The purpose of the study was to examine early childhood education pre-service teachers' perceptions of the increasing role of new technologies in classroom environments. Given the growth in interest in a teacher's technological literacy, the research focused on similarities in and differences between pre-service teachers' concepts of technology use in Japan and the United States. The participants consisted of 41 female pre-service teachers in the southeastern United States and 41 pre-service teachers (seven males and 34 females) on the main island of Japan. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded five major themes regarding conceptions of technologies: competence; communication; pros and cons of technology; the importance of external and internal assessments; and the media. The results contrasted American and Japanese pre-service teachers' notions of the role of technology in teaching. American and Japanese pre-service teachers mostly agreed on the importance of child, parent, and community involvement in implementing technology in the early childhood centre.
The purpose of the study was to examine American and Japanese kindergarteners’ views of play. The participants consisted of 44 kindergarteners and their five teachers in the southeastern United States and 50 kindergarteners and their three teachers on Japan’s main island. Both groups of children were asked to photograph their views of play and to explain the reasons for their photographs. Teachers were also interviewed about their views of play. Qualitative analysis revealed that children’s views of play were associated with interactions with others, preferred environments, and favorite toys/props. Both groups of children photographed outdoors. Only Japanese children photographed toys/props without people while no American children did. Many children’s reasons for photographs were descriptive while Japanese children described physical environments, affective states, and favorite toys/props. Only Japanese children’s photographs captured toys/props and outdoor environments without people and they gave more detailed explanations for their photographs than did American children.
Teachers' perspectives of play differ widely because of social and cultural influences that can be seen in their values and beliefs about play in different countries. In a global community, sharing educators' knowledge of play and their perspectives of how to educate children through the use of play would be appropriate and complementary in understanding early childhood education in different countries. To understand the meaning of play, American, Japanese and Taiwanese early childhood preservice teachers' perceptions of play were examined. The participants consisted of 25 American preservice teachers, 25 Japanese pre-service teachers, and 25 Taiwanese pre-service teachers. Qualitative analysis of the data yielded four themes for play: learning and development; social skills; creativity; and children's work. There were three themes regarding the meaning of adults' play: being both similar to and different from child's play; preventing stress; and enjoying interacting with others. One theme of enjoyment emerged for the understanding of playfulness. More American and Taiwanese participants agreed that play relates to learning and development than their Japanese counterparts. Japanese and Taiwanese participants viewed play as being more than learning and development, while none of their American counterparts did. Both Japanese and Taiwanese participants claimed that although play can support children's development and learning, children should enjoy play for the sake of playing. One theme that differentiated the groups was the notion that play is children's work. While several American and Taiwanese participants mentioned this slogan, this was not the case for the Japanese.
The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in perspectives of fathering among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers. The participants in the quantitative survey consisted of 67 American in-service and 277 preservice teachers, 118 Chinese in-service and 163 pre-service teachers, 325 Japanese in-service and 350 pre-service teachers, and 105 Swedish in-service and 182 pre-service teachers. Randomly selected participants from these nations also participated in focus-group interviews. The results of this study revealed that fathers' involvement was related to hours of care for both Chinese and Japanese inservice teachers as well as for all four countries' pre-service teachers. Chinese, Japanese and Swedish teachers' perceptions of fathers' involvement were associated with gender equality. The more American, Chinese and Japanese pre-service teachers valued sensitivity of care, the more they considered fathers' involvement to be important. Qualitative data analysis found that the majority of participants valued fathers' involvement and that their cultures clearly influenced their concepts of fathering.
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