Joohi Lee

Investigating Children's Mathematics Readiness.

Abstract A sample of 244 children (average age: 61 months) and their parents from the Dallas and Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex area in Texas were surveyed to investigate childrens mathematics readiness. This study was conducted as part of a project funded by a local child care council, composed of business, civic, and education leaders in the community. The study investigated childrens mathematics readiness associated with demographic information (family income, race/ethnicity, and gender) and pre-kindergarten experiences. Major findings of this study were: 1) children from higher family incomes scored higher on mathematics readiness assessments than children from lower family incomes; 2) among four major ethnic groups of children, white children scored higher on mathematics readiness assessment than the other racial/ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic, and Asian students); 3) children without pre-kindergarten experiences outperformed children who had pre-kindergarten experiences; and 4) there was no gender gap found in mathematics readiness scores.

Correlations between kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics and teaching practice

Abstract This study examined correlations between teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics/teaching mathematics and the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics. This study tested two independent variables: (1) kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics; and (2) kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward teaching mathematics; and their relationships with the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics. The researcher designed a survey questionnaire by cross‐referencing several instruments and the review of related literature. A sample of 200 kindergarten teachers was randomly selected from the Indiana Department of Education website directory. Of the 200 kindergarten teachers, 81 teachers participated in this study by returning the survey questionnaire to the researcher via the postal service, e‐mailing, or posting the response over the Internet. Each independent variable was tested to determine the level of its statistical significance by using multiple linear stepwise regression procedures. The results of this study revealed that kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward teaching mathematics were found to be a significant variable correlating with the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics, but kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics were not a significant variable.

Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) Mathematics in Early Childhood

to the National Center for Education (NCES), 47 million people living in the United States spoke a language other than English at home in 2000, representing approximately 18% of the total U.S. population (NCES, 2004). It is expected that these demographics will continue to change, and minorities will become the majority by 2030 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Of special interest is the fact that the population of English language learners (ELLs), especially those who are learning English in K-12 school settings, will continue to grow (Chang, 2008). According to an “Issue Brief” by the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), about 20% of students were identified as an ELL in 2007, and a quarter of those students have difficulty with English (AYPF, 2009). A recent report from the Census Bureau (2009) suggests that one in every four children under the age of 5 in the United States is currently being raised in a home where a language other than English is being spoken.

Does student teaching matter? Investigating pre-service teachers’ sense of efficacy and preparedness

The purpose of this study was to investigate how student teaching experiences impact the sense of teaching efficacy and feelings of preparedness of pre-service teachers in a nearly and elementary teacher education program (EC-6). The study used an action research, mixed-methods design. Seventy-one pre-service teachers at a large public university in the southwest completed surveys about their preparedness to teach and teaching efficacy pre and post the student teaching semester. Findings indicate that pre-service teachers’ perceptions of preparedness and sense of teaching efficacy both increased significantly (p < .5) from pre-student teaching to post-student teaching. In addition, three themes emerged from the answers to open-ended questions on learning components of student teaching experiences: opportunity for hands-on teaching, the opportunity to observe experienced teachers, and the relationship with their cooperating teacher.

An exploratory case study of young children's interactive play behaviours with a non-English speaking child

This study is an examination of preschool‐age English speaking childrens interactive play behaviours with a non‐English speaking child (NEC). The play types of a NEC were reported using the Partens categories of solitary, parallel and interactive play. In addition, English‐speaking childrens interactive play with a NEC were reported in this study using categories of affiliative, possession‐related, prosocial and aggressive behaviour from Ramseys 1987 study.

Exploring children's understanding of death concepts

This study is an investigation of the effects of death education on children and their understanding of death. The participants of this study were eighty 5- and 6-year-olds who were enrolled in a suburban kindergarten in Korea. To examine the level of childrens understanding of death, researchers interviewed each child in both the control and experimental groups. After the interview, researchers provided an intervention (11 educational activities) to the experimental group. No educational intervention was provided to the control group. Researchers re-interviewed children in both groups after the treatment. The overall mean score of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group on all five categories of the death concept: causality, old age, irreversibility, finality, and inevitability. Implications regarding how death education can be approached in early childhood settings are also discussed.

Evaluating the efficacy of children participating in Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters and Head Start

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program when implemented within Head Start programs by measuring children’s language proficiency scores. Participants were kindergarteners concurrently enrolled in both a Head Start program and the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program along with a comparison group of kindergarteners only enrolled in a Head Start program. According to the results of the chi-square analysis, all of the children who participated in the “Head Start and HIPPY” group scored “developed” on all sections of Texas Primary Reading Inventory or its Spanish language equivalent, El Inventario de Lectura en Español de Tejas. However, only about 33 percent of children in the “Head Start Only” group demonstrated “developed” remarks. The remainder of the “Head Start Only” group (67%) scored “needs intervention” on the Texas Primary Reading Inventory/El Inventario de Lectura en Español de Tejas. Children who participated in both Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters and attended a Head Start Center showed statistically higher scores in language proficiency (χ2(1, N = 22) = 4.07, p = .04) than children who only attended Head Start.

Analyses of children’s mathematics proficiency from ECLS-K 1998 and 2010 cohorts: Why early mathematics?

This article presents the correlation analyses of mathematics item response theory scores from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998 and 2010 data, and proposes the critical need for systematic efforts to improve the quality of pre- and in-service teachers of young children in teaching mathematics.

Content analysis of children's mathematics proficiency

In this study, 244 children (average age: 61 months) and their parents from the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex area in Texas were surveyed to investigate children’s proficiency in mathematics content on numbering, sizes, comparisons, and shapes. The researchers investigated children’s proficiency in mathematics associated with children’s gender, ethnic background, and prekindergarten experience. Major findings of this study were as follows: (a) no gender differences were found in mathematics proficiency in all content areas; (b) among four major ethnic groups of children, White children showed higher proficiency in all mathematics content areas than other racial/ethnic groups including African American, Hispanic, and Asian children; (c) children without prekindergarten experiences outperformed children who had prekindergarten experiences in all mathematics content areas except “numbering.” No significant mean differences were found in “numbering” between these two groups.

Children's Communication and Socialization Skills by Types of Early Education Experiences

Abstract This study is an investigation of childrens communication skills and socialization by the types of their early education experiences (e.g., child care centers, private schools, public schools, home, or other). A total of 244 children (average age: 61 months) and their parents participated in this study. According to the results of this study, there were significant mean score differences found on childrens expressive, written language, and interpersonal relationship skills, based on the types of childrens early education experience.