This edited book presents the most recent theory, research and practice on information and technology literacy as it relates to the education of young children. Because computers have made it so easy to disseminate information, the amount of available information has grown at an exponential rate, making it impossible for educators to prepare students for the future without teaching them how to be effective information managers and technology users. Although much has been written about information literacy and technology literacy in secondary education, there is very little published research about these literacies in early childhood education. Recently, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children s Media at Saint Vincent College published a position statement on using technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs. This statement recommends more research to better understand how young children use and learn with technology and interactive media and also to better understand any short- and long-term effects. Many assume that today s young children are digital natives with a great understanding of technology. However, children may know how to operate digital technology but be unaware of its dangers or its value to extend their abilities. This book argues that information and technology literacy include more than just familiarity with the digital environment. They include using technology safely and ethically to demonstrate creativity and innovation; to communicate and collaborate; to conduct research and use information and to think critically, solve problems and make decisions."

This book brings together authoritative information about the child/dog bond as it is manifested with family dogs, visiting therapy dogs, and service dogs trained to assist children with disabilities. Despite the widely accepted view that participating in a dog's care and interacting with dogs in behaviorally healthy ways is a route to becoming responsible and compassionate, research on this complex dynamic is difficult to design, time-consuming to collect, and challenging to analyze. This volume synthesizes theory, research, and practice, bringing all to bear upon child/dog interactions in homes, schools, libraries, and the community at large. Children, Dogs and Education serves as a handbook for a diverse group of adults who seek to build positive relationships between children and dogs-parents/families, professional dog trainers, teachers, librarians, mental health professionals, health care professionals, and university faculty. The study of interactions between human and nonhuman animals has captured the imagination of an international community of researchers from many different fields and professions. Even though dogs are ubiquitous in the lives of most children, studies of children's interactions with dogs in families and communities are lacking. Most of the previous research on the human-canine bond has focused on adolescents and adults or, even when younger children are the focus, it has tended to rely on parents to speak for children. There are three features of this book that make it unique. First, it goes beyond exploring the child/dog bond to examine additional important issues, including: children's concepts of responsible care, their ability to interpret dogs' behavioral cues, and their ideas about canine behavioral issues/training. Second, unlike most other work to date, it represents children's voices through cases, interviews, and drawings. Finally, the contributors to this edited work use their collective wisdom to draw educational implications and suggest direction in preparing the next generation of dog guardians.

This proposed book will be part of the new international series Educating the Young Child. It will focus on transitions that young children make to early care and education settings, along with the issues that surround this very important time in their lives. The theme is timely and important because children transitions are a universal rite of passage encountered by children worldwide. The diverse experiences, traits, and needs exhibited by young children provide early childhood educators with what may be a potentially challenging role. New experiences, such as the start of formal schooling, mark important and exciting events that also evoke different reactions from both parents and children.

With an international focus, the purpose of this book is to communicate an enlarged view of the currently constraining deficit-based American focus on readiness for the transition to formal school. By broadening this narrow view, the book will appreciate and honor the promise and potential of all children worldwide. The insights shared in this book have the potential to inform both practice and policy.

The book will provide a plethora of practices and strategies for promoting successful transitions for children in a variety of social and cultural contexts. As a resource for teacher education programs, along with in-service early childhood professionals, and university faculty, the book will also provide a theoretical and research background. This edited book will showcase the views of a variety of authors who have demonstrated experience in topics related to transitions in early childhood education. One of these noted authors is Nancy Balaban, who has published two significant works in this area.

As a former kindergarten teacher, I view the book as a resource that will assist educators to promote successful transitions for the students they serve. It has been my experience that student teachers who are placed in early childhood classrooms in the fall semester have an "edge" over those who student teach in the spring semester, due to the many practices that they observe as the transition process unfolds. For those who do not have the opportunity to prepare for teaching in this way, the book will help fill the gap between theory and practice and be a resource for teachers as they support their students transitions to new educational experiences.

To prepare an effectively organized book, a review of literature was conducted on the topic of transition to formal school. As the co-editor, I have also written on this subject and have researched international practices for promoting successful transitions. Authors who have previously published books and articles on this topic were researched and a tentative table of contents was developed based on previous work that was done in this area. The goal for the proposed book is to provide early childhood educators with a resource that is a compilation of research-based strategies and pertinent information that addresses issues related to the transition to formal school experiences, according to noted researchers who have already published in this area. Their expertise will be compiled into this book and address issues that include attachment and separation; meeting the needs of children with exceptionalities; children living in poverty; family relationships; and strategies for promoting successful transitions.

The targeted market for this book will benefit from the information contained in the book because of the universality of the transitions that children experience, yet the diverse needs that exist. When educators are familiar with current, research-based practices for addressing children s transition needs, their students and their families will ultimately benefit. It is essential that early childhood educators are aware of the practices that exist that can help with this very important milestone in their students lives."

In response to highly publicized incidents of school violence, educators across the United States and in many other nations are seeking effective ways to prevent and modify aggressive and anti-social behaviors in students. One of the major recommendations of the research is that efforts to prevent cruelty need to begin early, during the early childhood years of birth through age eight.

The focus of "Teaching Compassion: Humane Education in Early Childhood "is guiding young children to accept responsibility for and to be kind in their interactions with fellow human beings, animals and the environment. Although humane education is a relatively new concept in the field of early childhood education, professionals in the field are very familiar with many of the related concepts, including: promoting positive interpersonal interactions, teaching children the skills of self-regulation, giving children experience in caring for living things and protecting the environment. This edited volume is an interdisciplinary compendium of professional wisdom gathered from experts in the fields of education, child development, science, psychology, sociology and humane organizations. As the book amply documents, the concept of humane education is powerful, integrative, timely and appropriate in work with young children.

"Teaching Compassion: Humane Education in Early Childhood "shows how it is possible for adults dedicated to the care and education of young children to balance attention to the cognitive and affective realms and, in so doing, to elevate the overall quality of early childhood programs for children, families and communities.

Mary Renck Jalongo Interpersonal relationships present an interesting paradox to the young child. Although human bonds are a source of love, security and joy, they are, at the same time, the context in which children feel intense and complicated emotions such as jealousy, shame, resentment, sorrow, and rage. To illustrate, consider a series of incidents in the life of a young child named Melissa. All of these events were so memorable that they became oft-repeated family stories. At age 4, after Melissa was reprimanded by her mother, she packed a small plastic suitcase and announced that she was running away. Her mother kept a watchful eye while the preschooler stood at the end of the driveway for several moments. The child's sister-eight years her senior-decided to go out and gently inquire about her younger sibling's plans, to which Melissa responded ruefully, "I can't run away. I remembered that I'm not allowed to cross the street by myself. " Months later, Melissa enters kindergarten and she arrives home at the end of her school day, obviously upset. When asked about it, she says, "One of the kids told me I was doing my work wrong and it ruined my whole day. " In first grade, Melissa has experience with one of the school child's greatest fears: a mean teacher.

This book focuses on improving well-being among young children. It provides a theoretical base explaining why physical activity is important, and offers practical strategies for increasing health and well-being in early childhood settings. It takes ancient wisdom on the mind and body connection, applies it to the youngest children, and supports it with current empirical and international evidence-all with an eye toward improving wellness across the lifespan. The many topics discussed in the book include children's motor skills, movement, interaction, physical literacy, the use of video games, dog ownership, developmental delays, as well as strategies to improve physical activities in the classroom and broader contexts. In recent years, children's health has become a priority worldwide. Topics such as "screen time" "sedentary behavior" and "childhood obesity" have become important issues everywhere- in the news, in schools, in community and commercials settings, and among health care providers. Limiting sedentary behavior, increasing physical activity, and maintaining a nutritious diet are three fundamental needs during early childhood. Preschool years are a time when children begin to explore the world around them, and develop more vivid understandings of their surroundings. As this book shows, the early years may be the best time to teach wellness concepts and assist young children in establishing healthy lifestyle habits.

This edited volume brings together a diverse group of contributors to create a review of research and an agenda for the future of dog care and training in correctional facilities. Bolstered by research that documents the potential benefits of HAI, many correctional facilities have implemented prison dog programs that involve inmates in the care and training of canines, not only as family dogs but also as service dogs for people with psychological and/or physical disabilities. Providing an evidence-based treatment of the topic, this book also draws upon the vast practical experience of individuals who have successfully begun, maintained, improved, and evaluated various types of dog programs with inmates; it includes first-person perspectives from all of the stakeholders in a prison dog program-the corrections staff, the recipients of the dogs, the inmate/trainers, and the community volunteers and sponsors Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a burgeoning field of research that spans different disciplines: corrections, psychology, education, social work, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine, to name a few. Written for an array of professionals interested in prison dog programs, the book will hold special interest for researchers in criminal justice and corrections, forensic psychology, and to those with a commitment to promoting the ideals of rehabilitation, desistance thinking, restorative justice, and re-entry tools for inmates.

This book focuses on improving well-being among young children. It provides a theoretical base explaining why physical activity is important, and offers practical strategies for increasing health and well-being in early childhood settings. It takes ancient wisdom on the mind and body connection, applies it to the youngest children, and supports it with current empirical and international evidence-all with an eye toward improving wellness across the lifespan. The many topics discussed in the book include children's motor skills, movement, interaction, physical literacy, the use of video games, dog ownership, developmental delays, as well as strategies to improve physical activities in the classroom and broader contexts. In recent years, children's health has become a priority worldwide. Topics such as "screen time" "sedentary behavior" and "childhood obesity" have become important issues everywhere- in the news, in schools, in community and commercials settings, and among health care providers. Limiting sedentary behavior, increasing physical activity, and maintaining a nutritious diet are three fundamental needs during early childhood. Preschool years are a time when children begin to explore the world around them, and develop more vivid understandings of their surroundings. As this book shows, the early years may be the best time to teach wellness concepts and assist young children in establishing healthy lifestyle habits.

This book brings together authoritative information about the child/dog bond as it is manifested with family dogs, visiting therapy dogs, and service dogs trained to assist children with disabilities. Despite the widely accepted view that participating in a dog's care and interacting with dogs in behaviorally healthy ways is a route to becoming responsible and compassionate, research on this complex dynamic is difficult to design, time-consuming to collect, and challenging to analyze. This volume synthesizes theory, research, and practice, bringing all to bear upon child/dog interactions in homes, schools, libraries, and the community at large. Children, Dogs and Education serves as a handbook for a diverse group of adults who seek to build positive relationships between children and dogs-parents/families, professional dog trainers, teachers, librarians, mental health professionals, health care professionals, and university faculty. The study of interactions between human and nonhuman animals has captured the imagination of an international community of researchers from many different fields and professions. Even though dogs are ubiquitous in the lives of most children, studies of children's interactions with dogs in families and communities are lacking. Most of the previous research on the human-canine bond has focused on adolescents and adults or, even when younger children are the focus, it has tended to rely on parents to speak for children. There are three features of this book that make it unique. First, it goes beyond exploring the child/dog bond to examine additional important issues, including: children's concepts of responsible care, their ability to interpret dogs' behavioral cues, and their ideas about canine behavioral issues/training. Second, unlike most other work to date, it represents children's voices through cases, interviews, and drawings. Finally, the contributors to this edited work use their collective wisdom to draw educational implications and suggest direction in preparing the next generation of dog guardians.

This edited book presents the most recent theory, research and practice on information and technology literacy as it relates to the education of young children. Because computers have made it so easy to disseminate information, the amount of available information has grown at an exponential rate, making it impossible for educators to prepare students for the future without teaching them how to be effective information managers and technology users. Although much has been written about information literacy and technology literacy in secondary education, there is very little published research about these literacies in early childhood education. Recently, the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College published a position statement on using technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs. This statement recommends more research "to better understand how young children use and learn with technology and interactive media and also to better understand any short- and long-term effects." Many assume that today's young children are "digital natives" with a great understanding of technology. However, children may know how to operate digital technology but be unaware of its dangers or its value to extend their abilities. This book argues that information and technology literacy include more than just familiarity with the digital environment. They include using technology safely and ethically to demonstrate creativity and innovation; to communicate and collaborate; to conduct research and use information and to think critically, solve problems and make decisions.

This book offers systematic instruction and evidence-based guidance to academic authors. It demystifies scholarly writing and helps build both confidence and skill in aspiring and experienced authors. The first part of the book focuses on the author's role, writing's risks and rewards, practical strategies for improving writing, and ethical issues. Part Two focuses on the most common writing tasks: conference proposals, practical articles, research articles, and books. Each chapter is replete with specific examples, templates to generate a first draft, and checklists or rubrics for self-evaluation. The final section of the book counsels graduate students and professors on selecting the most promising projects; generating multiple related, yet distinctive, publications from the same body of work; and using writing as a tool for professional development. Written by a team that represents outstanding teaching, award-winning writing, and extensive editorial experience, the book leads teacher/scholar/authors to replace the old "publish or perish" dictum with a different, growth-seeking orientation: publish and flourish.

This work prepares teachers, college students, and higher education faculty to conduct various types of presentations, including workshops and teacher inservice trainings; poster sessions; panel discussions; roundtables; research forums; and technology-supported presentations. Making effective presentations to fellow professionals at conferences is an important contribution for educators at all levels, from basic through higher education. The book takes the approach of a "paper mentor" that guides the reader through the use of templates, specific examples, and a wide range of on-line resources.

In response to highly publicized incidents of school violence, educators across the United States and in many other nations are seeking effective ways to prevent and modify aggressive and anti-social behaviors in students. One of the major recommendations of the research is that efforts to prevent cruelty need to begin early, during the early childhood years of birth through age eight. The focus of Teaching Compassion: Humane Education in Early Childhood is guiding young children to accept responsibility for and to be kind in their interactions with fellow human beings, animals and the environment. Although humane education is a relatively new concept in the field of early childhood education, professionals in the field are very familiar with many of the related concepts, including: promoting positive interpersonal interactions, teaching children the skills of self-regulation, giving children experience in caring for living things and protecting the environment. This edited volume is an interdisciplinary compendium of professional wisdom gathered from experts in the fields of education, child development, science, psychology, sociology and humane organizations. As the book amply documents, the concept of humane education is powerful, integrative, timely and appropriate in work with young children. Teaching Compassion: Humane Education in Early Childhood shows how it is possible for adults dedicated to the care and education of young children to balance attention to the cognitive and affective realms and, in so doing, to elevate the overall quality of early childhood programs for children, families and communities.

This proposed book will be part of the new international series Educating the Young Child. It will focus on transitions that young children make to early care and education settings, along with the issues that surround this very important time in their lives. The theme is timely and important because children transitions are a universal rite of passage encountered by children worldwide. The diverse experiences, traits, and needs exhibited by young children provide early childhood educators with what may be a potentially challenging role. New experiences, such as the start of formal schooling, mark important and exciting events that also evoke different reactions from both parents and children.

With an international focus, the purpose of this book is to communicate an enlarged view of the currently constraining deficit-based American focus on readiness for the transition to formal school. By broadening this narrow view, the book will appreciate and honor the promise and potential of all children worldwide. The insights shared in this book have the potential to inform both practice and policy.

The book will provide a plethora of practices and strategies for promoting successful transitions for children in a variety of social and cultural contexts. As a resource for teacher education programs, along with in-service early childhood professionals, and university faculty, the book will also provide a theoretical and research background. This edited book will showcase the views of a variety of authors who have demonstrated experience in topics related to transitions in early childhood education. One of these noted authors is Nancy Balaban, who has published two significant works in this area.

As a former kindergarten teacher, I view the book as a resource that will assist educators to promote successful transitions for the students they serve. It has been my experience that student teachers who are placed in early childhood classrooms in the fall semester have an "edge" over those who student teach in the spring semester, due to the many practices that they observe as the transition process unfolds. For those who do not have the opportunity to prepare for teaching in this way, the book will help fill the gap between theory and practice and be a resource for teachers as they support their students transitions to new educational experiences.

To prepare an effectively organized book, a review of literature was conducted on the topic of transition to formal school. As the co-editor, I have also written on this subject and have researched international practices for promoting successful transitions. Authors who have previously published books and articles on this topic were researched and a tentative table of contents was developed based on previous work that was done in this area. The goal for the proposed book is to provide early childhood educators with a resource that is a compilation of research-based strategies and pertinent information that addresses issues related to the transition to formal school experiences, according to noted researchers who have already published in this area. Their expertise will be compiled into this book and address issues that include attachment and separation; meeting the needs of children with exceptionalities; children living in poverty; family relationships; and strategies for promoting successful transitions.

The targeted market for this book will benefit from the information contained in the book because of the universality of the transitions that children experience, yet the diverse needs that exist. When educators are familiar with current, research-based practices for addressing children s transition needs, their students and their families will ultimately benefit. It is essential that early childhood educators are aware of the practices that exist that can help with this very important milestone in their students lives."

Mary Renck Jalongo Interpersonal relationships present an interesting paradox to the young child. Although human bonds are a source of love, security and joy, they are, at the same time, the context in which children feel intense and complicated emotions such as jealousy, shame, resentment, sorrow, and rage. To illustrate, consider a series of incidents in the life of a young child named Melissa. All of these events were so memorable that they became oft-repeated family stories. At age 4, after Melissa was reprimanded by her mother, she packed a small plastic suitcase and announced that she was running away. Her mother kept a watchful eye while the preschooler stood at the end of the driveway for several moments. The child's sister-eight years her senior-decided to go out and gently inquire about her younger sibling's plans, to which Melissa responded ruefully, "I can't run away. I remembered that I'm not allowed to cross the street by myself. " Months later, Melissa enters kindergarten and she arrives home at the end of her school day, obviously upset. When asked about it, she says, "One of the kids told me I was doing my work wrong and it ruined my whole day. " In first grade, Melissa has experience with one of the school child's greatest fears: a mean teacher.

This book on scholarly writing offers a unique, evidence-based, technology-supported approach to writing for publication across the disciplines. It is suitable both as a graduate level textbook and as support for faculty seeking professional development in scholarly writing. It is a sequel to Writing for Publication: Transitions and Tools That Support Scholars’ Success. Current issues in Academia--such as the expectation that graduate students will publish, the option for doctoral students to publish in lieu of writing the dissertation, the pressure on scholars from various countries to contribute to professional journals written in English, and the metrics used to assess impact of published work—have influenced scholarly writing. Unlike other books on the topic, every chapter includes narratives of experience, self-assessment tools, guided practice activities, reviews of research, and discussion of controversies in publishing. All chapters incorporate curated online resources and technology supports as well. Across the spectrum of experience, ranging from aspiring author to prolific, readers are guided in ways to generate manuscripts that are not only readable and publishable but also downloaded and respectfully cited by their professional peers.

This edited volume brings together a diverse group of contributors to create a review of research and an agenda for the future of dog care and training in correctional facilities. Bolstered by research that documents the potential benefits of HAI, many correctional facilities have implemented prison dog programs that involve inmates in the care and training of canines, not only as family dogs but also as service dogs for people with psychological and/or physical disabilities. Providing an evidence-based treatment of the topic, this book also draws upon the vast practical experience of individuals who have successfully begun, maintained, improved, and evaluated various types of dog programs with inmates; it includes first-person perspectives from all of the stakeholders in a prison dog program-the corrections staff, the recipients of the dogs, the inmate/trainers, and the community volunteers and sponsors Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a burgeoning field of research that spans different disciplines: corrections, psychology, education, social work, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine, to name a few. Written for an array of professionals interested in prison dog programs, the book will hold special interest for researchers in criminal justice and corrections, forensic psychology, and to those with a commitment to promoting the ideals of rehabilitation, desistance thinking, restorative justice, and re-entry tools for inmates.

A primary mission of universities is promoting student success and well-being. Many college and university personnel have implemented initiatives that offer students the documented benefits of positive human-animal interaction (HAI). Accumulating evidence suggests that assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and shelter dogs can support student wellness and learning. The best programs balance the welfare of humans and canines while assessing students' needs and complying with all laws and regulations. Contributors to this edited volume have drawn upon research across many disciplines as well as their extensive practical experiences to produce a timely and valuable resource - for administrators and students. Whether readers are just getting started or striving to improve well-established programs, The Canine-Campus Connection provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in reciprocally beneficial ways. Part one examines the interactions between postsecondary students and canines by reviewing the literature on the human-canine bond. It establishes what necessarily must be the top priority in canine-assisted activities and therapy: the health and safety of both. Part two highlights four major categories of dogs that students are likely to interact with on and off campus: service dogs, emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and homeless dogs. Part three emphasizes ways in which dogs can influence student learning during classes and across aspects of their professional development. Part four considers future directions. Authors take the stance that enriching and enlarging interactions between college students and canines will require university personnel who plan and evaluate events, projects, and programs. The book concludes with the recommendation that colleges and universities move toward more dog-friendly campus cultures.

A primary mission of universities is promoting student success and well-being. Many college and university personnel have implemented initiatives that offer students the documented benefits of positive human-animal interaction (HAI). Accumulating evidence suggests that assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and shelter dogs can support student wellness and learning. The best programs balance the welfare of humans and canines while assessing students' needs and complying with all laws and regulations. Contributors to this edited volume have drawn upon research across many disciplines as well as their extensive practical experiences to produce a timely and valuable resource - for administrators and students. Whether readers are just getting started or striving to improve well-established programs, The Canine-Campus Connection provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in reciprocally beneficial ways. Part one examines the interactions between postsecondary students and canines by reviewing the literature on the human-canine bond. It establishes what necessarily must be the top priority in canine-assisted activities and therapy: the health and safety of both. Part two highlights four major categories of dogs that students are likely to interact with on and off campus: service dogs, emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and homeless dogs. Part three emphasizes ways in which dogs can influence student learning during classes and across aspects of their professional development. Part four considers future directions. Authors take the stance that enriching and enlarging interactions between college students and canines will require university personnel who plan and evaluate events, projects, and programs. The book concludes with the recommendation that colleges and universities move toward more dog-friendly campus cultures.

This book studies the many different ways in which the lives of the first, third, and fourth generations intersect and the reciprocal benefits that can accrue from establishing positive intergenerational bonds. The unifying feature across the chapters is that the authors view these relationships as a powerful influence on Quality of Life (QoL). The book takes the stance that older adults figure prominently in the QoL of young children, with the latter group defined here as ranging in age from infancy up to and including eight years of age. It examines how bonds with older adults can affect young children's functioning across developmental domains-physical, emotional, social, and cognitive. It addresses questions of importance to those who have a commitment to the very young such as: "What benefits can young children derive from positive bonds with older adults?", "How do young children understand the aging process and develop respect for the elderly?", "How can published research be used to guide both informal and formal interactions between the older generation and the newest one?" and, finally, "How can various stakeholders such as professionals, families, organizations, and communities collaborate to enrich and enlarge the kind and amount of support that older adults provide to the very young child?"

The book addresses the concerns teachers often have about their effectiveness and prepares them to work with young children in a variety of settings. Each chapter contains full case studies in One Child, Three Perspectives. Provides a series of interviews with leading experts. A compendium of resources. For Educators and School Administrators for early childhood education.