Childhood Regained: An Interdisciplinary Conference

The Following conference will be very interesting especially for those who are interested in the early childhood arts education.

Childhood Regained: An Interdisciplinary Conference
Organized by The Art and Design Education Department at Pratt Institute with support from the Pumpkin and Heimbold Foundations and the Pratt Institute.

Monday, March 12 & Tuesday, March 13 2007; 8:30am to 5pm each day.

The idea of this conference is to begin with the child in order to create a generative, expansive place to consider the questions:
Who is the child?
What do we know about childhood today?
What do we need to know?
How can we know it?

If we were to explore just a few of the many dimensions of childhood; record and consider our observations--what might schooling and its curriculum look like? What would need to change? How well does the No Child Left Behind legislation serve this emerging portrait of the child in today’s society? What new possibilities would education offer the child? What role would the teacher play?

To register online: http://my.pratt.edu and click on Instant Enrollment. In the box labeled Course Code Number, enter the code ADMIN 001 257 or enter key words: conference, and select the appropriate course number, then click SUBMIT. Enter the required contact information.
http://my.pratt.edu
To register by phone: please call 718 636 3637.
Conference fee: $250 per person.
Lunch will be provided.

Schedule
MARCH 12
Introduction: Making Childhood Visible, A Conversation in Two Parts — Amy Brook Snider and Barbara Danish
The Child: As Image Maker — Vea Vecchi (with Leslie Morrow, Translator)
The Child: As Learner/Thinker — Kieran Egan
“My Own Backyard to Play In,” The Short Films of Children at play by Tony Schwartz (Moderated by Forrest Gray)
The Child: As Play Maker — Jane Katch
The Child: As Story Teller — Patricia Cooper
Charge to the Audience — Barbara Danish

MARCH 13
Reflections — Barbara Danish, Amy Brook Snider, and Breakout Groups
Interdisciplinary Breakout Meetings: What is the emerging picture of childhood that we have gotten from the previous day? What has inspired us? What do we want to add to this picture?
The Child: In Society — Eric Cooper
Presentation of Documentation — Brigid McGinn, David Kelly, and Art & Design Education students.
Town Meeting: Let us consider this picture in the context of current educational policy and practice. Where would we want to go from here? What do we hope will happen?
Organized by The Art and Design Education Department at Pratt Institute with support from the Pumpkin and Heimbold Foundations and the Pratt Institute.
More information and a downloadable brochure can be found at:

http://www.pratt.edu/art_design_education-ug