Young Children Volume 80 • No 2 | Page 95

About the Author
Sherri Peterson is the program coordinator at the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. She has been in the field of early childhood education for over four decades as a teacher, mentor, consultant, and coach. Her recent work is with infants and toddlers and their educators. sherri. peterson @ uni. edu
References
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Center on the Developing Child. 2011.“ Experiences Build Brain Architecture.” Posted September 6, 2011. YouTube. 1:56. developingchild. harvard. edu / resources / videos / experiencesbuild-brain-architecture.
Conkbayir, M. 2017. Early Childhood and Neuroscience: Theory, Research and Implications for Practice. Bloomsbury Academic.
Counsell, S., L. Escalada, R. Geiken, M. Sander, J. Uhlenberg, et al. 2016. STEM Learning with Young Children: Inquiry Teaching with Ramps and Pathways. Early Childhood Education series. Teachers College Press.
DeVries, R., & C. Sales. 2011. Ramps and Pathways: A Constructivist Approach to Physics with Young Children. NAEYC.
Elkind, D., S. G. Clemens, R. Lewis, S. Brown, J. Almon, et al. 2016. The Wisdom of Play: How Children Learn to Make Sense of the World. Community Playthings. communityplaythings. com /~/ media / files / cpus / library / training-resources / booklets / wisdomof-play. pdf.
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Hoisington, C. 2024.“ Science in Preschool, Part I: Leveraging the Power of the Next Generation Science Standards( NGSS) with Consideration to Developmentally Appropriate Practice( DAP).” Science and Children 61( 1): 6 – 10.
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Lewin-Benham, A. 2023. Infants and Toddlers at Work: Using Reggio-Inspired Materials to Support Brain Development. 2nd ed. Teachers College Press.
Maguire-Fong, M. J. 2020. Teaching and Learning with Infants and Toddlers: Where Meaning Making Begins. 2nd ed. Teachers College Press.
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NAEYC. 2020.“ Developmentally Appropriate Practice.” Position statement. NAEYC. naeyc. org / resources / position-statements / dap / contents.
NASEM( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine). 2024. A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum. National Academies Press.
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Spaepen, E., B. Bowman, C. B. Day, J. Chen, C. Cunningham, et al. 2017. Early STEM Matters: Providing High-Quality STEM Experiences for All Young Learners. Policy report by the Early Childhood STEM Working Group. ecstem. uchicago. edu.
Van Meeteren, B., & S. Peterson. 2022. Investigating STEM With Infants and Toddlers( Birth – 3). STEM for Our Youngest Learners series. Teachers College Press.
Warden, C. 2021.“ A Guide to Planning with and for Children.” Inquiries 1.
ROCKINGANDROLLING
Photographs: pp. 89, 90 courtesy of the author; p. 92 © Getty Images Copyright © 2025 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at NAEYC. org / resources / permissions.
Summer 2025 Young Children 93