Information dissemination in early childhood education

Trends and issues in the dissemination of knowledge are discussed in terms of current trends. The general trends include the rapid rate at which new journals and documents are produced and increasing specialization in the field. Among the issues discussed are the optimum information hypothesis, optimum conceptual size of information, vividness and propitiousness of the information, and orientations to knowledge of subcultures within a professional field. The field of early childhood education is used as the example of each trend and issue. Lilian G. Katz is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where she is also Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. She is currently President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Professor Katz is author of more than one hundred articles, chapters, and books about early childhood, teacher education, and parenting. Her most recent book isEngaging Children’s Minds: The Project Approach (with Sylvia Chard).