Science Magazine Explores Latest Research on Early Learning

The Aug. 19 issue of Science magazine featured a special section on early childhood learning, “Investing Early in Education.”  The collection of articles offered policy updates, field studies and new research.  The entire section is well worth a read, but here’s a summary of the most interesting articles in the package:

“Interventions Shown to Aid Executive Function Development in Children 4 to 12 Years Old:” Early Ed Watch has written in the past about the widespread theory that self-control is one of the most critical skills a young child can learn; this article confirms that, and also proves through numerous studies that typical teachers in typical classrooms can successfully implement strategies to improve students’ self-control, as long as teachers are provided with appropriate professional development.

“Past Successes Shape Effort to Expand Early Intervention:” Most of our readers will be familiar with the territory covered in this piece. It describes three longitudinal, scientific studies of early learning programs are the basis of many current government and non-profit early learning efforts: the HighScope/Perry study of the 1960s; the Abecedarian Project of the 1970s; and the Chicago Longitudinal Study of the 1980s.  The three studies found that early childhood learning programs can offer between $2.50 and $16 in savings for every $1 of public money spent, because children who attend pre-school are less likely to be incarcerated or unemployed as adults.

“Giving Children a Head Start is Possible – But It’s Not Easy:” Both critics and supporters of the Head Start program agree that low teacher salaries, limited instruction time and insufficient enrollment limit Head Start’s capacity to make a long-term, substantive impact on students’ lives, despite some evidence of short-term academic gains. As the Early Education Initiative’s Lisa Guernsey told Science, Head Start’s successes will be lost if its participants enter elementary schools that fail to ”maintain the momentum” the program creates.

“Teachers’ Language Practices and Academic Outcomes of Preschool Children:” An analysis of teachers’ use of language to improve children’s long-term literacy skills.

“Early Childhood Mathematics Intervention:” A look at pedagogical methods that prioritize teaching mathematics foundations in a way that facilitates students’ ability to learn advanced math concepts later on in their schooling.

“Educational Interventions to Advance Children’s Scientific Thinking:” According to a team of researchers, direct instruction is more effective than discovery learning in developing students’ critical thinking abilities in the sciences.

“Effectiveness of Early Educational Intervention:” Steve Barnett of the National Institute for Early Education Research explains how global poverty can be mitigated through high-quality early education.

“From Science to Policy in Early Childhood Education:” To heighten their own influence, scientists must conduct research that is directly adaptable to the public policy world, argues William Gormley, Jr. of Georgetown University.

Read the entire Science package on early-childhood learning here if you have a subscription to Science, or check your local library for the latest issue.