補助人文及社會科學研究圖書計畫規劃主題：幼兒教育、家庭教育與師資教育

Abstract

嬰幼兒階段是人一生中成長最為快速且可塑性最高的一段時期。近年來有關嬰幼兒研究蓬勃發展，已成為跨心理學、神經科學、生物、語言學、教育、社會等學門的重要研究領域。許多嬰幼兒發展的研究結果都證實嬰幼兒階段為人生發展的關鍵時期，此階段的照顧與教養品質攸關幼兒未來的發展與表現。 當今嬰幼兒發展研究，除了持續探討幼兒生理、認知、語言和社會情緒個別領域之發展歷程和變化外，更加重視情境(contexts)的影響，例如生活環境、家庭和同儕、學校、文化信念與經驗等。此外，不同因素的交互作用，例如基因與環境、大腦與發展、各發展領域（譬如，認知與情緒，語言與情緒），以及特殊幼兒、弱勢幼兒、不同文化族群幼兒之發展等也都是目前嬰幼兒發展研究領域關注的焦點。Individuals undergo remarkable changes during the early childhood years and the changes are never more rapid than in this period. To this day, the field of child development has advanced and broadened. It has become interdisciplinary, encompassing the fields of psychology, neuroscience, biology, linguistics, education, sociology, etc. Results of modern studies of child development across different disciplines have shown that care and education of children during the early years is essential for their development and performance in the future. Researchers in developmental science have been interested in progression and changes children undergo in several domains of development, i.e., perceptual, cognitive, language, social, and emotional. In this field there is growing interest in contributions of the contexts where children live, including physical environment, family, school, cultural beliefs and experiences, etc. Moreover, interplay of genes and environment, brain growth and development, intersections among domains of development (e.g., cognition and emotion, language and emotion), development of atypical or culturally diverse children are also the major concerns of contemporary research of child development.