Three early childhood teacher educators from different institutions engaged in a collaborative self-study to explore the role of empathy in preservice teacher professional development. The two-fold purpose of the study was to: (1) develop and refine their practices to build teacher candidates' empathy in their interactions with children, families,…

Given the widespread adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards in the United States, there is a need to study new models of professional development to prepare teachers to enact practice-based visions of science learning and to address problems of access to reach teachers nationwide. While studies of online professional development offer…

The Cycle of Inquiry (COI) is a tool for emergent curriculum planning and for professional development of early childhood teachers and teacher education students. The COI includes a sequence of five organizational forms connecting analysis of documentation data with intentional planning for long-term emergent inquiry inspired by the Reggio Emilia…

Over the past three years, the authors' team at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has been researching a professional development program in science, "Foundations of Science Literacy" ("FSL"), for preschool lead and assistant Head Start teachers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Year 1 was a pilot year, so it is the…

The purpose of this publication is to share models and case examples of the process of inclusive arts curriculum design and evaluation. The first section explains the conceptual and curriculum frameworks that were used in the analysis and generation of the featured case studies (i.e. Understanding by Design, Differentiated Instruction, and…

Between 1999 and 2003, the Western Massachusetts Writing Project experienced a series of changes that made it question whether it could survive as a writing project site. The convergence of retirement, unexpected death, and withdrawal of long-term financial support forced the existing leadership to develop a process to look deeply into the work of…

Compares two first-grade teachers' hands-on approaches to teach measurement concepts. One, a constructivist, allowed students to figure out the dimensions of a Mayflower ship outline; the other immediately showed kids how to use a yardstick to estimate a whale's dimensions. Although initially more confused, the first class got more out of their…