Education:
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego - 2009 (Communication)
M.S., Hunter College (CUNY) - 2002 (Education/Reading Education)
B.A., Swarthmore College - 1993 (English Literature)
Areas of Expertise:
Literacy, play, imagination and creativity.
Books and Publications
"Playworlds and Early Literary Arts Education." Young Children and the Arts: Nurturing Imagination and Creativity. Ed. Carol Korn. New York: Information Age Publishing. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2012
Hakkarainen, Pentti and Beth Ferholt. "Creative Imagination in Playworlds: Wonder-Full Early Childhood Education in Finland and the U.S." Wonder-full Education. Ed. Kieran Egan. New York: Routledge. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2012
Ferholt, Beth, Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Kiyotaka Miyazaki, Monica Nilsson, Anna Pauliina Rainio, Mirjana Pesic and Ljubica Beljanski-Risti. "Playworlds: An Art of Development." Play and Culture. Eds. Carrie Lobman and Barbara O'Neill. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2011
Review of Vygotsky at Work and Play, by Lois Holzman: "Performing Vygotsky to Change the World." Mind, Culture, and Activity. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
"A Multiperspectival Analysis of Creative Imagining: Applying Vygotsky's Method of Literary Analysis to a Playworld." Vygotsky and Creativity: A Cultural-Historical Approach to Play, Meaning-Making and the Arts. Eds. Cathrene Connery, Vera John-Steiner and Ana Marjanovic-Shane. New York: Peter Lang. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, and Robert Lecusay. "Adult and Child Development in the Zone of Proximal Development: Socratic Dialogue in a Playworld." Mind, Culture, and Activity 17:1: 59-83. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2010
"Day Four: Documentary Film and Photographs; First presentation: Jennifer Mervyn's Metamorphosis with Beth Ferholt." Four Arrows. Ed. Don Trent Jacobs.
The Authentic Dissertation: Alternative Ways of Knowing, Research and Representation. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2008
Ferholt, Beth, Sonja Baumer and Robert Lecusay. "Promoting Narrative Competence Through Adult-child Joint Pretense: Lessons From the Scandinavian Educational Practice of Playworld." Cognitive Development 20:4: 576-90. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2005
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Award from the University of Jönköping (Sweden), to engage in a two-year international study of play and learning. (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Perezhivanie and Playworlds." 7th International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI). Limerick, Ireland, July 10-12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"The Development of Cognition, Emotion, Imagination and Creativity as Made Visible Through Adult-Child Joint Play: Perezhivanie Through Playworlds." University of Umea. Umea, Sweden, March 7; Stockholm, March 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"A Synthetic-Analytic Method for the Study of Perezhivanie: The Application of Vygotsky's Method of Literary Analysis to Playworlds." Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, April 30-May 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"A Synthetic-Analytic Method for the Study of Perezhivanie: The Application of Vygotsky's Method of Literary Analysis to Playworlds." Kenneth Tobin's USERS-S Science Educators and Science Education Research Study Group. CUNY Graduate Center. New York, Dec. 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Adult and Child Development in the Zone of Proximal Development: Socratic Dialogue in a Playworld." Cultural Historical Activity Theory Lectures collected by XMCA, the online discussion group of Mind, Culture, and Activity, posted to vimeo Sept. 16. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Desegregating Cognition and Emotion in the Study of Development and Learning: Perezhivanie Through Playworlds." Kenneth Tobin's USERS-S Science Educators and Science Education Research Study Group. CUNY Graduate Center. New York, Nov. 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Performing Data Analysis: Revitalizing Emotional Engagement of Researchers Through Film-Play." Performing the World: International Conference of the East Side Institute for Group and Short-Term Psychotherapy. Sept. 30-Oct. 3. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"Playworlds: Exploring the Complex Dynamics Between Cognition, Emotion, Imagination and Creativity Through Adult-Child Joint Play" poster. Faculty Day Conference. Brooklyn College. May 25. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"THE CONSTANT or 'Everything Else Lives in Its Light?': Bringing the "Whole Adult" Into the Classroom." Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, April 8-12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"THE CONSTANT or 'Everything Else Lives in Its Light?': Bringing the "Whole Adult" Into the Classroom." The Love and Education Conference, sponsored by the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, June 4. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Carrie Lobman and Tony Perone. "Cultural Historical Understanding of Play." Annual International Conference of the Association for the Study of Play (TASP) and Anniversary Conference of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPA/USA). Atlanta, March 10-13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Kiyotaka Miyazaki, Monica Nilsson and Anna Pauliina Rainio. "Taping and Talking About Playworlds." Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum. Philadelphia, Feb. 26-27. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Kiyotaka Miyazaki, Monica Nilsson, Anna Pauliina Rainio, Ljubica Beljanski-Ristic, Pentti Hakkarainen, Mirjana Pe?ic. "Playworlds -- An Art of Development." Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, April 8-12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, Barbara O'Neill, Jacqueline Hollander, Lisa Novemsky and Gale Synnott. "Integrating the Performing and Visual Arts Into Teacher Preparation: Expanding Imaginative Thinking." Performing the World: International Conference of the East Side Institute for Group and Short-Term Psychotherapy. Sept. 30-Oct. 3.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Ferholt, Beth, Florence Rubinson, Paul McCabe, and Eliza Dragowski. "Marketing Project Safe Zone at Brooklyn College" roundtable. Faculty Day Conference. Brooklyn College, May 25. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
