Spiritually Centered Education and “Self That Teaches”: Early Educators’ Reflections on the Community Garden Project

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Examining Teacher Research and Classroom Practice

Abstract

This project focuses on a community garden project in a small Midwestern town with preschoolers that seeks to foster connection to people in their community and each other. Three research questions guiding this study: 1) how does this project align with spiritually centered education as described by Dillard (2006) and Palmer (1998/2007)? 2) Who is the “self that teaches” both prior to and as a result of the project, as described by Palmer (1998/2007)? 3) How did this project impact the educators’ views of cultural diversity in the curriculum? The significance of this study is to add to the early childhood literature a view of pedagogy through a spiritual lens identifying a connection between teacher’s biographies and choices they make.

Author

• Deborah Justice Zurmehly, The Ohio State University