Young children and teachers both have active roles in the learning processHow do preschoolers learn and develop? What are the best ways to support learning in the early years? This revised edition of The Intentional Teacher guides teachers to balance both child-guided and adult-guided learning experiences that build on children's interests and focus on what they need to learn to be successful in school and in life.This edition offers new chapters on science, social studies, and approaches to learning. Also included is updated, expanded information on social and emotional development, physical development and health, language and literacy, mathenatics, and the creative arts. In each chapter are many practical teaching strategies that are illustrated with classroom-based anecdotes.The Intentional Teacher encourages readers to- Reflect on their principles and practices- Broaden their thinking about appropriate early curriculum content and instructional methods- Discover specific ideas and teaching strategies for interacting with children in key subject areasIntentional teaching does not happen by chance. This book will help teachers apply their knowledge of children and of content to make thoughtful, intentional use of both child-guided and adult-guided experiences.

As a developmental psychologist with a strong interest in children's re sponse to the physical environment, I take particular pleasure in writing a foreword to the present volume. It provides impressive evidence of the con cern that workers in environmental psychology and environmental design are displaying for the child as a user of the designed environment and indi cates a recognition of the need to apply theory and findings from develop mental and environmental psychology to the design of environments for children. This seems to me to mark a shift in focus and concern from the earlier days of the interaction between environmental designers and psy chologists that occurred some two decades ago and provided the impetus for the establishment of environmental psychology as a subdiscipline. Whether because children-though they are consumers of designed environments are not the architect's clients or because it seemed easier to work with adults who could be asked to make ratings of environmental spaces and comment on them at length, a focus on the child in interaction with en vironments was comparatively slow in developing in the field of environ ment and behavior. As the chapters of the present volume indicate, that situation is no longer true today, and this is a change that all concerned with the well-being and optimal functioning of children will welcome.

In the first two volumes of the series we elected to cover a broad spectrum of topics in the environment and behavior field, ranging from theoretical to applied, and including disciplinary, interdiscipli nary, and professionally related topics. Chapters in these earlier vol umes dealt with leisure and recreation, the elderly, personal space, aesthetics, energy, behavioral approaches to environmental problems, methodological issues, social indicators, industrial settings, and the like. Chapters were written by psychologists, sociologists, geogra phers, and other social scientists, and by authors from professional design fields such as urban planning, operations research, landscape architecture, and so on. Our goal in these first two volumes was to present a sampling of areas in the emerging environment and behavior field and to give readers some insight into the diversity of research and theoretical perspectives that characterize the field. Beginning with the present volume, our efforts will be directed at a series of thematic volumes. The present collection of chapters is focused on children and the environment, and, as much as possible, we invited contributions that reflect a variety of theoretical and em pirical perspectives on this topic. The next volume in the series, now in preparation, will address the area of "culture and the environment. " Suggestions for possible future topics are welcome. Irwin Altman Joachim F.

Children's health has clearly improved over the past several decades. Significant and positive gains have been made in lowering rates of infant mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases and accidental causes, improved access to health care, and reduction in the effects of environmental contaminants such as lead. Yet major questions still remain about how to assess the status of children's health, what factors should be monitored, and the appropriate measurement tools that should be used. Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health provides a detailed examination of the information about children's health that is needed to help policy makers and program providers at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to improve children's health-and, thus, the health of future generations-it is critical to have data that can be used to assess both current conditions and possible future threats to children's health. This compelling book describes what is known about the health of children and what is needed to expand the knowledge. By strategically improving the health of children, we ensure healthier future generations to come.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

The ITERS-R is a thorough revision of the widely used program quality assessment instrument, The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale. Designed for use in center-based child care programs for infants and toddlers up to 30 months of age, the ITERS-R can be used by program directors for supervision and program improvement, by teaching staff for self-assessment, by agency staff for monitoring, and in teacher training programs. The established reliability and validity of the scale make it particularly useful for research and program evaluation. Book jacket.

This fascinating book examines theories of children's perceptions of space and place and explores how these theories are applied to the world of children. The focus is on children in large real world spaces; places that children live in, explore and learn from. An international team of authors compare the experiences of children from different cultures and backgrounds. This book will appeal t o environmental and developmental psychologists and geographers, and also to planners by linking research on children's understandings and on their daily lives to recommendations for practice.