Scaling-up a Vygotskian-based curriculum: Social-cultural aspects of implementation

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: CHATting Across the Pond: Implementing Vygotskian-Based ECE Curricula in the U.S. and Russian Federation (Table 4)

Abstract

The proposed presentation will focus on the successes and challenges of scaling up the implementation of a Vygotskian-based ECE curriculum Tools of the Mind. One of these challenges lies in the incongruence between the objectives of a curriculum embodying the principles of the cultural-historical theory and the current educational climate featuring content and pedagogy pushed down from the elementary school into preschool and kindergarten classrooms. The other challenge is associated with the evaluation methodology used in large scale studies that favors “teacher-proof” curricula. Presenters will discuss innovative ways of addressing these challenges and share a new participatory methodology the curriculum developers are currently using to evaluate the fidelity of implementation.

Authors

• Elena Bodrova, Tools of the Mind, Inc

• Deborah J. Leong, Tools of the Mind, Inc