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- Detailed Information
Beth Ferholt
Associate Professor
Early Childhood Education/Art Education
Location: 2306 James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5205
Fax: 718.951.4816
Email:
Beth Ferholt's areas of research broadly stated are development, learning and imagination. Her work builds upon the tradition of cultural-historical activity theories. Consistent foci of her publications include playworlds, a relatively new form of adult-child joint play in which adults actively enter into the fantasy play of young children as a means of promoting the development and quality of life of both adults and children; perezhivanie, an important psychological concept in efforts to overcome the separation of cognition and emotion in the social scientific study of learning and development; early childhood education in which children are understood as culture and knowledge creators; and methods for the study of play, perezhivanie and early childhood education. She leads the Brooklyn College-Jönköping University Student Exchange, mentoring Brooklyn College and Swedish teachers in training as they study abroad. She teaches the Early Childhood Play and Foundations courses.
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:
The relationship between emotion and cognition in play, learning and development (perezhivanie); early childhood education in which children are understood as culture and knowledge creators; play; the methodological project of challenging the divide between method and object in conventional social science.
Books and Publications
Ferholt, B. (2019). A Case Study of a New York City Elementary School's Adoption of the Playworld Activity. In M. Han & J. E. Johnson (Eds.), Play and Curriculum, Play and Culture Studies, Vol. 15, 11 (pp. 29-46). Maryland: Hamilton Books. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Ferholt, B., Nilsson, M., Lecusay, R. (2019). Preschool Teachers Being Alongside Young Children: The Development of Adults' Relational Competences in Playworlds. In Sophie Alcock and Niki Stobbs (Eds.): Rethinking Play as Pedagogy. Routledge Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
Ferholt, B., Nilsson, M., Lecusay, R. (2018). Adult and Child learning in Playworlds. In P. Smith & L. Roopnarine (Eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Play: Developmental and Disciplinary Perspective (pp. 511-527). Cambridge University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
Nilsson, M. & Lecusay, R., Alnervik, K. Ferholt, B. (2018). Iscensätta undervisning: Målrelationellt lärande i forskolan (Setting the Scene for Teaching: Goal-relational Learning in Preschool). Barn, 3-4, 109-126. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
Nilsson, M., Grankvist, A-K., Johansson, E. & Thure, J. Ferholt, B. (2018). Lek, lärande och lycka: Lekande och utforskande i forskolan (Play, learning and joy: Playing and exploring in preschool). Malmo: Gleerups. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2018
Nilsson, M., Ferholt, B., Lecusay, R. (2017). 'The Playing-Exploring Child': Re-conceptualizing the Relationship between Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 18(3), pp. 1-15. Los Angeles, London: SAGE Publications. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Ferholt, B. & Nilsson, M. (2016). Play: Aesthetics and the Ambiguity of Play in Early Childhood. In The
Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory (pp. 1-5). New York: Springer Publishing Company.
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
Ferholt, B. & Nilsson, M. (2016). Aesthetics of Play and Joint Playworlds. In T. Bruce, P. Hakkarainen and M. Bredikyte (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Early Childhood Play. Oxford: Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
Ferholt, B. & Nilsson, M. (2016). Perezhivanija as a means of creating the aesthetic form of consciousness. Mind, Culture, and Activity, Symposium on Perezhivanie, 25-36. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
Ferholt, B. & Rainio, A. P. (2016): Teacher support of student engagement in early childhood: embracing ambivalence through playworlds. Early Years, (Volume 36). (DOI:10.1080/09575146.2016.1141395 until hard copy is printed.) (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Ferholt, B., Nilsson, M., Jansson A., & Alnervik, K. (2016). Current Playworld Research in Sweden:
Rethinking the Role of Young Children and their Teachers in the Design and Execution of Early
Childhood Research. In J. M. Iorio & W. Parnell (Eds.), Disrupting Early Childhood Education Research: Imagining New Possibilities (pp. 117-138). New York: Routledge.
(Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
Davis, S., Ferholt, B., Grainger Clemson, H., Jansson, S. M. & Marjanovic-Shane, A. (Eds.) (2015). Dramatic Interactions in Education: Vygotskian and Sociocultural Approaches to Drama, Education and Research. London: Bloomsbury. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2015
Davis, S., Grainger Clemson, H., Ferholt, B., Jansson, S. M. & Marjanovic-Shane, A. (2015). Introduction: Vygotsky, Sociocultural Concepts and Drama in and for Education. In S. Davis, B. Ferholt, H. Grainger Clemson, S. M. Jansson, & A. Marjanovic-Shane (Eds.), Dramatic Interactions in Education: Vygotskian and Sociocultural Approaches to Drama, Education and Research (pp. 1-16). London: Bloomsbury. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Ferholt, B. (2015). Bakhtin for Preschool Teachers: A review of Introducing Dialogic Pedagogy: Provocations for the Early Years by E. Jayne White. Dialogic Pedagogy Journal. Vol. 3, R6-R10. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2015
Ferholt, B. (2015). Perezhivanie in Researching Playworlds: Applying the Concept of Perezhivanie in the Study of Play. In S. Davis, B. Ferholt, H. Grainger Clemson, S. M. Jansson & A. Marjanovic-Shane (Eds.), Dramatic Interactions in Education: Vygotskian and Sociocultural Approaches to Drama, Education and Research. (pp. 57-75). London: Bloomsbury. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Ferholt, B., Nilsson, M., Jansson A., & Alnervik, K. (2015). Creativity in Education: Play and Exploratory Learning. In T. Hansson (Ed.), Contemporary Approaches to Activity Theory: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Behavior (pp. 264-284). Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Nilsson, M., Ferholt, B. & Alnervik, K. (2015). Why Swedish Early Learning is So Much Better than Australia's. The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/au). Australia, United Kingdom, United States: The Conversation Media Group. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
Ferholt, B. & Nilsson, M. (2014). Vygotsky's theories of play, imagination and creativity in current practice: Gunilla Lindqvist's "creative pedagogy of play" in U. S. kindergartens and Swedish Reggio-Emilia inspired preschools. Perspectiva, 32:1, 919-950.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
Ferholt, B. (2014). A response to Eugene and Kiyo's dialogue-disagreement on Dialogic Pedagogy. Dialogic Pedagogy Journal. Vol. 2, 72-76. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
Hakkarainen, P. & Ferholt, B. (2014). Creative Imagination in Play-Worlds: Wonder-Full Early Childhood Education in Finland and the United States. In K. Egan, A. Cant & G. Judson (Eds.), Wonder-full Education: The Centrality of Wonder in Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum (pp. 203-218). New York: Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
Ferholt, B. (2012). Playworlds and Early Literary Arts Education. In C. Korn (Ed.), Young Children and the Arts: Nurturing Imagination and Creativity (pp. 141-154). New York: Information Age Publishing. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2012
Marjanovic-Shane, A., Ferholt, B., Miyazaki, K., Nilsson, M., Rainio, A. P., Pesic, M. & Beljanski Ristic, L. (2011). Playworlds: An Art of development. In C. Lobman & B. O'Neill (Eds.), Play and Culture. Play and Culture Studies, Vol. 11 (pp. 3-31). Maryland: University Press of America. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
Performing Vygotsky to Change the World: A review of Vygotsky at Work and Play by Lois Holzman. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 18: 3, 293-296. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
Ferholt, B. & Lecusay, R. (2010). 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: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2010
Ferholt, B. (2010). A multiperspectival analysis of creative imagining: Applying Vygotsky's method of literary analysis to a Playworld. In C. Connery, V. John-Steiner and A. Marjanovic-Shane (Eds.), Vygotsky and Creativity: A Cultural-Historical Approach to Play, Meaning-Making and the Arts (pp. 163-180). New York: Peter Lang. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
(2008). "Day Four: Documentary Film and Photographs; First presentation: Jennifer Mervyn's Metamorphosis with Beth Ferholt." In Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs) (Ed.), The Authentic Dissertation: Alternative Ways of Knowing, Research and Representation. New York: Routledge. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 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: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2005
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Fulbright Global Scholar Research Grant: The Aesthetics of Play: A Cross-Cultural Study of Playworlds in Japan and Sweden (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
PSC-CUNY Research Award (TRADB-46-480): A Study of Emotional-Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Revising the Timetable for the Emergence of Perezhivanie
(Grants and Fellowships) 2015
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship: A Playworld in a Reggio Emilia Inspired Swedish Preschool
(Grants and Fellowships) 2015
PI, University of Jönköping Research Grant: Playworld and Exploratory Learning in Preschool
(Grants and Fellowships) 2013
Riksbankens Jubileums Grant, Swedish Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation: The Creation of an International, Interdisciplinary Research Network for the Study of the Relationship of Play and Learning through Playworlds: A Response to an International Shift in Focus towards Learning in Preschools (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
PSC-CUNY Research Award (TRADB-43-78): The Contradiction between Agency and Control in the Classroom: The Significance of a Cross-Cultural Study of Emotional-Cognitive Development in Play (Grants and Fellowships) 2012
PSC-CUNY Research Award (TRADB-42-466): Supporting a Cross-Cultural Study of Emotional-Cognitive
Development in Play: Translation of Work from the Belgrade School of Creativity
(Grants and Fellowships) 2011
New Faculty Fund Award, Brooklyn College, CUNY and William Stewart Travel Award, CUNY: Playworld Research in San Diego, California (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Early Childhood Education built on play and exploration: A Meeting of the Playworld activity, and the Pedagogy of Listening and Exploration of Reggio Emilia. Luncheon to celebrate research carried out with support from the Tow Research Travel Fellowship. Brooklyn College, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Early Childhood Education, Universal PreKindergarten and Play Research (with Abby Kerlin). Park Slope Child Care Collective Informational Meeting. Park Slope Child Care Collective, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Reggio Emilia Influenced Preschools within Swedish EDUCARE and Head Start / Early Head Start. VNSNY Early Steps Family Center Professional Development Day. VNSNY Early Steps Family Center, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Early Childhood Education, Universal PreKindergarten and Play Research (with Abby Kerlin). Park Slope Child Care Collective Informational Meeting. Park Slope Child Care Collective, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Enhancing early childhood student engagement through embracing amibivalence in playworlds (with Anna Pauliina Rainio and Sonja Baumer). "New ways to teach and learn for student engagement" conference of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, Stanford University, Standford, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Piecing Together a Future for American Education: A Conversation about Reggio Emilia with Local Professors. Professor Panel Conference sponsored by NYC Encounters with Reggio Emilia in conjunction with the Wonder of Learning Exhibit. Stephen Wise Free Synagogue Early Childhood Center, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Play: Speaking education lingo AND your own language of teaching (with Liege R. Motta). New York City Association for the Education of Young Children, Annual Meeting, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Playworlds and Creativity in the Early Childhood Classroom, United States and Japan (with Kiyotaka Miyazaki). Professor Marjanovic-Shane's "Creative Arts Methods" class. Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Preschool Didactics from Within (with Monica Nilsson, Robert Lecusay and Karin Alnervik). The 25th EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association) Annual Conference: Innovation, Experimentation and Adventure in Early Childhood, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Reggio Emilia Influenced Preschools within Swedish EDUCARE and Art at the PSCCC. Park Slope Child Care Collective Professional Development Day. Park Slope Child Care Collective, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
The Pedagogy of Listening and Playworlds. New York City Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Membership Meeting. Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
The Pedagogy of Listening of the Reggio Emilia Preschools. Park Slope Child Care Collective Professional Development Day. Wonder of Learning Exhibit, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
The Wonder of Learning Exhibit and Collaboration between the BCECC and the HallonEtt Preschool in Jönköping, Sweden (with teacher Patrick Eckelmann and Director Lorraine Mondesir). Brooklyn College Day Care Center. Brooklyn College Day Care Center, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Toddlers and teachers in aesthetic communication (with Monica Nilsson, Robert Lecusay, Lina Mrak and Karin Alnervik). The 25th EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association) Annual Conference: Innovation, Experimentation and Adventure in Early Childhood, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Playworlds and Creativity in the Early Childhood Classroom (with Monica Nilsson). Professor Marjanovic-Shane's "Creative Arts Methods" class. Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Playworlds and Exploratory Learning: Preschool Didactics from the Inside (with Monica Nilsson and Anders Jansson). Professor Anna Stetsenko?s Human Development Colloquium. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Playworlds and Exploratory Learning: The Present Moment and Co-existence in Preschool Didactics (with Monica Nilsson and Anders Jansson). Professor Kenneth Tobin?s Science Educators and Science Education Research Study Group. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Playworlds and Reggio Emilia-inspired Swedish preschool pedagogy: Imaginative education in preschool project work (with Monica Nilsson, Anders Jansson and Karin Alnervik). Imaginative Education Research Group, Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
They Ask, Should We Tell?: A Discussion on disclosure in the classroom (panel with Wayne Reed, Rosamond King, Mobina Hashmi and Matthew Harrick). Brooklyn College Faculty Day, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
What Can Maple Street Preschool Learn from Swedish EDUCARE? Maple Street Preschool Professional Development Day. Maple Street Preschool, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
'In Order to Teach You I Must Know You': Multicultural Early Childhood Education and Social Justice, A Brooklyn Perspective (with Monica Nilsson). School of Communication and Education Welcoming Retreat, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Adult and child development in the zone of proximal development: Socratic dialogue in a Playworld. Cultural Historical Activity Theory graduate class and seminar in the School of Education. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Analyzing Adult-Child Interaction in Playworlds (with Anna Rainio). Teacher Education Data Analysis Seminar. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Film-Play: A Synthetic-Analytic Method for the Study of Perezhivanie in Playworlds. Stockholm Stadsteater "Meeting of Art and Science" Seminar and Workshop. Stockholm Stadsteater, Stockholm, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Imagination and realistic thinking: The Relationship between play and exploratory learning (with Monica Nilsson, Anders Jansson and Karin Alnervik). International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, 6th Nordic Conference, Kristianstad, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Martin Buber and Relational Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education and School-age Educare (Afterschool Education). Social Relations, Conflict Handling and Leadership class in the Preschool Didactics and School-Age EDUCARE Programs. Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Muliculturalism and Early Childhood Education. Preschool Education Platform.
Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Narrative, play and semiotic work (with Monica Nilsson, Anders Jansson and Karin Alnervik). International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, 6th Nordic Conference, Kristianstad, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Perezhivanie and Agency in Playworlds. Research Group of Educational Psychology in the Department of Teacher Education. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Play, Imagination and Language Activities: A Sociocultural (Vygotskian) Perspective. Language and Communication class in the Preschool Didactics Program. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds and Exploratory Learning in Preschools (with Monica Nilsson and Anders Jansson). Annual Meeting of the Governing Board. Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds and Exploratory Learning in Preschools (with Monica Nilsson). Preschool Education Platform. Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds and Exploratory Learning: Preschool Didactics from the Inside (with Monica Nilsson). Preschool Didactics Platform. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds and Licketyspit. North Edinburgh Arts "Licketyspit: Transforming Lives, the Possibilities of Theater" Symposium. North Edinburgh Arts Center, Edinburgh, Scotland. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds and the Creation of Adult Communities of Play in the Early Childhood Classroom (with Monica Nilsson). Preschool Didactics Platform (colloquium). Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Playworlds as transformative learning process. International Drama/Theater Education Association, 8th Drama and Education World Congress, Paris, France. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Perezhivanie and Playworlds." 7th International Drama in Education Research Institute (IDIERI). Limerick, Ireland, July 10-12. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Dialogic pedagogy and the "oppression of readers by texts." "Mini-Bakhtinian Conference in Education:
Promises and Challenges of Dialogic Pedagogy" presented by the School of Education of the University of Delaware, Newark, DE. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Learning from Finnish Educational Practices: Finnish Practices of Resistance to Results-Based Testing and Recreating a Finnish Pedagogy of Creative Play in the U.S. (with Susanna Hannus). Lecture presented by the Brooklyn College Department of Early Childhood Education and Art Education and the Graduate Early Childhood Club. Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Playworlds and Creativity in the Early Childhood Classroom. Professor Marjanovic-Shane's "Creative Arts Methods" class. Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
With liberty and justice for all? Including LGBTQ voices in democratic practice
(Dragowski, E.A., Elizalde-Utnick, E., Ferholt, B., Jiesamfoek, H., Murrow, S.E.,
Reed, W., Rubinson, F., & Scharrón-del Río, M.). A GLARE workshop at Brooklyn College,
Brooklyn, NY.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Playworlds -- An art of development (with Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Kiyotaka Miyazaki, Monica Nilsson, Anna Pauliina Rainio, Ljubica Beljanski-Ristic, Pentti Hakkarainen, Mirjana Pesic). American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Swedish pedagogies that challenge our current dichotomy between literacy and arts education. Brooklyn College Faculty Day, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Teacher engagement (round table). City University of New York Education Conference, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
THE CONSTANT or "Everything else lives in its light": Bringing the "whole adult" into the classroom (Part 1 -- An Overview). American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
THE CONSTANT or "Everything else lives in its light": Bringing the "whole adult" into the classroom (Part 2 -- A Fine-grained analysis). International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, Third International Congress, Rome, Italy. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
The Development of Cognition, Emotion, Imagination and Creativity As Made Visible through Adult-Child Joint Play: Perezhivanie through Playworlds. Lecture presented by the University of Stockholm. University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
The Development of Cognition, Emotion, Imagination and Creativity As Made Visible through Adult-Child Joint Play: Perezhivanie through Playworlds. Lecture presented by the University of Umea. University of Umea, Umea, Sweden. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
With liberty and justice for all? Including LGBTQ voices in democratic practice (Reed, W., Scharrón-del Río, M.R., Rubinson, F., McCabe, P., Murrow, S., Dragowski, E.A., O'Neill, B., Ferholt, B., Jiesamfoek, H., Elizalde-Utnick, G., Meagher, M., Mazzarella, N., Davis, R.L.) (workshop). National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER), Eleventh Annual Conference, Hartford, CT. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"THE CONSTANT" or "Everything else lives in its light?: Bringing the "whole adult" into the classroom. "Love and Education" conference of the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. (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. Professor Kenneth Tobin's Science Educators and Science Education Research Study Group. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
A Synthetic-analytic method for the study of perezhivanie: The Application of Vygotsky's method of literary analysis to playworlds. American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Adult and child development in the zone of proximal development: Socratic dialogue in a Playworld. Cultural Historical Activity Theory Lecture collected by XMCA, the online discussion group of Mind, Culture, and Activity. Used in Preschool Didactics and Education classes in Stockholm and Tokyo (2010-present) (https://vimeo.com/15011909). (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Cultural historical understanding of play (with Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Carrie Lobman and Tony Perone). Association for the Study of Play, Annual International Conference, and American Association for the Child?s Right to Play, Anniversary Conference, Atlanta, GA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Desegregating Cognition and Emotion in the Study of Development and Learning: Perezhivanie through Playworlds. Professor Kenneth Tobin's Science Educators and Science Education Research Study Group. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Integrating the performing and visual arts into teacher preparation: Expanding imaginative thinking (with Barbara O'Neill, Jacqueline Hollander, Lisa Novemsky and Gale Synnott). East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, Performing the World International Conference, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Marketing Project Safe Zone at Brooklyn College (with Florence Rubinson, Paul McCabe, Eliza Dragowski) (round table). Brooklyn College Faculty Day, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Performing data analysis: Revitalizing emotional engagement of researchers through film-play. East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, Performing the World International Conference, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Playworlds: Exploring the Complex Dynamics between Cognition, Emotion, Imagination and Creativity through Adult-Child Joint Play (poster). Brooklyn College Faculty Day, Brooklyn, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Taping and talking about playworlds (with Ana Marjanovic-Shane, Kiyotaka Miyazaki, Monica Nilsson and Anna Pauliina Rainio), Annual Ethnography in Education Research Forum, Philadelphia, PA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Two methods for the study of emotional engagement in a classroom: Playworlds themselves, and their analysis through art. American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Multiperspectival methods in cultural historical activity theory: The Fifth Dimension and Playworlds (second author with Robert Lecusay), XXIX International Congress of Psychology, Berlin, Germany. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Play pedagogy and real life problems: What Playworlds have to teach school-age children about life (second author with Sonja Baumer), Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Temporally double-sided engagement in a Playworld: Virginia Woolf's 'Life stand still here,' Second Congress of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, San Diego, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Adult-child joint play in Gunilla Lindqvist's creative pedagogy of play: Glimpsing the future through a Playworld, Annual Meeting of the Imaginative Education Research Group, Vancouver, Canada. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
From play to art: From experience to insight ? Transformations of the relationships (an interactive workshop with Anna Marjanovic-Shane and Ljubica Beljanski-Ristic), Joint Conference of the International Play Association/USA and Association for the Study of Play, Rochester, NY. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
A literary analysis of a Playworld: When a book comes to life, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
Adult involvement in the US instantiation of the Playworld practice: Theorizing play through the study of adult-child joint play, Japanese and US Experiences with Informal Learning Environments: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Learning and Development through Art and Play, San Diego, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006
Innovative uses of video ethnography in pedagogical research: Moving beyond interpretive film practice (first author with Robert Lecusay and Sonja Baumer), First Congress of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, Seville, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
Learning beyond the classroom: The US instantiation of the Playworld practice, Reflections on Education and Social Justice: The Second Conference Celebrating Swarthmore's Program in Education, Swarthmore, PA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
Playworld as a tool for supporting children?s self-understandings (second author with Robert Lecusay, Sonja Baumer and Tiger Rowan), First Congress of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, Seville, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
Understanding adult-child relations within play pedagogy: Adult perezhivaniye in the Playworld educational practice (first author with Robert Lecusay and Sonja Baumer), First Congress of the International Society for Cultural and Activity Research, Seville, Spain. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2005
Playworlds: A Transitory activity that combines literature, play, drama and philosophical dialogue (first author with Anna Rainio), Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
The Playworld of Baba Yaga: A Pilot study of a narrative-based early childhood educational practice (second author with Sonja Baumer and Monica Nilsson), First International Workshop on Activity Theory Based Practical Methods for IT Design in conjunction with The Third Nordic Conference on Cultural and Activity Research, Copenhagen, Denmark. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004
Other Professional Activities
Organize an ongoing Sweden-NYC Early Childhood Education lecture series for BC students and NYC teachers: 'The Magic of Language' by Gunilla Dahlberg, 2015; 'Brooklyn to Jönköping: Continuing the Conversation about Early Childhood and Art Education: A Presentation by Three Students Who Participated in the Brooklyn College Department of Early Childhood and Art Education Swedish Exchange Program' by Rosie Antar, Rachel Vining and Marisa Wallin, 2015; 'From Italy to Sweden to New York City: Pedagogical Documentation as a Tool for Transformation in Early Childhood Education' by Karin Alnervik, 2014; 'Universal Preschool in Sweden: Inspiration for Progressive Early Childhood Education' by Monica Nilsson, Jeannette Thure, Elin Johansson and Anna-Karin Grandqvist, 2014. 2016
Conference Organizer: The 2016 International Conference of the Association for the Study of Play (TASP) and the American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPA/USA), Rutgers University, New Jersey, March 16-19, 2016. 2015
Conference Organizer: An International Response to the Increasing Focus on Learning at the Expense of Play in Early Childhood Education: Introducing Brooklyn Early Childhood Educators to three Swedish, Reggio Emilia Inspired Preschools, an international conference for early childhood teachers, administrators and teachers in training, held at the School of Communication and Education, Jönköping University, Sweden, July 3-5, 2013. 2013
Conference Organizer: The Creation of an International, Interdisciplinary Research Network for the Study of the Relationship of Play and Learning through Playworlds: A Response to an International Shift in Focus towards Learning in Preschools, an international conference for scholars of play and practitioners involved in research within the field, held at the School of Communication and Education, Jönköping University, Sweden, November 11-14, 2013. 2013
Conference Organizer: Japanese and U.S. Experiences with Informal Learning Environments: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Learning and Development through Art and Play, an international conference for play scholars, held at the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, University of California, San Diego, November 4-10, 2006. 2006
