A-Ha! Learning Partners

Don Burton, Founder
Experts from Harvard
The Brazelton Institute
Infant, Toddler & PreK Schools – Other Researchers/ Practitioners

Don Burton has been creating educational innovations for consumer markets for more than a decade. He was head of business development for Disney Educational Publishing—a Walt Disney Company initiative to enter the formal core curriculum markets of preK- 3rd grade with a multiple media integrated educational products that could be sold both into the school and the home. He developed strategies for the video, print, online and kit product lines and the business unit. He worked extensively with creative producers and "Imagineers" to understand and apply the educational principles and learning differentiation sought by Disney's new brand of offerings. He then founded ParentPartners, a creative Internet start-up focused on learning, growth and development issues. The company signed up 100,000 members before it was sold to the Washington Post and Kaplan Education in 1999. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Global Education Network (GEN) as CEO and President. GEN, founded by media financier Herbert Allen and Williams College professor Mark Taylor to bring the finest of higher education to the Internet, experimented with innovative formats to create the highest quality online learning.

Prior to Disney, Don graduated from the Harvard Business School, worked in M&A at Goldman, Sachs & Co, and worked for the McKinsey & Company consulting firm. He has frequently been an adjunct professor for Duke University and their Leadership in the Arts program in New York City and has completed coursework in teaching and learning at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), Bank Street College and Columbia Teachers College. He has also served on the board of advisors at HGSE and on the COUR committee for Harvard University.

Tina Grotzer- Tina Grotzer is a Research Associate at Project Zero. Her research focuses on topics at the intersection of cognition, development, and educational practice, such as the learnability of intelligence and how children develop causal models for complex science concepts. She works with students and teachers in several school systems on an on-going basis, linking theory and practice such that they inform one another. She has studied cognitive development both as a teacher and as a researcher.

Tina is Co-Principal Investigator with colleague David Perkins on the Understandings of Consequence Project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The project has identified ways in which student explanations of scientific concepts have different forms of causality at the core than those of scientists. Curriculum units, developed with teacher collaborators, designed to help students understand the causal concepts in the context of learning about particular topics, are nearing completion.

Tina's former projects include ParentPartners, a collaboration with The Brazelton Center at Children's Hospital and the Child Development Department at UMASS Amherst to create a web site to help parents understand and support their children's development from prenatal through age fourteen. It also includes the Art Works for Schools project, with colleague Shari Tishman and a collaboration with DeCordova Museum and the Underground Railway Theater, which looked at ways to teach thinking through looking at art.

Tina serves an educational advisor to a variety of projects. Some of this work aims to increase the developmental fit, educational components, and quality of thinking skills and attitudes modeled in children's television programming. She has been an educational advisor to Henson's Bear in the Big Blue House and Disney's PB&J Otter. Other projects focus on the pedagogy of math and science learning, such as the Everyday Classroom Tools Project, a NASA funded project, undertaken by the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Prior to coming to Project Zero, Tina designed and taught programs for ages 3 to 12 and worked with diverse populations of children. She coordinated and taught the Elementary Academic Challenge and Enrichment Program (A.C.E.) in the Arlington Public Schools, MA, a revolving door program based upon pluralistic notions of intelligence. She began her teaching career as a first and second grade teacher in 1981 at the Poughkeepsie Day School, an N-12 school community committed to the careful observation of children's development and to the creation of individualized programs to facilitate their growth. She received her EdD in 1993 and EdM in 1985 from Harvard University and her A.B. in Developmental Psychology from Vassar College in 1981.

Kiki Donis-Wahl has a Masters degree in Child Development and a concentration in Early Childhood Education from Tufts University. In addition to working as a research assistant at Harvard Project Zero for over 6 years, she has been a preschool teacher and has served as an educational advisor for several Henson, Disney and Cartoon Pizza productions. Kiki’s previous work has focused on child development, and researching and writing developmental information for parents. In addition, she has created assessment tools and feedback, and written features for parents on many child development issues for an on-line newsletter. Her other research interests and experiences have involved the development of children’s cognition and children’s sensitivity to opportunities to use critical thinking skills; and children’s science thinking and learning.

Kevin Nugent- Dr. J. Kevin Nugent is the Founder and Director of the Brazelton Institute at Children's Hospital in Boston and is on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics. He is also Professor of Child and Family Studies at the University of Massachusettes at Amherst.

Dr. Nugent was educated in Ireland and received his doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Boston College. He has worked at the Children's Hospital in Boston with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton since 1978, conducting research on newborn behavior and early parent-infant relations. Dr. Nugent is co-author with Dr. Brazelton, of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, third edition, published by Mac Keith Press, London and has been the director of training on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale since 1978. He and his colleagues have recently developed the CLNBAS - a clinical version of the NBAS - to be used by clinicians in pediatric and intervention settings with infants and parents.

Dr. Nugent is currently working on a longitudinal study on the origins of temperament with Jerome Kagan and T. Berry Brazelton. His other areas of research include the role of fathers in child development, teenage pregnancy, the transition to parenthood, the effects of maternal substance abuse on development, the effects of melatonin on newborn behavior and the effects of the CLNBAS on family functioning and developmental outcome. He conducts research and training in different cultural settings around the world and is the senior editor of the two volume series, The Cultural Context of Infancy, published by Ablex Press. He is a Research Associate at the Children's Hospital Boston, and is also the editor of Ab Initio, the international newsletter of the Brazelton Institute.

Amy Dombro - Amy is the author of numerous articles and books on infant/toddler and family child care, including The Ordinary is Extraordinary: How Children Under Three Learn. She has extensive experience training Head Start and child care staff, and consults for national organizations. Ms. Dombro was a member of the advisory committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers that guided the design of the new Early Head Start program. She began her professional career by serving for eight years as the director of the Bank Street Infant and Family Center, and holds a master's degree in early childhood education from the Bank Street College of Education.

George Forman - George and Don first started working together more than a decade ago on a Disney project. George provided early childhood expertise and counsel to ParentPartners in the late 90s and has been critical in setting the intellectual and conceptual foundations for A-Ha!. He helped Aha define and test early conceptions of the Parent & Child class format and has written immersive play experiences as well as the online eCourse class.

He has authored over 7 books, 3 videotapes and many research articles on how children think and how teachers can help children reflect on their work through drawing, video feedback, and play with objects. In the 1970's he founded The School for Constructive Play, an experimental program for young children based on the learning theory of Jean Piaget. He has designed museum participatory exhibits, educational puzzles, and instructional games. He is past president of the Jean Piaget Society, serves on numerous editorial boards, and was recently advisory faculty in residence at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His speaking engagements have taken him all over the world including Asia, Australia, Europe, and Scandinavia speaking mainly about constructivist education, particularly as inspired by the preprimary schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. George holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Alabama. George is Emeritus Professor at the University of Massachusetts and CEO at Videatives, Inc.

Stephen Gass - is an innovator in the field of children's products and media. His experience includes over 20 years in the design, development and distribution of learning products, including computer software, online applications, toys, games, books and video. Trained as a child psychologist, Gass began his career teaching science, language arts, and crafts at the elementary level. He served as Director of Education for the Sesame Street theme park, Sesame Place; a founding editor of Electronic Learning Magazine; and editorial director of the CBS Interactive Learning Unit. As Vice President of Research and Development, Gass launched an educational toy division at Coleco. In his role as Senior Vice President of Product Development for Viacom New Media, he built and managed a team of 30 people whose responsibilities included planning, acquisition, development and production of CD-ROMS and console games for Viacom's entry into the software entertainment market. He also served as a senior creative executive for Viacom's research and development efforts in the home learning market, including its initial explorations for the learning network, Noggin. Gass held the position of Group President, Online at Sesame Workshop. Gass also founded eebee's adventures, an award winning DVD series with Don.

Ellen Hall - Ellen like George helped with the early design and testing the of Aha workshop format. Ellen is the owner/director of the Boulder Journey School in Boulder, Colorado. Ellen has published articles in the Child Care Information Exchange and in Innovations in Early Education. She is an accomplished speaker who has presented frequently at national early childhood conferences and meetings. Ellen has also presented at the World Forum on Early Care in Education and to international educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Ellen is co-chair of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA), an organization of educators, parents, and advocates seeking to elevate both the quality of life and the quality of schools and centers for young children. Ellen holds a M.Ed. from Smith College and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Innovation at the University of Colorado at Denver.

Alise Shafer - Alise is the founder and director of Evergreen Community School in Santa Monica, CA where she and her faculty make extensive use of documentation as data for their classroom research on children's construction of knowledge. She is a contributing author in the book, Teaching and Learning: Collaborative Exploration of the Reggio Emilia Approach, Prentice Hall, 2001. Alise also teaches at several local colleges and universities. She speaks at conferences throughout the United States and abroad and has consulted with schools in Australia, Israel and Peru. Alise has visited Reggio Emilia six times.