By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Looking at the photo below, that my cousin sent me recently, I found myself thinking about the past and my early outdoor play and learning experiences. I remember as a very young child having great times playing outside without structure and without supervision – making mud pies, playing in the … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. As I child I remember playing with my mother’s button collection, dipping my hand in, smooshing them about, dumping them on the floor of my bedroom and then playing for hours. Sometimes, I counted them, or sorted them, but I also remember creating elaborate stories with the buttons representing different … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. There are many perspectives on philosophies and theories and how they should guide early learning practice. Program models and approaches have been been influenced by historical, contemporary, and postmodern views of children, families, and learning. The many program models and approaches in practice in the early learning world are complex in … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have written about interests in an earlier blog post. I find interest-based teaching and learning to be so interesting! My interest propels me to think deeply and explore resources and ideas about interests. While some may think that interest-based education is a new concept, it is firmly rooted in the past, as … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. The worksheet debate rages on! Even with research and alternatives that are play-based and hands-on, their use is still being defended. The fact is worksheets are not developmentally appropriate for preschool and kindergarten. I hadn’t expected the last blog post I wrote on worksheets to be shared more widely than any … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. After three decades of fascination with all things early childhood education, I still wonder where the future path will lead? What will the the field of early childhood education look like 25 years from now? Morrison (2004) asked that question over a decade ago and made some predictions including a move … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. A year ago I wrote a blog post about the volunteer work I was doing with the York Region Nature Collaborative and I liken it to a dream. Last week at the Rhythm of Learning in Nature #Rhythm2015 dreams were realized, slightly altered, but nonetheless meaningful. I am so grateful for those 20+ … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have been reading a lot about tinkering lately. Tinkering is about hands-on experiences, learning from failures, and unstructured time to explore and invent. And through the processes of exploration and invention lies the potential for innovation. When this image appeared on my newsfeed recently, I thought back to the theorist that most influenced my practice as an … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have written before about coming to terms to terms and I find myself still grappling with all the buzzwords popping up in my news feeds on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. As another semester approaches and once again I find myself supporting early childhood education degree students in their field practicum I am … Continue reading
By Diane Kashin and Cindy Green. Cindy and I go way back to the early nineties. As colleagues who became friends and later critical friends, we share a similar passion for anything related to early childhood education curriculum. We also, over the years, have felt strongly about supporting our community by sitting on committees, volunteering on … Continue reading
Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research 