Discusses Maria Montessori's approach to educating and caring for young children, focusing on her early experiences with poor tenement children in 1907 and the development of the Montessori Method of exploratory, child-centered learning. Argues that children do not have an inner spiritual hunger but are themselves the essence of spirituality,…

Proposes a more dimensional, holistic, child- and action-oriented educational-psychological approach for working with gifted preschool children, based on experiences with the Hanover Project and findings that previous kindergarten educational reforms in Germany did not sufficiently recognize and promote gifted preschool children. Examines…

Expanding on previous collections, this book compiles 16 essays on pedagogical and child development issues stimulated by interaction with teachers, child caregivers, and early childhood teacher educators during the preceding 20 years. The essays were written in response and reaction to particular educational events or contexts that were…