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From the editor
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, No. 3 (1998)
FROM THE EDITOR Historically, play has been a mainstay of early childhood practice. Although sometimes lost in the emphasis on academic instruction, play has enjoyed a resurgence of attention from developmental and educational psychologists. The Special Focus Section of this issue contains three papers that provide new, varied perspectives on play. We have grouped these studies under the theme of "Play, Talk, and Learning." In "Room for Talk," Rebekah Fassler reports a year-long study of a class of urban kindergartners from eight different language backgrounds, with a teacher who spoke only English. Dr. Fassler's observational study documents the ways in which informal, often playful peer contacts supported the children's efforts to use English, their common frame of reference. The next paper, "Contextually-Relevant Validation of Peer Play Constructs with African-American Head Start Children," reports on the development by John Fantuzzo and colleagues of a rating measure to help teachers assess children's social competence through observations of their play. The final member of this group is Jeffrey Trawick-Smith's paper "A Qualitative Analysis of Metaplay in the Preschool Years." Using extensive videotapes of children's peer play, the analysis offers vivid examples of children's abilities to step outside their pretend play to talk about the themes and rules of their play. Two invited "Practitioner Perspective" commentaries accompany this paper; Angela Pratt and Phyllis Neves use their experience as teachers and program directors as lenses through which to view Trawick-Smith's work. Readers may be especially interested in the varied methodologies used by the authors of the three studies in this section, illustrating the value of complementary approaches to studying this topic. Following this "Special Focus" section, Teresa Buchanan and colleagues report on the "predictors of the Developmental Appropriateness of the Beliefs and Practices of First, Second, and Third Grade Teachers." Extending their line of research into primary education, the authors found that both classroom and teacher characteristics predicted teachers' ideas about appropriate curriculum and their implementation of these ideas. The theme of beliefs is continued in Annemarie H~iusler's and Beth Kurtz-Costes' study of mothers of young children with autism. Like other parents, these mothers struggle with child care issues; the study explores their child care beliefs and decision-making processes. Finally, in "Predicting Kindergarten Academic Skills," Kate Christian and colleagues use structural equation modeling to reveal strong effects of family literacy environments on several academic measures, as well as positive effects of child care for low income children's mathematics achievement. Like the papers in the "Special Focus" section, all of these studies have direct implications for the design of early childhood programs, professional preparation programs, and effective work with families of young children.
377
378
From the Editor
This issue concludes with two essays that continue the journal's new book review feature. Dennie Palmer Wolf reflects upon our concepts of childhoodmand of adult leamersmin her review of two books, Bringing Reggio Emilia Home, by Louise Caldwell, and Observation Drawing, by Nancy Smith and the Drawing Study Group. Marilyn Johnston's review of Teacher to Teacher, by Eleanor Duckworth and the Experienced Teachers Group provides a thoughtful perspective on the work of teachers in understanding children and their own practice. Taken together, these reviews and the books they highlight may increase our field's appreciation for the power of practical knowledge and for the connections between research and practice. We continue to receive positive comments about Volume 13 (1), the journal's special issue on inclusion of young children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Ablex Publishing Corporation is making this issue available in single and multiple copies in addition to offering it as part of a journal subscription. Ordering information may be found at the end of this issue. Please consider using this set of articles in your teaching or other professional work. Marion C. Hyson Editor
FROM THE EDITOR Historically, play has been a mainstay of early childhood practice. Although sometimes lost in the emphasis on academic instruction, play has enjoyed a resurgence of attention from developmental and educational psychologists. The Special Focus Section of this issue contains three papers that provide new, varied perspectives on play. We have grouped these studies under the theme of "Play, Talk, and Learning." In "Room for Talk," Rebekah Fassler reports a year-long study of a class of urban kindergartners from eight different language backgrounds, with a teacher who spoke only English. Dr. Fassler's observational study documents the ways in which informal, often playful peer contacts supported the children's efforts to use English, their common frame of reference. The next paper, "Contextually-Relevant Validation of Peer Play Constructs with African-American Head Start Children," reports on the development by John Fantuzzo and colleagues of a rating measure to help teachers assess children's social competence through observations of their play. The final member of this group is Jeffrey Trawick-Smith's paper "A Qualitative Analysis of Metaplay in the Preschool Years." Using extensive videotapes of children's peer play, the analysis offers vivid examples of children's abilities to step outside their pretend play to talk about the themes and rules of their play. Two invited "Practitioner Perspective" commentaries accompany this paper; Angela Pratt and Phyllis Neves use their experience as teachers and program directors as lenses through which to view Trawick-Smith's work. Readers may be especially interested in the varied methodologies used by the authors of the three studies in this section, illustrating the value of complementary approaches to studying this topic. Following this "Special Focus" section, Teresa Buchanan and colleagues report on the "predictors of the Developmental Appropriateness of the Beliefs and Practices of First, Second, and Third Grade Teachers." Extending their line of research into primary education, the authors found that both classroom and teacher characteristics predicted teachers' ideas about appropriate curriculum and their implementation of these ideas. The theme of beliefs is continued in Annemarie H~iusler's and Beth Kurtz-Costes' study of mothers of young children with autism. Like other parents, these mothers struggle with child care issues; the study explores their child care beliefs and decision-making processes. Finally, in "Predicting Kindergarten Academic Skills," Kate Christian and colleagues use structural equation modeling to reveal strong effects of family literacy environments on several academic measures, as well as positive effects of child care for low income children's mathematics achievement. Like the papers in the "Special Focus" section, all of these studies have direct implications for the design of early childhood programs, professional preparation programs, and effective work with families of young children.
377
378
From the Editor
This issue concludes with two essays that continue the journal's new book review feature. Dennie Palmer Wolf reflects upon our concepts of childhoodmand of adult leamersmin her review of two books, Bringing Reggio Emilia Home, by Louise Caldwell, and Observation Drawing, by Nancy Smith and the Drawing Study Group. Marilyn Johnston's review of Teacher to Teacher, by Eleanor Duckworth and the Experienced Teachers Group provides a thoughtful perspective on the work of teachers in understanding children and their own practice. Taken together, these reviews and the books they highlight may increase our field's appreciation for the power of practical knowledge and for the connections between research and practice. We continue to receive positive comments about Volume 13 (1), the journal's special issue on inclusion of young children with disabilities in early childhood programs. Ablex Publishing Corporation is making this issue available in single and multiple copies in addition to offering it as part of a journal subscription. Ordering information may be found at the end of this issue. Please consider using this set of articles in your teaching or other professional work. Marion C. Hyson Editor