I am trying to subscribe to the XMCA (formerly XLCHC) discussion group, and
have before me two slightly different sets of instructions for subscribing.
Therefore, I am going to subscribe according to both sets of instructions. If
I appear twice, please forgive me. This is a self-description of Betty Zan.
I have been lurking on XLCHC for the past year and a half, and find the
postings sometimes funny, sometimes thought-provoking, and seldom irrelevant.
I read with Piagetian lenses developed in part from my 6+ years working with
Rheta DeVries, my mentor, colleague, coauthor, and friend. While I had read
Vygotsky as part of my graduate studies, my friendship with Michael Glassman
led me to read more widely in activity theory, particularly Leontiev (whom I
probably never would have read if it hadn't been for Michael).
This interest in Activity Theory
led me to XLCHC. I am a Research Fellow at the Regents' Center for Early
Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. I am ABD (but I
hope not for too much longer) in Developmental Psychology at the University of
Houston. The focus of my work is on the years 0-8, and my areas of interest
are primarily early childhood education and social and moral development.
Current projects include work on constructivist education in first and second
grade (with Rheta DeVries),
work on educational reform in the Slovak Republic (in collaboration with
DeVries, three members of the Pedagogical Faculty of Comenius University in
Bratislava, and Slovakian teachers), work in an elementary school with a large
population identified as at risk (whatever that means) (with DeVries and Linda
Fitzgerald), and a study of friendship and intimacy in first and second grade
girls (my dissertation). I am known by my friends as Betsy.
Betty Zan
Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education
University of Northern Iowa
107 SEC
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0616
Internet: BETTY.ZAN@UNI.EDU
Phone: (319) 273-2101