ANJANNETTE A.

SANTOS
MED-ECE

DENA S. CULABA
Professor

3. PAPER ON FOUNDATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT

In the development of the child,
1. What is the role of genetics?
The development of a child begins when the sperm cell enters the protective outer
membrane of the ovum. The sperm and ovum each contain chromosomes that act as a
blueprint for human life.
The genes contained in these chromosomes are made up of a DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid) that contains the genetic code, or instructions, that make up all
life. All cells in the body contain 46 chromosomes except for the sperm and ova. Humans
have 23 pairs of chromosomes; one pair of sex chromosomes, X and Y and 22 pairs of
numbered chromosomes. They tell what color hair and eyes you will have. They tell
what diseases you might be likely to get. All of the genes are the same in each cell and
they are all arranged the same way.
2. What is the role of environment?
While some aspects of development may be deeply influenced by biology,
environmental influences may also play a role. The environment can affect the normal
development and behavior of humans. Environmental exposure during the most critical
developmental times, such as preconception, pre-implantation and the fetal period can
lead to developmental changes through genetic mutations and functional loss. Example of
environmental factors that can affect child’s development are exposure to heavy metals
such as lead, mother's use of drugs or alcohol, viral or bacterial diseases, and direct
traumatic injury to the fetus. Consequences of developmental changes include reduction
in IQ, birth defects, illnesses and fetal loss.
 3. Is it ethical to use technology to facilitate pregnancy/ correct birth defects disorders?
Pregnancy is the state of fertilization and development for one or more offspring
within a woman’s uterus. Pregnancy occurs after sexual intercourse of a male and a female.
But not all women are not able to get pregnant easily and worse, many are not able to get
pregnant because of many reasons. Another problem is during pregnancy, birth defects can
happen. Birth defects are structural changes present at birth that can affect almost any part or
parts of the body (e.g., heart, brain, foot). They may affect how the body looks, works and
the life of a child.
Fortunately, as technology is growing and improving, there are many ways,
procedures and equipment created and invented to help people have children and to identify
and correct birth defects as early as pre-natal period. For me, it is ethical to use technology
since its for the good of the babies and for the mother as well. Technology improved the care
for pregnant women and their infants. Technology gave chance to the couple to have an
offspring even if they couldn’t have it in a traditional way. The babies with the risk of
having birth defects have given a chance to correct it as early as possible and so that defect
will not affect them when they grow up. So why not use these technologies as long as these
will be used for the good?

Reference:
https://www.verywellmind.com/genes-and-development-2795114
https://www.hog.org/handbook/section/2/basic-genetics
https://milwaukee.extension.wisc.edu/files/2013/04/Environmental-Influences-on-Child-
Development.pdf
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/climatechange/health_impacts/
human_developmental/index.cfm#:~:text=The%20environment%20can%20be%20a,birth
%20defects%2C%20and%20fetal%20loss.
https://news.usc.edu/5101/Scientific-advances-improve-care-for-pregnant-women-and-their-
infants/
4. REACTION PAPER
BABIES
PART 1 – LOVE (First Episode)

 SUMMARY
A. Purpose of the experiment
The purpose of this experiment is to answer the following questions:
 What’s happening in the brain when we fall in love with the babies?
 What is the biology of bonding?
 How the bonding between the mother and baby develops?

B. Description of the participants

 In the first study, 80 mothers were recruited to participate.
 In the second study, 80 couples were recruited to participate.
 In the third study, 48 gay couples who were living in a partnered, committed
relationship who had a child through surrogacy were recruited to participate.

C. Methods used (instruments and processes)

Several scientific studies described that the hormone oxytocin is important to
bonding in mammals. So, the scientist wondered if the oxytocin would be involved in the
bonding with the mother and the children. This study started in 2001 to test the role of
oxytocin in parent/infant bonding. The researchers traveled up and down to collect the
samples (saliva) throughout pregnancy and in the first month after childbirth and test it
through EIA (enzyme immunoassay).

The findings were that the oxytocin levels in mothers rise during pregnancy and
stay high during pregnancy throughout pregnancy and right after childbirth. When the
mother and infant touch each other a lot, both their oxytocin levels go higher and make
the mother wants to engage in the baby more. Then the brain gives the mother the sense
of intense reward.

The scientist then began to wonder what’s going on with fathers. So, they began a
study to test if there’s and impact on the oxytocin level of father. The researchers also
 measured oxytocin in fathers in the first months right after child’s birth. Aa a result,
mothers and fathers’ level of oxytocin were identical. And because it was a surprise that
the oxytocin of the couples were similar, they discovered that the more parents do with a
baby (the more they engage in taking care of their child, the more the oxytocin system
will activate. So, the scientist stated that fatherhood is biological like motherhood.

When the researchers looked at the mom’s brain (through brain imaging or
scanning), they found out that the oxytocin surge at birth activates a primitive structure
which is called the amygdala. The amygdala can see in both sides of the brain. It makes
the person vigilant and thus makes her worry about the infant. Once the amygdala is
open, it stays like this forever even when the child grows old. When the researchers
looked at the father’s brain, it’s only about a quarter of what can be seen in mother’s.

So, the scientist came up with the situation that not all family has a mother since
there are gay couples who had babies through surrogacy. In 2010, they conducted a study
testing the gay parents with their babies. The researchers videotaped the babies
interacting with the parents in the home and they took the videos to the lab to code them.
They also measured the oxytocin levels and scanned the father’s brains. And as a result,
when the fathers are the primary caregivers, they have amygdala activation just like
mothers.

D. Findings
Pregnancy, childbirth and nursing activate the maternal brain and also to the same
extent by committed caregiving. It doesn’t matter whether the person is the biological
parent or not or a committed caregiving parent. It’s a choice to be a parent to the infant.
And when you choose to be a parent to the baby, your love, care and concern will
develop and they will rise as you continue to take care and bond with your child.
 REACTION

This study amazed me a lot. I love the scientist’s curiosity about the development of
the bonding of the parents and the babies since she became a mother herself. I enjoyed
watching this episode because I’ve witnessed how science proved that love and bond is true
and develops not only between couples but also to parents and children. I am surprised as
well like the researchers because not only mothers develop so much love for their children
but also fathers. And I am more surprised too that even parents who had children that they
didn’t carry on their womb (especially gay couples because they don’t have one) develop so
much love for their children just like the mother who carry her child herself. Their findings
impacted me a lot especially the quote of the scientist, “IT’S YOUR CHOICE” to activate
your maternal brain. It’s your choice to be a parent. And when you choose to be a parent,
you will definitely love your child and do everything for him/her.

This study confirms the attachment theory of John Bowlby because he believed that
children are born with a biologically-programmed tendency to seek and remain close to
attachment figures. He defined “attachment theory” as a “lasting psychological
connectedness between human beings.” He suggests that infants have an innate need to form
an attachment bond with a caregiver. And the study of Ruth Feldman back-ups the
attachment theory of John Bowlby because in her study, Bowlby’s theory improved that
there will lasting psychological connectedness between human beings when they seek and
remain close to each other. In Feldman’s study, if you choose to be a parent, you will
develop your love and care for your children and it will continue to rise as long as you
continue to engage with your children more, take care and always be there for your children.
I’ve learned a lot about this study. And now I am curious too if the parents with
adapted babies or children (that is also with them within the first day of the baby) will have
the same result with the participants in this this study or there have been conducted a study
about them also.
5. DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES

Theory/Description: Cognitive – Language, Physical – Motor, Socio – emotional; DA

Practice (based on the theory, what kind of physical and social environment is appropriate?)

1. INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD

 Cognitive – Language
The cognitive language theory explains how internal and external factors
influence an individual’s mental processes to supplement learning. It uses the idea that
children are born with very little cognitive abilities, meaning that they are not able to
recognize and process very much information. At birth, infants are limited to a very
small scope of mental processes that must be developed over time. As the infant grows
to become a toddler, the cognitive processes of the child develop through the various
experiences that the child goes through.

COGNITIVE – LANGUAGE DAP FOR INFANTS

 Engage the infants in communication and conversations

 Use proper names and titles in identifying objects (rather than using cute
words instead of the real name of the object)
 When talking to the infants, talk clearly and slowly.
 Read short stories to them to develop their listening skills and their
vocabulary as well.
 Sing songs to them. You can make up your own songs using familiar
tunes.

COGNITIVE – LANGUAGE DAP FOR TODDLERS

 Initiate meaningful conversations to build their vocabulary and

communication skills. But make sure you are communicating with them in
a way that they understand.
 Continue to sing to them.
  Continue to read short stories to them to enhance their listening and
vocabulary skills.
 Interact with them regularly through play activities.
 You can take a stroll through nature, telling what you see, smell, hear or
feel during the strolling. This will lead your baby to acquiring new
vocabulary through outdoor experience.

 Physical – Motor
Physical development refers to the advancements and refinements of children’s
abilities to use and control their bodies. Physical development is one of the many
domains of infant and toddler development. It relates to the growth and development of
the skill of the body, including the brain, muscles, and senses.
Gross-motor skills and fine-motor skills are developed during infancy and
toddlerhood. Gross-motor skills refer to the mastery of large muscle movements and the
building of strength in muscle groups like the arms, legs, and core. The example of
these skills for infants and toddlers are reaching, rolling, crawling, and climbing. Fine-
motor skills involve smaller, more precise movements, particularly movements of the
hands and fingers, such as grasping.

PHYSICAL-MOTOR DAP FOR INFANTS

 You can play peek-a-boo with your infant using their arms and hands to
practice their arm and head movements.
 You can give a rattle to your infant to grab and shake.
 Provide a clear, safe space for your infant to roll over and crawl.
Encourage them to play, roll, crawl, and move about actively several times
during the day
 Encourage the child to reach, grasp, and hold by providing blocks,
stacking toys, textured balls, and squeeze toys.
 Help them to pull-up and practice standing with the support of sturdy
furnishings.
 PHYSICAL-MOTOR DAP FOR TODDLERS

 With guidance, give your toddlers their own spoon at mealtime or to play
with to practice their holding skills and strengthen their grip.
 Practice walking, marching, and jumping.
 Watch and play with toddlers to encourage movement and develop their
physical skills.
 While playing music or singing, encourage children to sway and dance to
the music.
 Sing songs that describe actions. (e.g. Wheels on the bus, If You’re Happy
and You Know It)
 Read stories about animals. Act out the movements in the story.
Encourage them to follow you or even move in their own way.
 Help toddlers roll a ball, then eventually teach them to toss a ball into a
basket and then catch a ball.

 Socio – Emotional
The socio-emotional theory of development states that every person goes through
eight stages going from birth through death. At every stage, a person faces challenge
or crisis to be resolved. Erikson believed that if this crisis is not resolved successfully,
some problems would develop later related to that crisis. Everybody will progress
through all of these stages. Some may not resolve the crisis so well, and those things
will manifest later in life.
The first stage begins at birth and continues to about a year and a half, or 18
months. During this time, the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live.
They are looking to their primary caregiver for stability and consistency of care. The
conflict that occurs at this stage is trust versus mistrust. The task during this stage is
accomplished when babies develop a healthy sense of trust in other people, in
themselves, and in general, the world around them. The next stage is roughly 18
months to three years. This is characterized by a conflict called autonomy versus
shame and doubt. It is a challenging time for the parents and the toddlers because this
is when the toddlers are becoming more aware of all the things they can do. This stage
is a time about independence and personal control.

SOCIO - EMOTIONAL DAP FOR INFANTS

 Touch and carry your infants always to help them feel safe and happy.
 Touching, talking and responding to your infants’ cues and sounds and
needs regularly solidify the bond between you and your baby. (e.g. crying)
 Give hugs and kisses. Let your baby know how loved he/she is.
 You need to accommodate infant’s rhythms such as sleep-and-wake-
cycles, hunger and calls for engagement.
 Be happy and engage your baby’s discoveries. Infants learn best when you
let them play, explore, and follow their interests.
 Let toddlers meet and play with family members or friends to help build
feelings of trust.

SOCIO - EMOTIONAL DAP FOR TODDLERS

 Respond to toddler’s needs in caring ways.
 Offer choices to toddlers to encourage independence and autonomy. (e.g.
provide books and let the choose the one they are interested in.)
 In a safe environment, let your toddler play alone with safe toys for a short
period of time.
 Introduce your child to new materials and let the touch and figure out on
what and how they do with the materials. (e.g. building blocks) If they
express frustration, demonstrate them on how to use it and then let them to
try it out themselves.
 Let your toddlers feed on their own to develop their independence.
 Model caring behaviors and empathy during all interactions.

2. EARLY CHILDHOOD
  Cognitive – Language
Piaget’s theory was that language acquisition was based on the maturation of
the brain. He believed that children must be allowed to explore the world by
themselves, allowing them a first-hand experience. This exposure allows the
cognitive mind to develop, therefore, and the language as well.
Jerome Bruner suggests a connection between the biological structure of the brain
and cognitive growth. He theorized that as a child formulates language in his brain;
the cognitive skills of that child will grow, thereby, complementing the development
of more sophisticated language.

COGNITIVE - LANGUAGE DAP FOR PRESCHOOLERS

 Introduce sensory vocabulary. For example, during a turtle shell exploration,
introduce the words rough, smooth, light, dark, heavy, full, and empty. Then
read and display picture books about turtles.
 Encourage meaningful conversations.
 Ask questions that provoke children’s thinking.
 Offer a wide selection of books (fantasy, factual, animals, people,
nature/science, cultures, and abilities). Book times are pleasant and
interactive.
 Give assistance (such as a cue or hint) to help children work on the edge of
their current competence (e.g. Can you think of a word that rhymes with
your name, Sam? How about jam?)
 Offer various types of materials that support counting, measuring,
comparing quantities, recognizing shapes, and becoming familiar with
written numbers. Provide daily activities to promote math/number learning.

 Physical-Motor
During the early childhood years, in children’s height, weight, and muscle tone
increase steadily. They are longer and leaner. Their legs and trunks continue to grow.
As their bodies develop over time, the areas in their brains that control movement
continue to mature.
 PHYSICAL - MOTOR DAP FOR PRESCHOOLERS
 Offer ample materials to dig, dump, pour and float. Set up activities daily
facilitate sand/water play.
 Provide children with opportunities to engage in pretend play (e.g. use
blocks or other items from nature to build or balance objects in the block
area)
 Encourage children to use utensils, practice trying to open containers, pass
food around the table, serve, and clean up after themselves.
 Play some music and invite children to a dance party. Dancing requires
active, constant movement.
 Role-playing different animals or cartoon characters to develop their
knowledge and understanding of their surroundings.

 Socio – emotional
Erikson believes that the third psychosocial crisis which is Learning Initiative
Versus Guilt (Purpose) occurs during what he calls the “play age,” or the later
preschool years (from about 3½ to, in the United States culture, entry into formal
school). During it, the healthily developing child learns: to imagine and broaden his
skills through active play of all sorts, including fantasy; to cooperate with others and
to lead as well as to follow. Immobilized by guilt, he is fearful, hangs on the fringes
of groups, continues to depend unduly on adults and is restricted both in the
development of play skills and in imagination.

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DAP FOR PRESCHOOLERS

 Materials accessible to children and organized by type. Play furniture is
child-sized. Provide enough materials to carry out meaningful play and
promote diversity.
 Provide a variety of art materials for children. Encourage individual
expression by offering open-ended art activities.
 Encourage persistence and effort. Praise not only the accomplishment but
also the effort put in to get to an accomplishment.
  Encourage kids to spend time playing with their peers and parents, to help
them develop their social skills that will serve them for a lifetime.
 Do activities in groups.

References:

https://www.cliffsidemalibu.com/blog/language-acquisition/#:~:text=The%20cognitive
%20language%20acquisition%20theory,must%20be%20developed%20over%20time.

https://partnershipsforearlylearners.org/2017/04/27/developmentally-appropriate-practice-
infants-toddlers-concept-classroom/

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/infant-toddler/physical-development/lesson-1

https://www.continued.com/early-childhood-education/articles/social-emotional-development-
theories-and-23713

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Early_Childhood_Education/Book
%3A_Child_Growth_and_Development_(Paris_Ricardo_Rymond_and_Johnson)/
12%3A_Middle_Childhood_-_Social_Emotional_Development/
12.01%3A_Social_Emotional_Theories_of_Development

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/infant-toddler/social-and-emotional-development/lesson-2

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/fcc/physical-development/lesson-3
RESEARCH ARTICLE 1

TITLE: Teacher – child conversations in preschool classrooms: Contributions to children’s

vocabulary development
Researchers: Sonia Q. Cabell
Laura M. Justice
Anita S. McGinty
Jamie DeCoster
Lindsay D. Forston
Location: University of Virginia, US
The Ohio State University, US
Core Knowledge Foundation, US
Article Information: Received - October 12, 2013
Received in revised form - August 28, 2012
Accepted – September 5, 2014
Available online – September 16, 2014

SUMMARY
This research is entitled as “Teacher – child conversations in preschool classrooms:
Contributions to children’s vocabulary development.” This work is a follow-up study to two
recent papers on the impacts of PD on teacher responsiveness in the preschool classroom as well
as child language skills (Cabell et al.,2011; Piasta et al., 2012). The first research aim was to
examine the extent to which professional development impacted teachers’ strategy use during
conversations with children. The research team examined impacts of PD provided to early
childhood educators that featured Learning Language and Loving It (LLLI; Weitzman &
Greenberg, 2002), a PD program designed to increase adults’ use of responsive strategies as a
means to becoming better conversational partners with children (Cabell et al., 2011; Piasta et al.,
2012). Specifically, they examined the extent to which LLLI teachers engaged in longer
conversations, more multi-turn conversations, and more child-initiated conversations relative to
control teachers. Additionally, we examined the extent to which LLLI impacted teachers’
frequency of elicitations and extensions, both representing important strategies for improving
children’s participation in conversations, as well as the pattern that characterized use of these
strategies (concentrated or distributed). Although they hypothesized that the intervention would
result in teachers’ engagement in more and longer conversations as well as more child-initiated
conversations, they did not have a specific hypothesis regarding the pattern of strategy use, as
this was not an explicit focus of the intervention. The second aim considered more generally the
way in which the pattern of teacher–child conversations, with respect to concentrated and
distributed use of strategies, was related to children’s gains in vocabulary over the preschool
year. They hypothesized if whether a concentrated versus distributed pattern might be most
advantageous to predicting children’s vocabulary growth over time.
Patterns of strategy use within the context of conversations
The research team considered the use of professional development LLLI which is the
elicitation (communication-facilitating strategies, which included open-ended questions among
the larger corpus of strategies) and extension (language-developing strategies) in their study.
They also examined two patterns regarding spacing of implementation (Proctor-Williams& Fey,
2007). A distributed pattern occurs when teachers use relatively few strategies within any
single conversation but distribute them over a number of conversations; a concentrated pattern
occurs when teachers embed numerous strategies within fewer conversations.
Sample:

Participants from this study were 44 preschool teachers and a random sampling of 297
children from their classrooms (160 boys, 137 girls; approximately seven per classroom). The
present study used data collected as part of a larger study examining the effects of a classroom-
based language intervention and included all but five of the original 49classrooms (n = 330
children) from this broader effort (Cabell et al.,2011; Piasta et al., 2012). The larger study was
designed to examine the impacts of a PD program (LLLI) on teachers’ conversational
responsivity in the classroom and child language and literacy gains. Stratified by geographical
region, 38 preschool centers were randomly assigned to condition. Only five of these centers
housed more than one preschool classroom. Random assignment at the center level guarded
against the potential threat of contamination in these centers. The teachers in this study were all
lead teachers and taught within preschool programs (Head Start, state-funded pre-k) prioritizing
enrollment of young children from low-income households or children experiencing other
documentable risk factors (e.g., low parent education; violence in the home). The participating
children were four to five years of age at the beginning of the study. Teachers were assigned to
one of the two conditions: participation in an extensive PD program focused on conversational
responsivity (LLLI) which is the treatment condition or a control condition, in which they
maintained their typical classroom practices.
Teachers consenting to participate in the study sent recruitment flyers and consent forms
to the parents of children in their classrooms. Children were randomly selected into the study
from among those for whom consent to participate was received. Data included classroom
observations of small-group activities and direct assessments of children’s vocabulary skills.
Classroom observational data were collected by teachers (i.e., they taped themselves) and
submitted to the research team for processing and coding. All teachers were provided with video
recording equipment along with standard training on video recording. Teachers submitted
videotapes of themselves leading a 20-min pre-specified activity on a biweekly basis across the
academic year. The present study focuses on a videotape of a small-group play-dough activity
submitted by each teacher in the second semester of the academic year. For this video
submission, teachers were asked to collect a video of a play-dough activity conducted with a
small group of children (six children or less); although they were asked to randomly select these
children, there were no formal procedures in place for this selection. Teachers were instructed to
be actively involved in the children’s play and, for those teachers in the LLLI PD program to use
responsivity strategies they were learning about in PD. All videos were examined carefully to
ensure that they represented a small group setting with a teacher present during the interaction.
Videos submitted in April were considered for inclusion; if these videos were not available or
did not meet the guidelines, we substituted a video collected in January that represented the same
setting (i.e., small group play-dough). All analyzed videos were collected after teachers received
the winter workshop training.
Research assistants trained in using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts
software (SALT; Version 9; Miller, 2006) transcribed teacher and child talk during a segment
extracted from teachers’ submitted videos. Specifically, the middle 10 min of the20-min
videotape was extracted, which served to eliminate times in which the teacher was setting up and
closing down the activity and to make the transcripts across teachers more uniform with respect
to what was coded. After transcription, each transcript was parsed into semantically meaningful
conversations by examining transcripts while watching the corresponding classroom video.
Several tests were administered to identify the frequency and pattern of teacher-child
conversation and the child vocabulary outcomes. (The specific details are on the link below.)
The results were: (First aim) Teachers who had a higher number of multi-turn
conversations also used significantly more elicitations and extensions (Elicitations and
extensions were analyzed only in multi-turn conversations.) Teachers with more child-initiated
conversations also engaged in significantly more multi-turn conversations. Teachers who asked a
larger number of elicitations were also likely to use a larger number of extensions in their multi-
turn conversations with children. Treatment teachers engaged children in a significantly higher
number of multi-turn conversations than control teachers. Treatment teachers also engaged in
more child-initiated conversations than control teachers, indicating that treatment teachers
followed children’s verbal leads more often than control teachers. During multi-turn
conversations, treatment teachers also displayed a higher frequency of strategies to elicit and
extend child talk than control teachers. (Second Aim) The test statistics show that variance of
strategy use significantly predicted children’s vocabulary gains over the academic year;
specifically, results indicate a more concentrated use of strategies is associated with greater
vocabulary gain compared to a more distributed use.
This study has made three major contributions:
The first major contribution of this work is that it provides evidence that the LLLI PD
program has positive impacts on the volume and quality of teacher–child conversations in
preschool classrooms. Specifically, LLLI exerted an effect not only on the frequency with which
teachers use responsive strategies, as prior work indicates (Girolametto et al., 2003; Penceet al.,
2008; Piasta et al., 2012), but also on the quality of classroom conversations themselves,
including the amount of multi-turn con-versations and number of child-initiated conversations.
The second major contribution of this work concerns the researchers’ interest in
describing the conversations that take place in preschool classrooms. Results from the control
classrooms specifically can provide a naturalistic lens into teacher–child conversations in
preschool classrooms serving children at-risk. Control teachers showed substantial individual
differences in the extent to which they followed children’s leads, engaged in multi-turn
conversations, and used strategies to extend children’s talk.
The third contribution of this work concerns the researchers’ attention to spacing effects
as they might apply to teacher use of strategies in conversations. The findings suggested that
concentrated exposure to elicitations and extensions within conversations is associated with
better vocabulary learning over time than more distributed exposure.

REVIEW
This research entitled as “Teacher – child conversations in preschool classrooms:
Contributions to children’s vocabulary development” is an interesting research to read and study
because it aims not only to assess the effectivity of the professional development to the
vocabulary development of the teachers and pupils during conversation but also it increase my
understanding what conversation do teachers and children look like in a classroom setting. The
professional development program that is included in the study, Learning Language and
Loving It (LLLI; Weitzman & Greenberg, 2002), is also an interesting program to learn because
according to the study, this program made contributions and impact to the conversation of
teachers and children and language growth of the children.
LLLI is a PD program designed to increase adults’ use of responsive strategies as a
means to becoming better conversational partners with children. The strategy of the said program
is the elicitation (communication-facilitating strategies, which included open-ended questions
among the larger corpus of strategies) and extension (language-developing strategies) in their
study. They also examined two patterns regarding spacing of implementation (Proctor-
Williams& Fey, 2007). A distributed pattern occurs when teachers use relatively few strategies
within any single conversation but distribute them over a number of conversations; a
concentrated pattern occurs when teachers embed numerous strategies within fewer
conversations. (See the sample above.)
Using these strategies will give more meaningful conversations to the teacher and
children because the teachers could help the children enhance their vocabulary by using the
elicitation and extension strategy of the LLLI. With the proper adaptation of these program, and
kinder teachers having training and workshop about LLLI, it would also help the teachers and the
preschoolers in the Philippines to be good communicators and of course the vocabulary of the
children will enhance as well by having meaningful conversations.

Note: All the information above were gathered from the study of Cabell et al.,2014.
Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200614001070
RESEARCH ARTICLE 2

TITLE: Improving teacher-child interactions: A randomized controlled trial of Making the Most
of Classroom Interactions and My Teaching Partner professional development models
Researchers: Diane M. Earlya
Kelly L. Maxwell
Bentley D. Ponderc
Yi Pana
Location: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States
Child Trends, United States
Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning,
United States
Article Information: Received 21 December 2015
Received in revised form 15 August 2016
Accepted 21 August 2016
Available online 13 October 2016

SUMMARY
This research is entitled as “Improving teacher-child interactions: A randomized
controlled trial of Making the Most of Classroom Interactions and My Teaching Partner
professional development models.” The current work focuses on teacher-child interactions more
generally, rather than focusing on a content area. Professional Knowing that teacher-child
interactions are crucial in supporting children’s development and learning, the challenge is to
improve teacher-child interactions. The current study evaluates two professional development
models that couple skills training with in-service coaching or consultation: My Teaching Partner
(MTP) and Making the Most of Classroom Interactions (MMCI).
 MMCI is a face-to-face professional development model in which a group of teachers
meets regularly with trained instructors to learn to identify and analyze effective interactions in
classrooms and discuss ways to interact intentionally to increase children’s learning. It was
adapted from a 14-week college-level course that had been shown to be effective in improving
teacher knowledge of high-quality teacher-child interactions, as well as observed emotional
support and instructional support as measured by the CLASS (Hamre et al., 2012). MTP is a
one-to-one, remote coaching model that provides specific feedback to teachers about emotional
climate, organizational structure, and instructional support using a standardized coaching cycle
format.
The current study is primarily an efficacy trial of the models’ impact on CLASS scores in
a large-scale early childhood system under the types of real-world conditions the researchers
would anticipate if they were broadly adopted. The project sought to answer four broad
research questions:
1. Did teacher-child interactions improve as a result of participation in MMCI or MTP?
2. Did teachers’ knowledge of effective instruction, perceived value of the professional
development, and/or teacher’s relationships with their coach/instructor vary as a
function of professional development model?
3. Did the effects of the models vary as a function of teacher characteristics and beliefs
or as a function of center/school characteristics?
4. Did the effects of the models vary as function of dose or the amount of exposure
teachers received to the models?
This study includes three outcomes that they hypothesized might be prerequisites to long-
term improvements in teacher-child interactions. The first is knowledge of effective teacher-child
inter-actions. Sometimes knowledge changes before practice (Hamreet al., 2012) or knowledge
and practice change in an iterative fashion where increased knowledge leads to improved
practice, which in turn leads to even greater knowledge (Sheridan et al., 2009). The second
additional outcome of interest is perceived value of the intervention. Teachers are more likely to
invest time and energy in professional development activities they think will benefit them in the
long run (Abrami, Poulsen, &Chambers, 2004). The third outcome addressed is the relationship
with the coach/instructor Just as teacher-child relationships form the basis for effective early
childhood education, the relationship between the coach/instructor and teacher is critical for
meaningful change in practice (Peterson, 2012; Spino & Dinnebeil, 2013).
The original purpose of the current project was to help DECAL evaluate and improve its
professional development efforts for Georgia’s Pre-K teachers. In addition to the efficacy of
MTP and MMCI, DECAL was interested in understanding if certain teachers, or teachers in
certain types of centers/schools, benefited more or less from these efforts, as a means of better
targeting future professional development efforts.
During this three- year study, Georgia’s Pre-K teachers were randomly selected from
specified regions and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) MMCI, a cohort-model
where small groups of teachers met for five days of instruction and support; 2) MTP, \ in which
teachers worked one-on-one with a coach using cycles of videotaped observations of teaching,
review, and feedback; or 3) control. In the first year of this study, the sample included 486
teachers (175 MMCI, 151 MTP, and 160 control) in 336 schools/centers at pretest, who had pre-
and posttest CLASS observations. During that first year, assignment was blocked at the region
level so that an equal number of teachers from each of the five regions were assigned into each
condition. In the second and third years, a stronger approach was utilized. Random selection and
assignment took place at the classroom level (rather than school/center-level) and no blocking
took place: all classrooms in the participating counties/systems had an equal probability of
selection and assignment to each condition.
All teachers were eligible to participate except those who were in their first year as a
Georgia’s Pre-K teacher or those who would be absent most of the year, due to a medical
condition or pregnancy. Participating teachers were well-educated, with most having a
Bachelor’s degree or higher. On average, they had spent over six years teaching in Georgia’s
Pre-K. Average class size was about 19students. More than half of the pre-k classrooms were in
private schools, and the sample was fairly evenly split within and outside the Atlanta metro area.
Data collection included pre- and posttest classroom observations, teacher questionnaires,
coach/instructor questionnaires, and administrative information regarding participation in the
professional development activities.
The study used Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, &
Hamre, 2008) in measuring the teacher-child interactions. The CLASS tool includes 10
dimensions of teacher-child interactions that are organized into three broad domains—
Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support—each of which has
been linked to children’s academic or social outcomes. Each dimension is rated by a trained
observer using a 7-point scale with1 or 2 indicating the classroom is “low” on that dimension; 3,
4, or 5 indicating “mid-range”; and 6 or 7 indicating the classroom is “high” on that dimension.
Observers rate the classrooms and teachers on the 10 dimensions roughly every 30 min
throughout the observation morning. Scores are calculated by taking the average of all cycles.
The researchers gathered information about teachers’ knowledge of effective teacher-
child interactions using a nine-item scale based on the CLASS framework. Each item presents
respondents with a scenario that they might encounter in the classroom and asks them to select
the best response from four alternatives. In the spring, all teachers were asked to respond to nine
items regarding their perceptions of the professional development they had received that year. A
sample item reads “I feel more confident in my role as a teacher than I did before this
professional development” and responses were on a 5-point Likert-type scale. MMCI and MTP
teachers were asked to respond to five items, using a 5-point Likert-type scale. These items were
specific to the role and relationship with the coach/instructor and were not asked of control
teachers because their professional development did not always involve a coach/instructor. \
Teachers’ adult-centered beliefs were measured with a scale adapted from Schaefer and
Edgerton’s (1985) parental modernity scale. These items distinguish between “traditional” or
adult-centered perspectives on interactions with children and more “modern or progressive”
child-centered perspectives.
Coaches and instructors responded to the same nine-item knowledge questions and 16-
item Adult-Centered Beliefs scale described above. They also responded to questions regarding
their confidence in their understanding of the CLASS tool and ability to be an effective
coach/instructor, using five items written by LoCasale-Crouch, Downer, and Hamre (2009b). A
sample item reads: “I am confident teachers will change their practice as a result of working with
me.” Coaches/instructors responded using a 5-point Likert-type scale.
All data collectors completed a two-day small group training session taught by CLASS
trainers who had been certified by Teachstone. At the end of this training, data collectors
completed reliability testing to be certified as data collectors. Independent data collectors
conducted a CLASS observation in the classroom of each participating teacher at the start and
the end of the school year. A different data collector conducted the fall and spring observation.
Each observation included six 30-minobservation cycles. At the start of each of the six CLASS
cycles, data collectors noted the number of children and staff present. Data col-lectors were
unaware of the project’s design, blind to the teachers’ professional development condition, and
entirely independent of DECAL. During data collection, two data collectors were present for
112(12%) of the CLASS observations to ensure all data collectors were continuing to score in
the same manner. Data from only one of the two are included in this paper’s main analyses.
MMCI consists of 10 two-and-a-half-hour workshops. For the current project, the 10
workshops were delivered over five training days, spread across five months (from October or
November to February or March). Coaching for MTP teachers began in September of each year
and typically continued through April. Cycles of videotaping, sending the tape to the coach for
review, and receiving feedback requires a minimum of two weeks, but can take longer. Across
the three years, 14 individuals served as both an MTP and MMCI coach, 12 as an MTP coach
only, and 4 as an MMCI instructor only.
In the first year of the study, teachers in the control group (n = 51) had access to the
same online library of video clips demonstrating best practices in various aspects of teacher-child
interactions as the MMCI and MTP teachers. Topics varied, but included behavior management,
child assessment, outdoor learning, and others. Teachers in the control group did not receive
direct training related to the CLASS, although some of the professional development
opportunities may have been aligned with CLASS concepts.
Posttest scores were estimated as a linear function of condition and pretest score, using 2-
level hierarchical linear models (HLMs). Findings indicated MMCI resulted in significantly
higher posttest scores on Emotional Support and Instructional Support, and marginally higher
posttest scores on Classroom Organization, as compared to controls. MTP resulted in
significantly higher scores on Emotional Support compared to controls. Findings indicated that
MMCI teach-ers’ posttest Knowledge scores were higher than those of MTP or control-group
teachers There was no difference between MTP and control. It also indicated that both MMCI
and MTP teachers perceived their professional development as more valuable than control-group
teachers. Other findings indicated that that MTP teachers had more positive views of the
coach/instructor than did the MMCI teachers.
At pretest, 20% of MMCI teachers, 19% of MTP teachers, and 23% of control teachers
attained an Emotional Support score of 5.0 or higher and an Instructional Support score of 3.25
or higher, as previous research had indicated were needed to meaningfully influence children’s
development (Burchinal et al., 2010). After the year of professional development, 34% of MMCI
teachers, 30% of MTP teachers, and 23% of control teachers attained that level. Participation in
MMCI increased a teacher’s probability of attaining this level of teacher child-interactions, as
compared to control teachers. There was no statistically significant difference between MTP and
control or between MTP and MMCI in the odds of attaining this level of interaction.
This study makes a substantial contribution by providing an independent test of two
promising professional development models, using a large randomly selected and assigned
sample of teachers in a real-world context. MMCI was an effective means of increasing
Emotional and Instructional Support in Georgia’s Pre-K classrooms, compared with control-
group teachers. Teachers in this group also demonstrated marginally significant improvement in
Classroom Organization. Their relationships with their instructors were positive, but somewhat
less positive than those reported by MTP teachers. Teacher-child interactions among teachers in
the MTP group also showed improvement. Emotional Support increased as a result of
participation, although Classroom Organization, Instructional Support, and Knowledge of
Effective Teacher-Child Interactions did not improve. There were no differences between MTP
and MMCI teachers at the end of the study on any of the three CLASS domains. MTP teachers
saw their professional development activities as more valuable than control-group teachers, and
MTP teachers reported more positive relationships with their coaches than did MMCI teachers
with their instructor.
Georgia’s Pre-K teachers benefited from and liked both the MMCI and MTP
interventions. This study purposefully sought to test MMCI and MTP as possible ways to
improve teacher-child interactions in large-scale, real-world conditions. When compared to
teachers in the control group, MMCI resulted in significant or marginal improvements in all
three domains; MTP resulted in improvements in one domain. Pre-k teachers rated both
interventions more favorably than did teachers in the control group. MMCI appears to be a
feasible intervention for large-scale adoption. MMCI requires fewer staff members and less time
to implement than MTP, which makes it more practicable and sustainable for large-scale
implementation. Additional research is needed to understand better the circumstances under
which MMCI and MTP are most likely to support meaningful improvements in teacher-child
interactions. It is important to note that this study had several limitations and there are many
important questions still to answer about these interventions.

REVIEW
This research entitled as “Teacher – child conversations in preschool classrooms:
Contributions to children’s vocabulary development” as also an interesting research to study
because 2 development models or programs had been tested and assessed for teacher-child
conversations improvement. These development models are Making the Most of Classroom
Interactions (MMCI) and My Teaching Partner (MTP). MMCI is a cohort-model where small
groups of teachers met for five days of instruction and support. MTP is a professional
development model wherein teachers worked one-on-one with a coach using cycles of
videotaped observations of teaching, review, and feedback.
These models were tested using the CLASS tool that is organized into three domains –
Emotional Support, Classroom Organizational and Instructional Support. These domains are
important to the children so testing these models for effectivity is very good idea. Well,
according to the study, teachers who were participated in the said programs and completed the
tasks have a positive result. Using the MMCI model is an effective means of increasing
Emotional and Instructional Support in the Georgia’s Pre-k classroom (if could have been
effective to us also). It also improves the Classroom Organization. On the other hand, using MTP
model also showed improvement in the emotional support domain.
Developing professional development programs or models, testing them, adapting and
using those programs and models are crucial for the teacher as well as the children specially in
the early childhood because we know that being innovative and providing children’s changing
needs will result to many improvements and thus, having a successful classroom setting and
learning.

Note: All the information above were gathered from the study of Earlaya et al.,2015.
Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200616300758
RESEARCH ARTICLE 3

TITLE: An early numeracy intervention for first-graders at risk for mathematical learning
difficulties
Researchers: Pirjo Aunioa
Johan Korhonenb
Lara Ragpotc
Minna Tormanena
Elizabeth Henning
Location: Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
Faculty of Education and Welfare Studies, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Centre for Education Practice Research, Soweto Campus, University of
Johannesburg, South Africa
Article Information: Received 23 May 2019
Received in revised form 11 November 2020
Accepted 10 December 2020
Available online 31 December 2020
SUMMARY
This research is entitled as “An early numeracy intervention for first-graders at risk for
mathematical learning difficulties.” Although many studies have reported positive intervention
effects for students with learning difficulties in mathematics (Codding, Burns, & Lukito, 2011),
few have focused on young children (Dennis et al., 2016; Mononen et al., 2014). Reviews
concluded that interventions that applied explicit teaching, with sequenced instruction in some
order––often from easy to difficult––and with a clear focus on subject matter, lead to improved
mathematical learning outcomes. Using the concrete-representational-abstract sequence in
teaching has also been found to be effective (Kroesbergen & Van Luit, 2003). Effective
intervention programs have often been implemented as supplementary instruction through which
children participate in small group tutoring that functions with classroom instruction (Powell &
Fuchs, 2015). Although evidence of success in early numeracy programs exists in the United
States and Europe, scant evidence exists from other parts of the world, including low-income
countries.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether early numeracy skills of South African
first graders who are at-risk for mathematical learning difficulties can be improved with an
intervention program. The researchers targeted multifactorial early numeracy, including
numerical-relational and counting skills, as well as arithmetical word problems, instead of a
unitary early numeracy factor often used in intervention studies. In addition, we investigated how
language skills and executive function skills predict the level and development of early numeracy
skills. They controlled for age, gender, home language, and prior educational opportunities in
all analyses. They worked with the following research questions and hypotheses:
1. How does the intervention group differ in the development of early numeracy skills
from pre- to delayed posttest, compared with the low- and average-control groups?
H1 - Based on previous studies, with similar intervention features, the intervention
group develops more in early numeracy skills, compared to the low-control group.
H2 – Intervention group shows similar growth compared with the average-control
group.
2. How can executive functions and language skills explain variance in the level and the
development of early numeracy skills?
 H3 - Executive functions and language skills explain individual differences in the
early numeracy skills pretest scores.
H4 - Executive functions and language skills explain growth in early numeracy skills.
The participants were with 267 children (132 girls and 135 boys) in this intervention
study. The study was conducted in schools using English as the instruction medium in the greater
Johannesburg area of the Gauteng Province. The sample is a convenience sample from one large
South African province. Four public schools (207 children) and three private schools (60
children), some with a population of low income-, and some of middle-income households, were
included. The children in this study were first- graders at the beginning of their school year. The
researchers divided children into low (a trisk for mathematical learning difficulties) and average
performing groups, based on their performance in an early numeracy test at the beginning of
the school year. Second, the low performing children were further divided into an intervention
group and low-control group while the average performing children formed the average-
control group.
Early numeracy skills were assessed using an English version of the originally Finnish
early numeracy test (Aunio, Mononen, Ragpot, & Törmänen, 2016). The test is a paper-and-
pencil test that can be administered with groups of children. Listening comprehension skills
were measured using text from a children’s story, Gogo’s Dog (Hartmann & Rankin, 2013), with
a listening comprehension scale (Ragpot & Brink, 2016), based on the Shell-K listening
comprehension protocol (originally developed by Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). The executive
function measurement that was used in the present study was a child-appropriate adaptation of
the Eriksen flanker test (Eriksen &Eriksen, 1974; Roebers & Kauer, 2009), operated with ePrime
soft-ware. The test was administered using laptop computers with a separate touch pad with
white and black buttons. Background information (age, gender, kinder attendance, home
languages) on each child was requested from the teachers in a short questionnaire, which was
administered at the beginning of the study.
Based on previous studies, the researchers designed an intervention program to support
early numeracy learning among children with low early numeracy performance. The goal of their
intervention material is to prevent mathematical learning difficulties and aims to avoid later
learning problems in young children who may be at risk for such learning difficulties, due to low
performance in early numeracy. In the program, explicit teaching is one of the main guidelines,
along with several ways to practice the skills in focus (Mononenet al., 2014). Each lesson of this
program comprises a teacher-guided activity on which to model a newly introduced concept and
strategy, as well as guided- and peer activities. At the end of the lesson, a short, paper-and-
pencil, individual activity is assigned. Another general feature is that numeracy ideas are
represented by sequencing the concrete, representational, and abstract levels, thereby giving
meaning to abstract concepts through visual representations.
All tests were administered in English during the regular school day in children’s own
classroom. The listening comprehension test was administered individually in a separate venue,
away from the classroom. The EF tasks were completed individually, using laptop computers
with response buttons. Trained research assistants and one of the authors administered the tests
and scored them. Measurements were made before the intervention (Time 1), immediately after
the intervention (Time 2), and three months after the intervention had ended (Time 3).
Intervention materials were given to teachers as a ready-to-use intervention kit. A full-day
workshop was conducted before the intervention started. During this time, the whole project was
discussed. Groups were assigned, and a brief overview of the 15 lessons was provided. After
that, three meetings were held during the intervention, in which five lessons were discussed
thoroughly during each session.
The main result of the early numeracy intervention was that the intervention group
improved more in numerical relational skills, when compared with an at-risk control-group of
children. This effect remained statistically significant after controlling for other variables
(language, executive functions, and kindergarten attendance). Moreover, the intervention effect
on numerical relational skills was still present in the delayed measurement. Both at-risk groups
(intervention and control) developed more in their counting skills, compared with the average-
control group. Executive functions continued to exert a positive effect on children’s counting-
skills development but did not predict relational skills development.
Hypothesis 1 was confirmed partly, because the intervention group developed more in
numerical relational skills compared with the at-risk-control group, but not in counting skills.
Hypothesis 2 was also confirmed partly, because the intervention group developed more in
counting skills and at the same pace in numerical relational skills. Hypothesis 3 was confirmed,
as both language and executive function skills were related positively to pretest scores, both in
numerical relational skills, and in counting skills. These results are in line with the frameworks
of LeFevre et al.(2010) and Sowinski et al. (2015), which emphasize the importance of language
and executive functions for mathematical learning, and with extant literature in general (e.g.,
Schmitt et al., 2017; Zhang,2016). Hypothesis 4 was only partially confirmed, as executive
functions only explained growth in counting, but not in numerical relational skills. This is
understandable, as EF processes are important in mathematical problem-solving skills in general,
and in counting skills in particular (Lee & Bull, 2016).
Although the early numeracy measure has demonstrated good psychometric properties in
previous cross-sectional studies (Aunioet al., 2019); Lopez-Pedersen, Mononen, Korhonen,
Aunio, & Melby-Lervåg, 2020), the researchers were unable to investigate the intervention’s
efficacy on the arithmetic word-problem solving sub-skill, due to poor test-retest reliability. This
probably was due to the rather low number of items measuring this sub-skill. Further limitations
are the assessments were conducted in English language only, used only one measure of program
implementation, the lessons were unable to record in video or audio and many more. (Refer to
the research study.)

SUMMARY
This research is entitled as “An early numeracy intervention for first-graders at risk for
mathematical learning difficulties.” I chose to read this research because I am currently teaching
Grade 1 class and I thought this study might help me since this is about Grade 1. (Although I
obtained it at Early Childhood Research Quarterly of Elsevier.) And although this study is taken
from South Africa, I thought it may help also my grade 1 students especially face-to-face class is
coming. (I am thinking if I could adapt this study to identify the learners who are at-risk for
mathematical learning difficulties and also adapt the intervention (Finnish early numeracy test)
used here to develop the numeracy skills of my pupils specially who are at the low early
numeracy performance and prevent the mathematical learning difficulties.
Finnish early numeracy test is a paper-and-pencil test that can be administered with
groups of children. The test includes tasks (The sample can be seen from the reference link
provided below.) covering numerical relational skills, counting skills and arithmetical word
problems. One point is scored for each correct answer and zero for wrong answers, with 43 the
highest possible score.
 According to the result, this intervention improved more in numerical relational skill and
in counting skills for those who are in low early numeracy performance. And so, I’m thinking if I
could apply this intervention to my pupils having numeracy skill difficulty. I hope I can learn
more about this intervention and use it to my pupils.

Note: All the information above were gathered from the study of Aunioa et al.,2019.
Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200620301472