Current Topics in Early Childhood Education, Volume 5

Book excerpt: The chapters in this volume are divided into three sections. In the first section, the authors provide a framework for the reader by setting ethnography in context. Chapters cover definitions of ethnography, its basic underlying principles, and propose ways in which it can be useful to education. The second section presents a range of ethnographic studies. The research presented defines by illustration some essential characteristics of ethnography. Chapters in the third section reflect on the different themes, issues, and concerns of the field of ethnography and education in general, and of the articles in the volume in particular. The central themes are continuity vs. discontinuity in children's lives; the role of folklore in education; researcher/ educator collaboration; and micro vs. macro levels of analysis. Children Reading and Writing: Structures and Strategies