Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy: The Developmental-Interaction Approach (Early Childhood Education)

Reviews the history and philosophy of a classic approach to teaching, while emphasizing its continuing relevance for contemporary schooling.

Revisiting a Progressive Pedagogy reviews the history of the developmental-interactive approach, a formulation rooted in developmental psychology and educational practice, progressively informing educational thinking since the early-twentieth century. This conceptualization is identified with-but not restricted to-Bank Street College of Education. Examining the origins and evolution of the approach, the contributors assess its continued heuristic and practical value for classroom practice and teacher education in light of new ideas in social science and education, and indicate new directions.

The book describes and analyzes key assumptions, and assesses the compatibility of new theoretical approaches, focuses on historical precedents and current adaptations in classroom practice, and examines teacher education, giving close attention to the personal and professional development of teachers.

Contributors include Edna K. Shapiro, Nancy Nager, Margery B. Franklin, Laura M. W. Martin, Linda Levine, Salvatore Vascellaro, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Edith Gwathmey, Ann-Marie Mott, Nina Jaffe, Carol Lippman, Eva G. Haberman, Frank Pignatelli, Helen Freidus, Jonathan Silin, and Eileen Wasow.

Nancy Nager is a developmental psychologist on the Graduate Faculty and Edna K. Shapiro is Research Psychologist Emerita, Bank Street College of Education. Dr. Shapiro is coauthor (with Patricia Minuchin, Barbara Biber, and Herbert Zimiles) of The Psychological Impact of School Experience: A Comparative Study of Nine-Year-Old Children in Contrasting Schools, and coeditor (with Evelyn Weber) of Cognitive and Affective Growth: Developmental-Interaction.