The current study aimed to examine the associations between teacher presence and social scaffolding and preschool children's peer interactions. Using a time sampling method, peer interactions of 22 four-and five-year-old preschoolers (12 girls; Mage = 52.95 months) and teacher behavior were observed on two different days during various classroom activities in seven public preschool classrooms. Eco-behavioral analyses revealed that (a) teacher presence was negatively associated with positive peer interactions; (b) teacher absence was positively associated with negative peer interactions; (c) positive change of peer interactions was more likely to occur when the teacher was present; (d) children showed more positive peer interactions during child-directed activities than during adult-directed activities or daily routines and transitions; and (e) teacher's social scaffolding was positively associated with children's positive peer interactions although it occurred only for 3.61% of the intervals during which the teacher was in close proximity to children. In addition, although the likelihood for children's positive interaction was over 2 times higher in child-directed activities in comparison to adult-directed activities, teacher presence still seems very important for inhibiting negative peer interactions.
The importance of early and developmentally appropriate science education is increasingly recognized. Consequently, creation of common guidelines and standards in early childhood science education has begun (National Research Council (NRC), 2012), and researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have shown great interest in aligning professional development with the new guidelines and standard. There are some important issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement guidelines and make progress toward accomplishing standards. Early childhood teachers have expressed a lack of confidence in teaching science and nature (Torquati, Cutler, Gilkerson, & Sarver, in press) and have limited science and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Appleton, 2008). These are critical issues because teachers' subject-matter knowledge is a robust predictor of student learning outcomes (Enfield
This article describes an early childhood teacher-preparation program that infuses environmental education and nature experiences into courses, practicum, and student-teaching experiences. Program philosophy, pedagogy, materials, and methods are described and linked to the Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence, the Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators, and state-level early learning guidelines that focus on connecting young children with nature. Preservice teachers build knowledge, skills, and dispositions for effective environmental education beginning from an awareness level and progressing to application and refinement. The value of nature is communicated explicitly and implicitly throughout the program. Preliminary analysis of student outcomes indicated that, over the course of the program, students' ratings of the importance of nature and science experiences and outcomes increased, along with their confidence implementing environmental-education activities. There is growing interest in nature and environmental education (EE) in early childhood. Guidelines for Excellence have been published for early childhood education (North American Association for Environmental Education [NAAEE], 2010a), and the North American Association for Environmental Education has added a "Connecting Kids and Nature" track to the annual conference. Several books have been published on connecting young children with nature (e.g., Davis, 2010; Ward, 2008; Wilson, 2012) and early childhood EE curricula have been developed by Project Learning Tree and Project Wild (Council for Environmental Education, 2009; Project Learning Tree, 2010). A professional development program focusing on discovering nature with young children has been funded by the National Science Foundation (Chalufour & Worth, 2003) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children published a compilation of articles on nature and EE in early childhood (Shillady, 2011). A rating scale designed to assess EE in early childhood has also been published (Bhagwanji, 2011). You know things are getting serious when we start measuring! CONTACT Julia Torquati,
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