For Immediate Release:

August 3, 2020

NAEYC Publishes New Curriculum Development Resource for Early Childhood Educators

Washington, D.C.-- The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) announces the publication of From Children’s Interests to Children’s Thinking: Using a Cycle of Inquiry to Plan Curriculum. 

Emergent curriculum arises from the things that fascinate children—what they see, what they wonder about, what they develop theories about. Exploring these elements with children and using their interests to drive curriculum can be challenging for teachers.

Written to assist teacher of children ages 3 through 5, this new book makes the process more tangible by

• Guiding you to observe and consider what children are thinking and wondering about
• Detailing how to use documentation forms to record and revisit your observations, interpretations, questions, and plans
• Providing strategies to support children’s inquiry and deepen thinking
• Illustrating how to identify early learning standards met and make children’s learning visible
• Following the process with real-life examples

Children’s Interests to Children’s Thinking will provide teachers confidence in craft effective emergent curriculum, energize their teaching and spark the curiosity and joy of the children they teach. 

Many thanks to these authors for offering a vision of the early childhood program as a research learning laboratory, a place where together, children and teachers share the intellectual joy of active, meaningful inquiry and the co-construction of knowledge. 

—Jeanne Goldhaber, Associate Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education, University of Vermont

Broderick and Hong flesh out the rigorous-and incredibly worthwhile-work that goes into inquiry-based teaching. They highlight the necessity of reflective practice and seeking the child’s perspective. Educators who have previously felt discouraged by the complexity of this work, or their own uncertainties with it, will find understanding here. 

—Jamie Solomon, Director, Scuola Creativa Preschool

About the authors:

JANE TINGLE BRODERICK

Jane Tingle Broderick, EdD, is a professor of Early Childhood Education at East Tennessee State University, where she co-coordinates the Early Childhood PhD Program and the Early Childhood Education Emergent Inquiry Certificate Program. She has taught in early childhood for more than 20 years.

SEONG BOCK HONG

Seong Bock Hong, EdD, is a professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate early childhood courses. She was the faculty director of the Early Childhood Education Center, a university lab school, from 2012 to 2017. She served as an interim director and documentarian at the Reggio-inspired Early Childhood Laboratory School during her doctoral studies at UMass, Amherst.

Email [email protected] for author interview availability.

Children’s Interests to Children’s Thinking is available for purchase in the NAEYC online store. For more information on this book and other resources, visit NAEYC.ORG/resources/pubs. 

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NAEYC is the foremost professional membership organization committed to transforming the lives of young children and delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning. NAEYC represents 60,000 early childhood educators who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children, birth through age 8. Learn more about NAEYC at www.NAEYC.org.