I love this article. A new one I just had to share ( with anyone with access to online databases anyway)
Carpet-Time Democracy: Digital Photography and Social
Consciousness in the Early Childhood Classroom
STEPHANIE C. SERRIERE
Curriculum and Instruction, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Abstract:
Although much energy has been spent designing children’s books and curriculum to bring issues of diversity and acceptance into
classrooms, perhaps the most meaningful and relevant curricular materials only require a digital camera and a space for students to
talk about photos of their own classroom community, creating an organic and everyday curriculum. From over three years of research
in a preschool classroom, the researcher-author tells how she uses digital photography to allow students to examine and reimagine
their own social community. She revives the pedagogies of seminal social educators like Vivian Paley and Fannie Shaftel while offering
a photo methodology for researchers of children who are interested in better understanding children’s peer culture. As play is perhaps
the most important vehicle of social education, carving out a time and space in the school day for a reflective component with digital
photography can be an interesting and empowering way for children to examine social dilemmas and confront inequities.
Keywords: digital photography, democracy, early childhood, play, social consciousness
The Social Studies (2010) 101, 60–68
Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0037-7996 print
DOI: 10.1080/00377990903285481
