Children in Play, Story, and School

Imaginative play and story telling occupy key roles in children's psychological development and socialization. Bringing together leading contributors, this volume explores what play and story mean to young children, and how these vital aspects of development can best be supported in child care and educational settings. Vital connections are drawn between children's activities, their interpersonal relationships, and their emerging cognitive and affective capacities. Topics covered include promoting social play in the classroom, storytelling and literacy development, and the influences of early caregiving experiences on attachment and learning. Theoretical and methodological issues in these areas of research are also addressed, as well as social policy implications. The book is inspired by the work of Greta G. Fein, the pioneering teacher, researcher, and child care policymaker, who has contributed an integrative concluding chapter.

About the Author: Artin Göncü, PhD, is a professor in the department of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He received his doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Houston. Previously, he served as Coordinator of the graduate program in Early Childhood Education at UIC, as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Utah, and as a Research Associate and a preschool teacher at the Human Development Lab at the University of Houston. Widely published, Dr. Göncü is a board member of the Piaget Society and Center for Research on Child Culture at Ankara University, in Turkey. He serves on the editorial boards of American Educational Research Journal, Early Education and Development, and the Bogazici University Journal of Education.

Elisa L. Klein, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and the Institute for Child Study at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she is currently a Lilly/Center for Teaching Excellence Fellow. She received her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Klein was previously on the faculty of the Ohio State University, where she also directed the University's Center for Young Children for three years. She recently served as Visiting Scientist and Child Development Research Fellow in the Administration on Children, Youth and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she assisted in the development of the final report of the Head Start Family Child Care Demonstration project. The author of numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews, Dr. Klein has served on the editorial boards of Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Early Education and Development.