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Early Child Development and Care

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Preschool teachers' perceptions of

rough and tumble play vs. aggression in
preschool-aged boys
a

Cynthia F. DiCarlo , Jennifer Baumgartner , Carrie Ota &

Charlene Jenkins

School of Education, Louisiana State University, 123B Peabody

Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
b

Department of Child & Family Studies, Weber State University,

1301 University Circle, Ogden, UT 84088, USA
c

The Infant/Toddler Developmental Center, n/a, 4951 Mewell

Street, Zachary, LA 70791, USA
Published online: 29 Sep 2014.

To cite this article: Cynthia F. DiCarlo, Jennifer Baumgartner, Carrie Ota & Charlene Jenkins
(2014): Preschool teachers' perceptions of rough and tumble play vs. aggression in preschool-aged
boys, Early Child Development and Care, DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2014.957692
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2014.957692

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Early Child Development and Care, 2014

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2014.957692

Preschool teachers perceptions of rough and tumble play vs.

aggression in preschool-aged boys
Cynthia F. DiCarloa*, Jennifer Baumgartnera, Carrie Otab and Charlene Jenkinsc
Downloaded by [Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris] at 02:07 25 November 2014

School of Education, Louisiana State University, 123B Peabody Hall, Baton Rouge,
LA 70803, USA; bDepartment of Child & Family Studies, Weber State University, 1301
University Circle, Ogden, UT 84088, USA; cThe Infant/Toddler Developmental Center, n/a,
4951 Mewell Street, Zachary, LA 70791, USA
(Received 10 July 2014; accepted 20 August 2014)
Rough and tumble play has been found to be positive for physical, social and
cognitive development; it is often erroneously misinterpreted as aggression and
generally stopped by preschool teachers. The current study sought to examine
the relationship between teacher training and education and judgements about
aggression in children. Ninety-four preschool teachers currently working in child
care centres viewed two videotapes depicting preschool-aged boys engaged in
naturally occurring outdoor play. Participants scored the tapes for occurrence of
aggression, using their own denition. Results indicated that child care providers
with a four-year college degree in early childhood education reported less
aggressive behaviours than those without a college degree. Novice child care
providers reported higher levels of aggression than more experienced preschool
teachers; child care providers with similar education/experience were more likely
to report aggression within the same observation segment. These ndings
suggest that education may support more accurate assessments of aggressive play.
Keywords: aggression; rough and tumble play; preschool; preschool teacher
perception; preschool teacher education; preschool teacher experience

Rough and tumble play is a recognised play category during early childhood (EC) that
is necessary for healthy child development (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Rough and
tumble play refers to vigorous behaviours, such as wrestling, grappling, kicking, tumbling and play ghting, which appears aggressive except for the playful framework
(Flanders, Leo, Paquette, Phil, & Seguin, 2009; Jarvis, 2007; Pellegrini, 1989, 1995;
Pellegrini & Smith, 1998; Romano, Tremblay, Boulerice, & Swisher, 2005). Although
this type of play has been found to be positive for physical, social and cognitive development (Jarvis, 2007; Paquette, Carbonneau, Dubeau, Bigras, & Tremblay, 2003;
Smith, Smees, & Pellegrini, 2004), it is often erroneously misinterpreted as aggression
(Flanders et al., 2009). In fact, even in the research literature rough and tumble play has
been confused and combined with aggression when the two behaviours are dened
(Smith et al., 2004). With this confusion, it is not surprising that professionals who
work with young children might confuse normal and healthy rough and tumble play
with the more concerning and rare occurrences of aggression.
*Corresponding author. Email: cdicar2@lsu.edu
2014 Taylor & Francis

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C.F. DiCarlo et al.

The goal of quality child care programmes is to enhance a childs social, emotional,
physical and language development and promote positive social relationships between
children and adults, which are essential to developing a childs sense of worth and
belonging (Ewing & Taylor, 2009; Hyson, Tomlinson, & Morris, 2009; Whitebook,
2003). However, the National Center for Early Development and Learning reports that
46% of kindergarten teachers identied more than half of the children in their classes
are lacking the self-regulatory skills and social competences to function productively
and learn in kindergarten (Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox, 2000; Webster-Stratton,
Reid, & Stoolmiller, 2008). This causes concern as a lack of self-regulation and social
competence puts children at risk for academic failure, aggression, peer rejection,
school dropout, delinquency and later criminality. Child care providers interactions
with young children help the child to shape his identity; therefore, it is critical that
teachers have a knowledgeable and accurate perception of childrens development,
including the difference between normal big body play and actual physical aggression.
During EC, children are highly inuenced by adults (Webster-Stratton et al., 2008).
Child care providers are inuential in helping a child shape his identity; thus, providing
accurate feedback is important for a childs self-perception. The perception of the child
care provider could affect the childs beliefs and ideas about himself either in a positive
or negative way (Owens & Ring, 2007). There is concern that misinterpretation of
rough and tumble play could lead to incorrectly labelling children as aggressive. If a
child is so labelled and treated as such, the child may believe he is aggressive, and
then he will become what he believes (Cooley, 1902). Indeed the teacherchild relationship is linked to the childs self-perception (Colwell & Lindsey, 2003). In addition, we
know that child care providers perception of childrens behaviours can impact the
manner in which they respond to children in their care (Dobbs & Arnold, 2009;
Dobbs, Arnold, & Doctoroff, 2004; Hagekull & Hammarberg, 2004). Children who
are considered aggressive are more likely to be disliked by teachers and receive less
academic or social instruction, support and positive feedback from teachers for appropriate behaviour (Arnold, Grifth, Ortiz, & Stowe, 1998; Arnold et al., 1999; Campbell
& Ewing, 1990; Carr, Taylor, & Robinson, 1991).
Teacher education and training has long been a measure of quality (Phillips, Mekos,
Scarr, McCartney, & Abbott-Shim, 2000, others); however, recent investigations of teachers education and classroom quality have shown the effects to be mixed (Early,
Maxwell et al., 2007). There appears that teacher education and training cannot serve
as a single indicator of quality. It is clear that teachers education may be linked to childrens outcomes on certain measures (such as math, Early, Bryant et al., 2006), developmental assessments (cognitive and language development (Clarke-Stewart, Vandell,
Burchinal, OBrien, & McCartney, 2002)). Other researchers have found that caregiver
training and education do predict observed global quality of child care (Burchinal,
Cryer, Clifford, & Howes, 2002). Therefore, while there is little doubt in the literature
that teacher training is an important measure of quality of care and education (Whitebrook, 2003), there are many remaining questions regarding the relationship between
teacher education and training and the quality of care and instruction provided.
One area in critical need of additional research is the relationship between teacher
training and education and judgements about aggression in children. Rough and tumble
play is an important type of play in the socialisation of young children because it
teaches children how to appropriately manage their emotions. Through rough and
tumble play, children learn how to conform their behaviour to others and to cultural
norms (McLin, 2003; Tannock, 2008). It is important that preschool teachers have

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Early Child Development and Care

an accurate perception of the normative rough and tumble play of the children in their
care and can distinguish normative developmental play with a more serious occurrence
of aggression. When rough and tumble play behaviour is incorrectly perceived by teachers as aggressive, the result could be a child inaccurately labelled as aggressive and
the subjection of labelled children to overly punitive responses. Over time these
responses may negatively impact childrens social competence and lead to problematic
behaviours. When rough and tumble play is perceived as aggression, preschool teachers
may intervene and stop the play (Jarvis, 2007), and deny children the opportunity to
practice these skills. For these reasons, it is imperative that caregivers have a strong
background in child development in order to make these important distinctions.
Boys are at a greater risk of being labelled as aggressive. The greatest reason for this
discrepancy is that boys are in general more active physically than girls (Finn, Johannsen, & Specker, 2002; Pellegrini & Smith, 1998). As the culture of schooling shifts to a
greater focus on academics, even within EC, skills such as self-control and communication or more valued than physical skills (Rosin, 2010). Young boys who are engaging
in running or wrestling as a part of normative development are at risk of being labelled
aggressive unless their parents, teachers and care providers have an accurate understanding of normative development. The concerns and mislabelling of aggression in
EC, particularly among boys, lead to the present work. Although a large body of
research has established a strong relationship between quality child care programmes
and the child care providers educational level (Barnett, 2003; Cunningham, Zibulsky,
& Callahan, 2009; Whitebook, 2003), little is known about how education level may
impact the child care providers perceived aggression in preschool-aged boys. In
light of the literature on the importance of child care providers education, this study
was exploratory in nature and looked at whether teachers education impacted the
amount of aggression they identied in preschool-aged boys play.
Method
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between child care providers perception of aggressive behaviour in preschool boys and the child care providers
level of education. The proposed study contributes to the body of knowledge related to
play, which has a developmental impact on young children. The data were collected
from EC teachers in two counties in a Southern State. The ethnic diversity of this particular sample was consistent with the demographics from the community.
Subjects and setting
Child care providers. The group of participants for the present study included 94 EC
child care providers employed at several community-based child care centres serving
preschool-aged children. Participating teachers were selected based on their participation in a continuing education course they were attending. Participants were
given the option of participating in the study prior to the beginning of their scheduled
training; informed consent was obtained. Demographic information that was collected on participating teachers included age, gender, ethnicity (Asian, American
indicant, African-American, Indian, Caucasian, Hispanic or other), number of years
of working in the child care eld, highest level of education (less than high school,
high school/General Equivalency Diploma (GED), Child Development Associate
(CDA) credential, associate degree in EC education, bachelors degree in EC

C.F. DiCarlo et al.

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education or graduate degree. If their degree was not in EC education, they were
asked to write in their degree). The mean age of the child care providers was 37
years (SD = 10.69, range 1863). One hundred per cent of the child care providers
were female and 71% were African-American, 22% Caucasian, 6% Latino and 1%
Asian (N = 94). Seventy-four per cent child care providers completed high school
as their highest degree (N = 70) or CDA (N = 7) and 26% had complete some level
of college education (associate degree in EC = 6, bachelors degree in EC = 6, bachelors degree non-EC = 6, masters degree in EC = 1). The participants viewed two
videos of boys playing and scored each tape on a separate data sheets, for 188
observations.

Measure
Child care providers attending training sessions within their community were asked to
score each of the two videotapes at the beginning of their training session. Each 10minute video included footage of preschool-aged boys engaging in typical outdoor
play at a child care centre. The participants were told to view each video and score
according to their own denition of appropriate play or aggression. Level of education was of interest to the present study. Specically, authors hypothesise that teachers denitions of aggression may vary based on their education level. Caregivers
use their self-identied denition/construct of aggression to make judgements about
child behaviour in their professional practice daily. Therefore, no formal denition
was used in this study. This should not be perceived as a confound, but central to
the primary research question. A code of non-occurrence was provided to help participants keep their place on the data sheet (see description above). A key box was
located in the upper right hand corner of the data sheet with the letters P, M, A,
which represented peer (included adults), material (blocks, balls, bikes etc.) and
alone. As the participants viewed the video and decided on the type of play, they
also indicated if the child played with peers, materials or alone by using a slash
mark to represent their responses.

Videos
Videos of the participants were recorded at their child care centre by the last author.
Both children were four-year-old, African-American males who attended preschool.
Teachers were given no instruction on their behaviour with the target child while
each video was being recorded. Target children were identied in each video by
the colour of the shirt they were wearing. Each 10-minute video was divided into
30 20-second intervals, which corresponded to the numbering/lettering on the data
sheet. A green caution light appeared on the videotape to indicate the beginning
of each 20-second interval and a stop sign appeared when that interval ended. In
addition, a 5-second pause was added to give participants time to mark their
responses before the next interval began. In minute (1), the segment on the videotape
read 1A (:00), 1B (:20) and 1C (:40). Participants scored their perception of
aggression continuously during the 10-minute video by noting if aggression was
present or not present (dichotomous) during each 20-second interval. Participants
worked independently and were told not to discuss their responses while viewing
the tapes.

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Early Child Development and Care

Master codes
Master codes for the videos were developed by the rst and last authors (see Justice,
Mashburn, Hamre, & Pianta, 2008). The master codes were established by two professionals with advanced degrees and experience in EC. One rater had a PhD in
early intervention and 20 years experience working with young children; the second
rater was a graduate student in child development who had 7 years experience
working with young children. The master coders were familiar with the literature on
rough and tumble play, and used the denition found in the literature (vigorous behaviours such as wrestling, grappling, kicking, tumbling and play ghting which appear
aggressive except for the playful framework (Flanders et al., 2009; Jarvis, 2007; Pellegrini, 1989, 1995; Pellegrini & Smith, 1998; Romano et al., 2005). Master codes
reported 37% observed aggression for the child in video 1 and 17% observed aggression for the child in video 2.
Interobserver reliability was calculated on an interval-by-interval basis measuring
the number of times the research assistant and primary researcher agreed or disagreed.
The formula used to calculate interobserver agreement was to divide the number of
agreements by the total number of agreements plus disagreements and multiply by
100 (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). For video 1, overall reliability was 85%
(80% for appropriate play, 81% for aggression and 93% for non-occurrence of play);
for video 2, overall reliability was 92% (86% for appropriate play 97% for aggression
and 93% for non-occurrence of play). An inter-rater reliability analysis using the Kappa
statistic was also performed to determine consistency among raters. The inter-rater
reliability for the raters was found to be Kappa = 0.85 (p < 0.001) for video 1 and
Kappa = 0.89 (p < 0.001) for video 2 describing very substantial agreement (Viera &
Garrett, 2005).

Statistical analyses
The goal of this study was to distinguish whether child care providers rated higher or
lower than the master coding of aggression based on whether the child care provider
had completed a college degree or not. In addition, the data were analysed to determine
if child care providers with a greater number of years in the child care eld rated the
videotapes differently than child care providers with less experience in the child care
eld. In both instances, the dependent variable (child care providers aggression
ratings) was binned using the master code percentages as the guide. Scores at or
below the master code percentage of identied aggression were considered low;
scores above the master code percentage of identied aggression were considered
high. Generally, logistic regression is used to describe relationships between a dichotomous dependent variable and categorical or continuous independent variables (Peng,
Lee, & Ingersoll, 2002; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007).

Results
Descriptives
Child care providers reported aggressive behaviour on average of 28% of the observation sessions (range, 663; SD = 13.28) for video 1 and 24% (range, 660; SD =
10.30) for video 2. Child care providers with college degrees reported less aggression
than those without college degrees. Compared to the maser codes, 59% of non-degreed

C.F. DiCarlo et al.

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caregivers identied higher aggression for video 1 and 77% for video 2, whereas 50%
and 69% of child care providers with college degrees identied higher aggression,
respectively. Similarly, child care providers working in the eld less than ve years
identied more aggression than those with more experience. Compared to the master
codes, newer caregivers identied higher aggression, 66% for video 1 and 77% for
video 2, contrasted with 28% and 56% of child care providers who had been
working for 510 years and 17% and 56% for child care providers with more than
10 years of experience in the eld.
Logistic regression
Therefore, a logistic regression analysis was performed on aggression rating as the
outcome and two predictors: Education and Years of Experience. A test of the full
model with two predictors against constant-only model was statistically signicant (2
= 8.021, df = 2, p = .018), suggesting that the two predicators used in this study helped
in identifying Aggressive Behaviours. Table 1 shows logistic regression coefcients,
Wald statistics, odds ratios and 95% condence intervals (CIs) for odds rations for
each predictor. The Wald statistic shows that both education level (x2(1) = 4.25,
p = .039) and the child care providers years of experience (x2(1) = 4.18, p = .041) reliably
predict identication of aggressive behaviours. For child care providers with higher education, the odds of reporting aggression in preschool-aged boys were decreased by three
units (95% CI, 1.058.48). Furthermore, child care providers with more years of experience had a one unit decrease in odds of reporting aggression (95% CI, 1.021.12). Child
care providers without college education are three times more likely to report aggressive
behaviour. In addition, child care providers with less years of experience working with
children are more likely to report aggressive behaviours.
Master codes and provider discrepancies
Child care providers identication of aggression by video and individual segment was
compared to the master codes by education category. Discrepancies between nondegreed providers and master codes for video 1 ranged from 4.8 to 77.1% (M =
30%) and for video 2 ranged from 2.4 to 78.3% (M = 20%). Discrepancies between
Table 1.

Logistic regression analysis of 94 caregivers aggression ratings.

(SE)

Walds 2

df

e
Odds Ratio

1.54 (.57)
1.10 (.53)
0.06 (.03)

7.419
4.250
4.184

1
1
1

.006
.039
.041

Predictor
Constant
Education
Years of Experience
Test
Overall model evaluations
Likelihood ratio test
Goodness-of-t test
Hosmer & Lemeshow

Note: R2L = .04, .08 (Cox & Snell), .11 (Nagelkerke).

95% CI for
odds ratio
Lower

Upper

0.21
2.99
1.06

1.05
1.02

8.48
1.12

df

8.02

.018

13.65

.091

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Early Child Development and Care

degreed caregivers and the master codes for video 1 ranged from 0 to 36.4 (M = 21%)
and for video 2 ranged from 0 to 18.2% (M = 6%).
Child care providers identication of aggression by video and individual segment
was compared to the master codes by years of experience category. Discrepancies
between caregivers with less than ve years of experience and master codes for
video 1 ranged from 2.6 to 76.3% (M = 30%) and for video 2 ranged from 0 to
78.9% (M = 20%). Discrepancies between caregivers with 510 years of experience
and the master codes for video 1 ranged from 0 to 63.6% (M = 27%) and for video 2
ranged from 0 to 0 73.7% (M = 17%). Discrepancies between caregivers with more
than 10 years of experience and the master codes for video 1 ranged from 0 to
67.6% (M = 25%) and for video 2 ranged from 0 to 61.8% (M = 15%).
Reliability by predictor variables
The intra-class correlation (ICC) assesses rating reliability by comparing the variability
of different ratings to the total variation across all ratings and subjects. Due to the
nding that child care providers education and years of experience predicted the
amount of aggression they perceived in the videoed childrens ICCs, two-way
random model of absolute agreement was calculated to look at reliability between caregivers rating based on education and experience. The ICCs for perceived aggression
for child care providers without a four-year degree was .75 and .62 for videos 1 and
2, respectively. The reliability for caregivers with a college degree was .76 for video
1 and .71 for video 2. ICCs for the two videos for child care providers with less than
ve years experience were .64 and .62; 510 years experience were .74 and .80
and more than 10 years experience .83 and .62. The ICCs describe good to excellent
reliability in child care providers identication of aggression by similar years of
experience and education level (Cicchetti, 1994; Hallgren, 2012).
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore whether there was a relationship between child
care providers level of education and their perception of aggression in preschool-aged
boys. The two major ndings of this exploratory study were that providers with more
education and experience working in the child care eld reported less aggression in preschool-aged boys and providers with similar experience and education showed high
levels of agreement in perception of the presence or absence of aggressive behaviours.
These ndings extend previous research which had established a relationship between
increased teacher education level and positive outcomes for young children (AbbottShim, Lambert, & McCarty, 2000; Sumsion, 2007; Whitebook, 2003) and increased
teaching experience and positive outcomes for young children (Dennis, 2009), to
include knowledge about the impact of education and experience on perceptions of
aggression in children. These ndings support continued research in the area of
increased education in teacher preparation and strategies to increase teacher retention,
as research suggests that both are associated with positive outcomes for young children.
In the present study, child care providers who had more education reported fewer
aggressive behaviour in the children depicted in the videotapes. Highly educated
child care providers are likely exposed to more coursework on child development;
and therefore more likely to have a better understanding of the distinction between
aggression vs. rough and tumble play. Field experiences are a requirement of every

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C.F. DiCarlo et al.

teacher training programme, making the linkage between concepts learned in the university classroom and the EC classroom more apparent. These educational experiences
likely help them form a more consistent denition of what behaviours are aggressive. In
light of the present ndings, further investigation of specic content that aids in the
differentiation of rough and tumble play vs. aggression is warranted.
Presently, most child care staff are not required to have this type of educational
background prior to entering the workforce. National requirements for employment
in child care are a high school diploma or equivalent. In addition, there are no federally
mandated requirements for continuing education for child care staff (United States
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014); with some states requiring as little as 12 clock
hours annually to maintain employment status (Louisiana Department of Social Services Bureau of Licensing, 2014). Recent efforts in many states, such as state-wide
quality rating systems, seek to increase the education levels of the child care worker.
Such efforts have the potential to support caregivers understanding and typical development in children leading to an increased accuracy of child care providers perception
of aggression in children.
This study also found that more experienced child care providers were more likely
to perceive fewer behaviours as aggression in young boys. The extant literature addressing experience and job performance and quality of care is decit. It is possible that
child care providers who have a disposition towards working with young children
are more likely to stay in the eld; however, caregivers who are not well suited to
working with young children may also be more likely to experience stress, and therefore leave the profession (Baumgartner & DiCarlo, 2013). Similar levels of experience
provide child care providers with a similar context and foundation to reference when
making developmental decision such as perceptions about aggression. Therefore,
these groups perceive not only similar frequencies of aggression but also similar behaviours as aggressive.
The impact of experience on teaching has some important possible implications for
practice. If more experienced teachers are more likely to have a more realistic view on
behaviour, this may also reect providers ability to implement developmentally appropriate practices and support self-regulation in children. However, if teachers are leaving
the eld, the result is that children have less exposure to seasoned providers who understand typical behaviour. In addition, fewer experienced teachers working the eld could
result in fewer models for novice child care providers.
It is clear from research that staff turnover is undesirable because it can directly
impact childrens development through loss of stability, consistency and continuity
(Whitebook, Howes, & Phillips, 1998). The turnover rate in child care is estimated
between 25% and 40% (Center for the Child care Workforce, 2004). Nationally,
child care workers earn less than $20,000 per year, which is commensurate with the
federal poverty level for a family of 4 (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2014). Stress has been suggested as the underlying culprit in high turnover among
child care providers. Stress factors in child care can include work conditions, child
factors and life stressors outside the workplace (Baumgartner, Carson, Apavaloaie, &
Tsouloupas, 2009; Schmitt & Todd, 1995). Child care providers who experience
high levels of stress are less likely to provide quality of care and sensitivity crucial
to childrens upbringing and development (Belsky et al., 2007; Helburn, 1995).
In addition to the impact of job stress on attrition rates, when this high stress is
coupled with limited education, it may be particularly detrimental as these child care
providers are more likely to misperceive aggression, and thus may be more likely to

Early Child Development and Care

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engage in punitive discipline. This is concerning because research has found that punitive discipline can affect childrens self-esteem, the development of self-regulatory
skills and the way the children are viewed by peers and other adults (Colman,
Hardy, Albert, Raffaelli, & Crockett, 2006). When child care providers use punitive
disciplinary practices, children are more likely to engage in externalising behaviours
(Colman et al., 2006). In other words, child care providers can contribute to childrens
aggressive behaviours. This is of particular importance in light of the ndings from the
present study, which suggest that child care providers with less education are misperceiving rough and tumble play as aggression. In these instances, child care providers
may be creating aggressive behaviour.
Limitations and future research
The present study was conducted in a limited geographic area in the south with a
majority African-American population. Future research should pull from a larger,
more diverse geographic area. All child care providers in the present study were
female; from this limited population, we cannot determine how the gender of the caregiver may impact interpretation of child behaviour. In addition, children depicted in the
videos were African-American and the majority of caregivers who rated the video were
also African-American. Future researchers may consider diversifying the ethnicity of
both the children studied and the caregiver raters.
Clinical signicance
There is evidence that high-quality preschool programmes better support the development of cognitive and social-emotional skills in children and may prevent conduct problems (Owens & Ring, 2007). Therefore, interventions that increase child care
providers training and higher education may decrease the number of children entering
kindergarten with aggression concerns. Therefore, it is recommended that the states
provide training classes to child care providers that specically address aggression in
young children.
In summary, the present study suggests that child care providers with a high school
education/GED perceived more aggression in preschool-aged boys as compared to
child care providers with higher levels of education. This suggests that child care providers with less education mislabel rough and tumble play as aggressive. Interventions
should be designed to encourage educational attainment among child care providers
who work in child care programmes. Training that specically addresses rough and
tumble play and the role it plays in young children socialisation skills is critical for
child care providers and the programmes where they are employed. In addition, child
care programmes should have policies and procedures that encourage child care providers to aspire to obtain higher education. The goal is to enhance the quality of life for
children, while providing them better opportunities to grow and develop into successful
and productive citizens.
Notes on contributors
Dr Cynthia F. DiCarlo is an associate professor in the School of Education in the College of
Human Sciences and Education at Louisiana State University. Her research focuses on facilitating behaviour change in educators to improve outcomes for young children.

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C.F. DiCarlo et al.

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Dr Jennifer Baumgartner is an associate professor in the School of Education in the College

of Human Sciences and Education at Louisiana State University. Her research examines issues
of inter-contextual continuity among childrens developmental contexts, specically early
care and the family and the connections between philosophy and practice among adults in
childrens lives.
Dr Carrie Ota is an assistant professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies in the
Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education at Weber State University. Her research focus
includes early care and education, early childhood education and child development.
Mrs. Charlene Jenkins is an early childhood educator and the owner of the Infant Development Center in Zachary, Louisiana.

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