"Empowering."

–Educational Leadership

"Very few writers who address curriculum are able to achieve the degree of clarity and elegance that Wassermann does with her prose and examples supporting playful educational practices. Her message is timely and important."

–Patricia Monighan Nourot, Sonoma State University

After 10 years of accolades for Serious Players in the Primary Classroom: Empowering Children Through Active Learning Experiences, Selma Wassermann provides readers with a second edition to her classic. Building on the original work, this new edition offers further insight into Wassermann’s notion of organizing for instruction known as "Play-Debrief-Replay"–a way of structuring curriculum experiences to promote children’s active learning in cooperative groups and to foster independent thinking. The book also provides a theoretical framework for implementing teaching for thinking in primary classrooms. By updating references and adding a new chapter on moral dilemmas, including information that is consonant with constructivist ideologies, Wassermann continues to promote ways of teaching that stimulate children's appreciation for social and ethical issues. Her approach is holistic; it not only honors the play of children, but also the work of teachers. Accessible and enlightening, this new edition is a must-read for all early childhood professionals. Parents, too, will find this volume useful.

Selma Wassermann is a Professor Emerita in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. Her publications are numerous, and she is in much demand as a leader of teaching-for-thinking seminars and workshops throughout the United States and Canada.