Developmentalism in Early Childhood and Middle Grades Education

In this book, the contributors challenge dominant discourses and practices in the fields of early childhood and middle grades education that are based on the last century's grand developmental theories.

Kyunghwa Lee is an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education at The University of Georgia. A former kindergarten teacher from Korea, Kyunghwa explores cultural psychology as an alternative developmental framework of the 20th century's grand developmental theories. She utilizes ethnography and cross-national research to examine various sociohistorical constraints that both support and hinder teaching and learning. Her work has been published in various journals, such as Early Childhood Education Journal, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Educational Technology Research and Development, International Journal of Early Childhood Education, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Journal of Early Childhood Research, and Journal of Research in Childhood Education. She has guest-edited (with Stacey Neuharth-Pritchett) a special issue of Early Child Development and Care, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder across Cultures: Development and Disability in Contexts.

Mark D. Vagle is an Assistant Professor of Middle Grades Education in the Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education at The University of Georgia. Before working in higher education, Mark taught in elementary and middle schools and was a middle school assistant principal. Mark received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His current research and teaching can be broadly described as a continual pursuit of the dynamic interaction (tension, struggle) between relational and technical dimensions of pedagogy, especially as such dimensions are lived in context and over time. To this end, Mark draws on critical perspectives and uses phenomenology in his research. Mark's work has been published or is in press in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education (volume 6), Research in Middle Level Education Online, National Reading Conference Yearbook, Education and Culture, and Pedagogies: An International Journal.