Larry Prochner

Research

Primary Research Interests

early childhood education; teacher education; history of education; international and comparative education

EDEL 455 - Play as a Teaching and Learning Strategy

This course examines how choice and self-direction can enhance children's learning and thinking in early childhood settings. Students will be involved in planning and evaluating integrated, emergent curriculum projects involving learning in and through play. The conception of play as a teaching strategy will be investigated in relation to cultural, philosophical and historical traditions, current practices and recent research. Sections may be offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.

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Books

Prochner, L., & Nawrotzki, K. (Eds.). (2026). Nature and early education: Global perspectives on outdoor learning for young children. Routledge.

Arce-Hai, A., May, H., Nawrotzki, K., Prochner, L., & Valkanova, Y. (2020). Reimagining teaching in early 20th century experimental schools. Palgrave Macmillan.

Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

Prochner, L. (2023). Grace Fulmer and conservative and liberal approaches to Froebelian education. In T. Bruce, Yukiyo Nishida, S. Powell, H. Wasmuth, & J. Whinnett (Eds.), The Bloomsbury handbook to Friedrich Froebel (pp.131-138). Bloomsbury.

Prochner, L. (2020). Nursery schools and classes. S. Hupp & J. Jewell (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of child and adolescent development. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

Refereed Articles

Prochner, L. (2021). ‘She walked alone in glory’: Patty Smith Hill and the anecdote of the kindergartners’ walkout. Vitae Scholasticae, 37(1/2), 8-29.

Kirova, A., Lambrev, V., & Prochner, L. (2020). Education reforms for inclusion? Interrogating policy-practice disjunctions in early childhood education in Bulgaria. Education Inquiry, 11(2), 126-143.