That Early Childhood Nerd

NERD_0354 "Fake Play" in Preschool

Can play in preschool be "fake?" In this episode, host Heather Bernt-Santy is joined by Gemma Medina, Bethany Corrie and Stacy Benge to discuss the article "Vygotskian Analysis of Fake Play in Preschools: What it is and How to Distinguish it From Real Play" by Elena Yudina and published in the American Journal of Play.
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NERD_0353 Teacher Preparation in "Don't Say Gay" Times

It's time for another round of Nerd Study Hall, where we record a series of episodes discussing research articles connected to working with young children and their families. In this episode, host Heather Bernt-Santy is joined by Mike Huber and Lizz Nolasco to dissect and connect ideas from a paper titled "Preparing democratic early childhood teachers in Don't Say Gay Times: How course readings fall short," written by Patricia M. Cooper and Erin M. Casey and published in October 2023 for the Journal for Early Childhood Teacher Education.
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NERD_0352 Risky Play and Mental Health with Author Frances Carlson

In what may be the first ever Nerd episode that starts with a quote from a LinkedIn post, author Frances Carlson joins Heather to unpack her idea that, "Since anxiety is a by-product of an aversion to risk, and young children are suffering from increasing amounts of anxiety, does it not makes sense that we intentionally plan for and cultivate a healthy amount of risk in their play, especially in their rowdy body play? We have to provide chances to climb up and down, jump off, swing around, navigate uneven surfaces, and hang from a variety of acceptable heights."
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NERD_0351 Anti Ableist Play

This episode was originally recorded to be part of a "Nerd Con 2" virtual conference....and then Nerd Con 2 didn't happen. The good news is you get it as a podcast now! Listen in as Mike Huber and Kisa Marx dig into the idea of supporting play for ALL children, really ALL children, in authentic ways.
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NERD_0350 Wild Child!

It's the 350th episode of That Early Childhood Nerd! To celebrate, host Heather Bernt-Santy invited listeners to submit a quote that they would like to come on the show and talk about...and here it is!
Please welcome listeners Gemma Medina and Valley Varma to the show!
The quote: "They caught all the wild children and put them in zoos. They made them do sums and wear sensible shoes. They put them to bed at the wrong time of day and made them sit still when they wanted to play," from the book/poem Wild Child by Jeanne Willis.
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NERD_0349 The Academic Pushdown Harms Children AND Teachers

In the fall of 2024, IPA-USA (the American Association for the Child's Right to Play) celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing an extensive collection of white papers on play topics across the lifespan.
Host Heather Bernt-Santy contributed one of the papers. In this episode, Carol Garboden Murray interviews Heather about her white paper on the history and harm of the academic pushdown phenomenon in early childhood, and her recommendations for future efforts to combat it. 
Find the collection here: https://ipausa.org/whitepaper/
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NERD_0348 Ensuring Every Child Can Thrive

In the fall of 2024, IPA-USA (the American Association for the Child's Right to Play) celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing an extensive collection of white papers on play topics across the lifespan. 
In this episode, Heather Bernt-Santy interviews Kisa Marx and Emily Clark about their white paper, "Redefining Basic Needs: Eliminating Systemic Barriers to Ensure Every Child Can Thrive." 
Find the collection here: https://ipausa.org/whitepaper/
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
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NERD_0347 Who Gets to Be Neutral? Social Justice in ECE

Dr. Jamie Cho, an assistant teaching professor of justice in early learning at the University of Washington and Ninderjit Gill, tenured early childhood education faculty at North Seattle College, join host Heather Bernt-Santy to discuss their article, "Who Gets to Be Neutral? The Respectability Politics of Leading for Educational Justice." 
Find the article here: https://hub.exchangepress.com/articles-on-demand/37114/
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
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NERD_0346 When Quality Becomes a Dollar Sign

Emily Clark, aka "EarlyEdEm" on instagram, has some thoughts to share about the impact of trying to make a profit off of attempts to assess quality in early childhood settings. Can true quality be commodified? Do attempts to make money off of quality child care fit with what research tells us are indicators of quality? We don't think so. 
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NERD_0345 When Conversations About Quality Erase the Child

In the third episode of this series on "quality" in early care and education, play advocate Kisa Marx joins host Heather Bernt-Santy for an important conversation about how too often, our standards for quality do not center the child. As part of the conversation, they discuss Heather's decision to reject the industry standard descriptor  "developmentally appropriate" in favor of more child-centering terms like "developmentally informed" and "developmentally responsive."
Want to support the show and help keep it ad free? You can make a one time donation or become a member to get access to more TECN content at "Buy Me a Coffee:"
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