased to announce the release of "Helping Children Identify and Express Emotions," the sixth segment of the Guiding Young Children's Behavior series of training videos.  When young children have strong feelings that they cannot understand, name,or control, they may display inappropriate behavior in the preschool classroom.  This segment identifies strategies teachers can use to help children understand and express their emotions in an appropriate way.

To view the videos, visit:  http://www.easternct.edu/cece/guidance_training.html

An article written by Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, Phyllis Waite Endowed Chair in early childhood education, and one of his students, Tracy Dziurgot, has been selected as Outstanding Research Article in Early Childhood Teacher Education for 2011, awarded by the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators and Taylor and Francis Publishers. The article, "Untangling Teacher-Child Play Interactions: Do Teacher Education and Experience Influence Good-Fit Responses to Children's Play?," reports research findings that indicate that higher levels of education predict preschool teachers' sensitivity to and understanding of children's play in classrooms. Trawick-Smith and Dzuirgot will be honored in an award ceremony in Orlando, FL, in November.