Central Oregon Chapter of the OAEYC

For this year’s conference, the Central Oregon Chapter of the OAEYC is excited to welcome, Dr. Christine Chaillé. In her keynote address, Dr. Chaillé will incorporate perspectives on learning,  development, and the role of “Big Ideas” in fostering children’s  understandings. Dr. Chaillé is a professor and chair of the  Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State  University. She has been teaching at Portland State University since 1991 and her focus is on early childhood education. She earned her doctorate from UCLA, and studied with Jean Piaget at the University of Geneva.   
  
She co-authored The Young Child as Scientist: A Constructivist Approach to Early  Childhood Science Education, now in its third edition, and Big Ideas: Constructivism Across the Early Childhood Curriculum: Big Ideas as Inspiration. She has written many publications, primarily on the importance of children's play.      

Her recent research includes the role universities can play in inspiring innovative  practice, particularly through the study of the schools of Reggio Emilia in Italy. She is also working with Hands to Hearts International and has developed a curriculum on child development for caregivers in orphanages in India, a curriculum that will be used with other vulnerable populations and in other countries.   
   
She is past president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, and past chair of the Early Education/Child Development Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association.