We’re Not in Reggio Emilia Anymore: Kathy and Ro’s Translation Project

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation / Common Core / Creativity / High-stakes Testing / Innovation / Kathy Hirsh-Pasek / Kindergarten / Kyung Hee Kim / Language Development / Literacy / No Child Left Behind / Pearson / Personalized Learning / Play / Progressive Education / Race to the Top / Reggio Emilia / Reviews / Roberta Michnick Golinkoff / Standards and Assessment / Writing Leave a comment

Play, the primary engine of human development, is vanishing.  Melvin Konner, an anthropologist and neuroscientist, regards it as the central paradox of evolutionary biology, combining great energy and risk for an activity that seems pointless. But pointless it’s not. The positive emotions evoked by interactions, physical exercise, and mastery of …

Learning Together: Vygotsky and the Framers of American Democracy

Child Development / Education Reform / Educational Equity / Preschool / Reggio Emilia / Reviews / Social constructivism / Writing One Comment

How can you resist a book that links Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism with the Framers’ vision for American democracy?  I couldn’t. When I first looked at Learning Together: The Law, Politics, Economics, Pedagogy, and Neuroscience of Early Childhood Education, I nearly ran in the other direction. I’m married to …