Educar las emociones: una reflexión sobre los programas de educación emocional en la primera infancia a través de la lente de la Psicología Positiva

La primera infancia es la etapa comprendida entre los 0 y los 6 años, y es el momento en el cual el cerebro tiene mayor plasticidad, por lo que en la actualidad se cree que la educación debe iniciar en este momento de la vida. La educación inicial ha venido dejando de lado el interés por los procesos cognitivos y ha puesto su foco de atención en el desarrollo social y emocional de los niños. El objetivo del presente trabajo es describir las características de los programas de educación emocional en la primera infancia a través de la lente de la Psicología Positiva utilizando una metodología cualitativa documental y específicamente el estado del arte. Los resultados obtenidos se dividen en corte empírico y corte teórico; para los de corte empírico se encontró que si bien el target que se pretende impactar son los niños en la primera infancia, varios programas le apuntan a trabajar como primera instancia con los cuidadores de los niños. Por otro lado como variables más comunes se manejaban las habilidades interpersonales y la resolución de problemas. Para los de corte teórico se encontró que los programas se orientan bajo una pedagogía dinámica y que muchos se centran en enfoques orientados a la promoción de habilidades sociales.

Belonging, being, and becoming : challenges for children in transition

This article presents some findings of a small-scale research study carried out in 1 kindergarten in Hong Kong. The study looked at the problems associated with the transition of families from one culture (mainland China) to a new culture (Hong Kong), concentrating on the children's development of a sense of belonging in Hong Kong. Specific issues that children may face were identified. The study also suggests some strategies for early childhood teachers to use when implementing a play-based curriculum that gives immigrant children opportunities to express their emotions through play. The study found that a sense of belonging can be enhanced if teachers understand the difficulties inherent in cultural transition and respond accordingly.

Early years education in the primary years programme: implementation strategies and programme outcomes

This mixed-methods study investigated implementation strategies and child learning outcomes in early years education in the Primary Years Programme. Researchers from Deakin University evaluated processes and outcomes in four early years programmes, two in Singapore and two in Melbourne, Australia. Researchers collected qualitative data through classroom observations, drawings and writing produced by children, and interviews with educators, coordinators and parents. Quantitative data was collected through assessments of children’s literacy, developmental school readiness and learning skills. Three of the early years programmes appeared to support the development of learner profile attributes through inquiry-led learning and play-based approaches, while one site in Singapore was still in a developmental stage of implementing the programme. The study suggested that literacy skills at all sites were fairly developed; that children were performing at levels commensurate with or better in terms of school readiness; and that children were developing learning skills at higher rates than a comparative sample.

A dialética do amor em pigmaleão, de G. B. Shaw.

Pygmalion (1913), by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), has many studies in literary criticism. However, this study brings a new interpretation to Shaw s play based on Harold Bloom s theory and methodology, that is, the anxiety of influence and the dialectic of revisionism. Through the analysis of poetic influence and the dialectic of love, we can see that Pygmalion represents an apophrades in relation to William Shakespeare s The Taming of the Shrew (1593) and Ovid s myth of Pygmalion and Galatea in Metamorphosis (c. 14), which creates a family romance between the three stories. Shaw s play surpasses The Taming of the Shrew when it shows the possibility of the relation between this parent poem and Ovid s myth, which it is also its parent poem, and because it represents a strong misreading of Shakespeare s play as well as of Ovid s myth.

An Investigation of the Features and Effectiveness of the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program in Ontario

This dissertation includes two studies. Study 1 is a qualitative case study that describes enactment of the main components of a high fidelity Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten (FDELK) classroom, specifically play-based learning and teacher-ECE collaboration. Study 2 is a quantitative analysis that investigates how effectively the FDELK program promotes school readiness skills, namely self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy, in Kindergarteners. To describe the main components of an FDELK classroom in Study 1, a sub-sample of four high fidelity case study schools were selected from a larger case study sample. Interview data from these schools’ administrators, educators, parents, and community stakeholders were used to describe how the main components of the FDELK program enabled educators to meet the individual needs of students and promote students’ SR development. In Study 2, hierarchical regression analyses of 32,207 students’ self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy outcomes using 2012 Ontario Early Development Instrument (EDI) data revealed essentially no benefit for students participating in the FDELK program when compared to peers in Half-Day or Alternate-Day Kindergarten programs. Being older and female predicted more positive SR and literacy outcomes. Age and gender accounted for limited variance in numeracy outcomes. Results from both studies suggest that the Ontario Ministry of Education should take steps to improve the quality of the FDELK program by incorporating evidence-based guidelines and goals for play, reducing Kindergarten class sizes to more effectively scaffold learning, and revising curriculum expectations to include a greater focus on SR, literacy, and numeracy skills.

Introduction

Despite being widely acknowledged as one of the most important German dramatists since Bertolt Brecht, Heiner Muller (1929-95) still remains relatively unknown in the English-speaking world. This collection of plays aims to change that, presenting new translations and opening up his work to a larger audience. Collected here are three of his plays - "Philoctetes", "The Horatian", and "Mauser" - that together constitute what Muller called an "experimental series," which both develops and critiques Brecht's theory of the Lehrstuck, or "learning play." Based on a tragedy by Sophocles, Philoctetes dramatizes the confrontation between politics, morality, and the desire for revenge. The Horatian uses an incident from ancient Rome as an example of ways of approaching the moral ambiguity of the past. Finally, Mauser, set during the Russian civil war, examines the nature and ethics of revolutionary violence. The plays are accompanied by supporting materials written by Muller himself, as well as an introduction by Uwe Schutte that contextualizes the plays and speaks of their continued relevance today.

Florida's Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Program's Influence on Preschool Teachers' Beliefs and Practices

Three veteran preschool teachers told their stories about navigating the implementation of VPK. Even with parents' misconceptions about VPK's goals, teachers were able to meet its standards by continuing to embrace a play-based, hands-on philosophy that also emphasized children's social and emotional needs.

An Investigation of the Features and Effectiveness of the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program in Ontario

This dissertation includes two studies. Study 1 is a qualitative case study that describes enactment of the main components of a high fidelity Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten (FDELK) classroom, specifically play-based learning and teacher-ECE collaboration. Study 2 is a quantitative analysis that investigates how effectively the FDELK program promotes school readiness skills, namely self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy, in Kindergarteners. To describe the main components of an FDELK classroom in Study 1, a sub-sample of four high fidelity case study schools were selected from a larger case study sample. Interview data from these schools’ administrators, educators, parents, and community stakeholders were used to describe how the main components of the FDELK program enabled educators to meet the individual needs of students and promote students’ SR development. In Study 2, hierarchical regression analyses of 32,207 students’ self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy outcomes using 2012 Ontario Early Development Instrument (EDI) data revealed essentially no benefit for students participating in the FDELK program when compared to peers in Half-Day or Alternate-Day Kindergarten programs. Being older and female predicted more positive SR and literacy outcomes. Age and gender accounted for limited variance in numeracy outcomes. Results from both studies suggest that the Ontario Ministry of Education should take steps to improve the quality of the FDELK program by incorporating evidence-based guidelines and goals for play, reducing Kindergarten class sizes to more effectively scaffold learning, and revising curriculum expectations to include a greater focus on SR, literacy, and numeracy skills.

Unified: The Musical by Guy Le Jeune

A large-scale community play based on interviews with former workers at the Unifi textile plant in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

ION, OPERA IN SEVEN SCENES, BASED ON EURIPIDES ORIGINAL PLAY

The opera ION serves as my Doctoral Dissertation at the University of Maryland School of Music. The librettist of the opera is Nick Olcott, Opera Assistant Director at the University. My interest in this little-known play of Euripides began with my work with Professor Lillian Doherty of the University's Classics Department. Since I am fluent in Greek, I was able to read the play in original, becoming aware of nuances of meaning absent in the standard English translations. Professor Leon Major, Artistic Director of the University's Opera Studio, was enthusiastic about the choice of this play as the basis for an opera, and has been very generous of his time in showing me what must be done to turn a play into an opera. ION is my first complete stage work for voices and constitutes an ambitious project. The opera is scored for a small chamber orchestra, consisting of Saxophone, Percussion (many types), Piano, a Small Chorus of six singers, as well as five Soloists. An orchestra of this size is adequate for the plot, and also provides support for various new vocal techniques, alternating between singing and speaking, as well as traditional arias. In ION, I incorporate Greek folk elements, which I know first-hand from my Balkan background, as well as contemporary techniques which I have absorbed during my graduate work at Boston University and the University of Maryland. Euripides' ION has fascinated me for two reasons in particular: its connection with founding myth of Athens, and the suggestiveness of its plot, which turns on the relationship of parents to children. In my interpretation, the leading character Ion is seen as emblematic for today's teenagers. Using the setting of the classic play, I hope to create a modern transformation of a myth, not to simply retell it. To this end, hopefully a new opera form will rise, as valid for our times as Verdi and Wagner were for theirs.

Learning through play : a work-based approach for the early years professional.

Este manual trata sobre los niños que aprenden a través del juego y sobre el papel del adulto en este proceso. Tiene tres objetivos generales: ayudar a los profesionales a ser más hábiles e imaginativos cuando están involucrados en el aprendizaje lúdico; apoyar el desarrollo de contextos efectivos para el aprendizaje a través del juego; ayudar a los profesionales a tener confianza en su papel. Cada capítulo es una unidad independiente que se puede trabajar con la intención de desarrollar un aspecto particular de práctica, conocimiento o comprensión. El manual, en su conjunto, ofrece un programa para desarrollar el pensamiento y el entendimiento poniendo énfasis en la aplicación práctica y la conciencia de sí mismo.

Doll Play narratives about starting school in children of socially anxious mothers, and their relation to subsequent child school-based anxiety

Background: Child social anxiety is common, and predicts later emotional and academic impairment. Offspring of socially anxious mothers are at increased risk. It is important to establish whether individual vulnerability to disorder can be identified in young children. Method: The responses of 4.5 year-old children of mothers with social phobia (N = 62) and non-anxious mothers (N = 60) were compared, two months before school entry, using a Doll Play (DP) procedure focused on the social challenge of starting school. DP responses were examined in relation to teacher reports of anxious-depressed symptoms and social worries at the end of the child’s first school term. The role of earlier child behavioral inhibition and attachment, assessed at 14 months, was also considered. Results: Compared to children of non-anxious mothers, children of mothers with social phobia were significantly more likely to give anxiously negative responses in their school DP (OR = 2.57). In turn, negative DP predicted teacher reported anxious-depressed and social worry problems. There were no effects of infant behavioral inhibition or attachment. Conclusion: Vulnerability in young children at risk of anxiety can be identified using Doll Play narratives.

Effect of a school-based active play intervention on sedentary time and physical activity in preschool children

Early childhood is a critical time for promoting physical activity. Few studies have investigated the effect of interventions in this population. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a school-based active play intervention on preschool children’s sedentary time and physical activity. Preschool children were recruited from randomly selected preschools. Schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or comparison group. One teacher per intervention school received training from active play professionals in the delivery of a 6-week active play programme. Comparison schools continued their usual practice. Children wore a uni-axial accelerometer for 7 days at baseline, immediately after and at 6-month post-intervention. No significant intervention effects were observed for sedentary time or physical activity. However, sex and hours spent at school were significant predictors of physical activity. Children who spent fewer hours (half-day children) at school were significantly more active than their full-day counterparts. Physical activity during the intervention classes was high even though neither daily physical activity nor sedentary time changed. Notably children who spent more time at preschool were less active suggesting that preschool was not as conducive to physical activity engagement as other environments.