A recent study showed that less than 50 forest kindergartens or nature preschools were in operation in 2012, but as of 2017, over 250 such schools have emerged in 43 states in the United States, with estimations for continuous growth over the next decade (NAAEE, 2017). While nature-based education programs are gaining popularity in light of recent…

The articles in this issue of "New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development" nicely summarize recent findings about creativity and development. This commentary underscores some of the key ideas and puts them into a larger context (i.e., the corpus of creativity research). It pinpoints areas of agreement (e.g., the need to take…

Montessori education has a long history, but its recent growth in American public schools has led to increased interest in research efforts, particularly in exploring the potential of the Montessori experience to moderate the effects of poverty and in gathering data to evaluate public investment in Montessori schools. To assist research efforts,…

There are many myths about young children based on the definition of creativity as an innate capacity for openness to experience. This definition of creativity as a personality trait or attitude (creativity as expressiveness) has little relationship to creativity as the making of original and socially valuable products. Studies of children's art…