Ithel Jones

• Professor (Full) at Florida State University

This study examined the relationship between young children’s cognitive development and fathers’ engagement in early childhood. The study examined fathers’ home engagement patterns based on literacy, play, and caregiving activities when their children were 9-month-old and these patterns of engagement in 9-month-old were related to children’s cognit...

This study examined the relationship between young children’s cognitive development and fathers’ engagement in early childhood. The study examined fathers’ home engagement patterns based on literacy, play, and caregiving activities when their children were 9-month-old and these patterns of engagement in 9-month-old were related to children’s cognit...

In this article, the authors examine service-learning through multiple lenses. First, the authors provide a historical perspective of service-learning, with deep roots in the settlement houses, primarily associated with the African American community. Second, the authors examine the theoretical underpinnings of service-learning, and how, through th...

Developing positive attitudes towards science and scientific process skills at an early age enables children to become more successful in the fields of science. This study investigates the effects of STEM-Based Science Education practices on the science conceptual changes of preservice teachers. One-phase experimental embedded pattern design, one o...

In this study relationships between preservice early childhood teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and their mentor teachers’ mentoring were examined. Quantitative research method was used in the study by the using multivariate data collections. The Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI) was administered to 96 pre-service teachers and ment...

The affective qualities of teacher-child relationships were examined by observing 20 pre-service teachers’ (PST) interactions with kindergarten and first-grade students identified as either “naturally” or “ethically” cared for. Video taped mathematics and science lessons were coded by the PST and an independent rater. Written surveys identified PST...

Since the first episode of Sesame Street was aired in the 1960s, video watching has become a daily activity for most young children. Gradually, advances in technology transformed children’s video watching practices as well as the preferred video watching devices or platforms (such as educational television, baby DVDs, and computer technologies). As...

CONTENTS: Volume 2—Introduction: Critical Issues in Early Childhood Teacher Education, Ithel Jones and Miranda Lin. Resisting the “Schoolification Epidemic” in Early Childhood Education: Why the “3 Rs” of Rights, Research, and Reflection Must Continue to Be the Propellers for Reconceptualizing Initial Early Childhood Teacher Education, Emer Ring, L...

CONTENTS: Acknowledgments. Volume 1—Introduction: Critical Issues in Early Childhood Teacher Education, Miranda Lin and Ithel Jones. Critically Imagining Early Childhood Curriculum Practices, Daniel Castner, Lacy Peters, and Stephanie Reinke. One Course Is Not Enough: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Facilitate the Learning of All Young Children, L...

This naturalistic observational study examined teacher-child interactions in a third-grade science classroom. Of interest was the extent to which the quality of teacher-child relationships was associated with various categories of interaction, and students’ understanding of science concepts. Teacher-child relationships of an intact class of 17 thir...

This study examined the nature and extent of the involvement of Turkish fathers in the lives of their preschool aged children. A survey instrument was developed and administered to a sample of 84 Turkish fathers of preschool aged children. The survey was designed to measure the amount of time that fathers and children spend together, the types of a...

Service learning is defined as a teaching and learning method that connects meaningful community service with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. In recent years, service learning has been presented as an effective pedagogy for early childhood education. This chapter will present a rationale for integrating service learnin...

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between Turkish early childhood preservice teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about teaching science, and the nature and extent of their teachers' mentoring during the teaching practicum. Recent research findings have suggested that it is the mentoring provided by classroom teachers that influen...

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of young children using digital media. Children are regularly using the internet to play, communicate, and explore. Educators and researchers are beginning to examine the social and cognitive implications of children’s use of interactive media and the internet. Socio-cultural and ecological systems t...

The purpose of the study was to examine the influences of age, family socio-economic status (SES), and parents’ food knowledge on preschool, kindergarten, and second grade students’ conceptual understanding of food and nutrition. Fifty-two parent-child dyads, consisting of 17 preschoolers, 17 kindergartners, and 18 second graders participated in th...

This article reports on the first Florida statewide assessment of the Gold Seal Quality Care program, accreditation, and the relationship with licensing violations. This study analyzed the differences between the Department of Children and Families Gold Seal–Accredited facilities and non accredited facilities by comparing the facilities and the num...

Two prominent theories in evolutionary biology have stressed the role of social contexts in the evolution of primate cognition. One theory holds that cognition evolved in the context of individuals having to keep track of their interactions with a variety of conspecifics. In the other theory, cognition evolved in the contexts of familiar and close...

Background Research findings suggest that there may be some academic benefits for those children whose kindergarten enrollment is delayed, and the risk of underachievement seems to be greater for children who are younger when they first enter kindergarten. Although kindergarten enrollment occurs naturally, certain child, family, and childcare facto...

The sedentary lifestyle of many young children in the United States has contributed to a rise in children's health disparities. With significant increases in the prevalence of several childhood chronic conditions, pediatric health care providers and others are realizing that exposure to nature can have significant benefits. Policymakers, and others...

This study was an examination of the effect of delayed, early, and on-time kindergarten enrollment on children's kindergarten mathematics achievement. Central for this study was to explore if the relationship between the kindergarten enrollment status and mathematics achievement varies by children's gender, race, and family SES status. It used a na...

Active Experiences for Active Children: Science provides a theoretical foundation for teaching science to preschoolers and primary-grade children with the addition of a large array of meaningful, standards-based, constructivist, hands-on learning "experiences" to guide teachers in their practice. Organized to address a variety of audiences, the tex...

The relationship between theory of mind, material altruism, and family context was examined. Forty-one preschool children (16 females and 25 males) enrolled in a private school participated in the study. Results of this study showed no relationship between theory of mind and altruism. There were no significant correlations between theory of mind an...

This study explored early childhood preservice teachers’ beliefs about mathematics and science. Using a qualitative approach, preservice teachers’ beliefs were analyzed before and after taking integrated mathematics and science methods courses. Major perceptions that emerged from the study concerned the qualities of effective teachers, teachers’ in...

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between child temperament, teacher-child relationships, and teacher-child interactions in four preschool classrooms. The preliminary analyses revealed classroom differences for all variables. In all the classrooms except one, the temperament factor Reactivity had positive and high correlatio...

Service-learning is defined as a teaching/learning method that connects meaningful community service with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility. In this study, conducted at an American University, we describe a cascading model of integrating early childhood teacher education and service-learning for preservice teachers who th...

The study examined the integration of science and mathematics methods courses and preservice teachers’ understanding of constructivism. The participants were 50 preservice teachers who were enrolled in early childhood education mathematics and science methods courses, and an early childhood practicum. The two methods courses were integrated and the...

Teacher educators are often searching for methods and/or techniques to enhance and expand the content of their courses. As teacher educators, we do not want to introduce new methodology that detracts our students’ attention away from the course content. However, we need to keep our courses current and interesting for ourselves as well as for our st...

It is a well-known theory and practice among early childhood educators that building early relationships with the children is crucial to their development. However, there is irony in the fact that many teacher education programs that propose to model “best practices” do not model relationship building with their preservice teachers. This study exam...

The research question asked was “Will those children ages three and four who have intensive play experiences in play‐based preschools and who can perform at high levels of LEGO building as constructional play also show high levels of mathematical achievement later in formal school settings?”. Thus, this study attempts to establish a correlation bet...

Research in children’s oral language and early literacy learning currently emphasizes the facilitative role of social context. This study examined the sequential interactions of first-grade students during collaborative writing to determine the ways in which peer collaboration relate to literate language use. Same gender dyads of seven- and eight-y...

In this article, we examine the integration of science and mathematics teaching in early childhood education. We explore the meaning of integration and offer a rationale for integrating science and mathematics methods classes for pre‐service teachers. The case is made that pre‐service teachers should develop an understanding of the connections betw...

This study determined the extent to which preservice teachers used metacognitive lessons and prompts when teaching science and mathematics to kindergarten and first‐grade children. Twenty‐eight preservice teachers taught 10 mathematics and/or science lessons to various classes of kindergarten and first‐grade children. Their children used journaling...

This study examined the influence of peer collaboration and social context on children's use of literate language. Literate language is defined as a specific oral language register. It was hypothesised that friend, compared to non-friend dyads would evidence more literate language in the form of talk about cognitive and linguistic processes. Same g...

In 1982, an intact group of 37 preschoolers (age 4) attending a play-oriented preschool were tested using the Lunzer Five Point Play Scale (1955) to obtain a block performance measure. To statistically control for social economic status (SES), IQ and gender, the McCarty Scales of Children's Abilities (1972) were given, the gender determined, and an...

This longitudinal study began in 1982 with 37 four year old children who attended the same child care center for at least one year. The participants were assessed on their construction play products of blocks, Legos, and carpentry using the Lunzer Five Point Play Scale. An IQ score was obtained using The McCarthy Scales of Children's Mental Abiliti...

Two prominent theories in evolutionary biology have stressed the role of social contexts in the evolution of primate cognition. One theory holds that cognition evolved in the context of individuals having to keep track of their interactions with a variety of conspecifics. In the other theory, cognition evolved in the contexts of familiar and close...

This study examined whether first‐, second‐, and third‐grade students’ achievement in language and mathematics was affected by factors from both the family context, including family size, number of adult caregivers, and parents’ educational level, and the type of school related activities practised by parents. Participants in the study were 333 stu...

This investigation examined the prevalence of developmentally appropriate practices in the primary grades and the effects of teachers' developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices on 1st-grade students' social skills and academic achievement in the areas of language and mathematics. The participants were 293 first-grade students attending four...

Background. Recent research has begun to examine the facilitative role of close relationships, such as friendships, in the process of early literacy learning. It is believed that the quality of specific relationships can provide extensive support for literacy development and that the role of peer relationships in the context of writing may be signi...

Examined the extent to which kindergartners used computer speech during narrative writing and the relationship between this use and the linguistic properties of their written products. Found that length of text, grammatical cohesion, and lexical density were strongly associated with use of computer-generated spoken feedback. Narrative types and num...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of early educational experiences on the academic achievement and social skills of a sample of 91 inner city first‐grade students. The Integrated Assessment System (IAS) was used to measure children's achievement in mathematics and language arts, and the Social Skills rating system (Gresham & Elli...

This investigation examined early childhood teachers' attitudes towards families and their involvement with schools, and specific variables that influence these attitudes. Teachers' perspectives about school and family partnerships were assessed using the School and Family Partnerships: Questionnaires for Teachers and Parents in the Elementary and...

This study examined the effects of social relationships, writing media, and microgenetic development on first-grade students’ written narratives. In the within-subjects design, children’s written products and verbalizations were compared across different writing contexts, computer-supported writing and pencil-and-paper writing. Participant relation...

Three field experiments were conducted to determine the effects of different recess timing regimens on children’s classroom and recess behaviors. Experiment 1 involved children in Grades K, 2, and 4. The timing of their recess was experimentally varied by 30 minutes. Students’ classroom behavior before and after recess was observed as was their out...

The intent of this study was to examine the ways in which Head Start children's vocabulary was developed when they and their mothers engaged in joint reading contexts. Nineteen dyads were observed while interacting around expository texts presented in two formats: familiar (newspaper toy advertisements) and traditional (trade books). Dyads in this...

Anything to do with children's entertainment is a source of controversy: children's television programmes, musical preferences, and leisure activities are frequent sources of debate. Toys and play are often singled out for attention, particularly war toys, sex-typed toys, and video games with aggressive themes. Are these harmful to children? Are th...

Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. Mode of access: World Wide Web. Advisor: Ithel Jones, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Childhood Education, Reading and Disbility Services. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 25, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 107 pages. Thesis (Ph. D.)--...

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1989. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-70). Microfiche. s