author
Lucy Sprague Mitchell
1878–1967
A pioneer of progressive education, this American teacher and writer helped reshape how young children learn by putting curiosity, play, and real-world experience at the center of the classroom. She is also remembered as the founder of what became Bank Street College of Education.
1 Audiobook
Here and Now Story Book Two- to seven-year-olds
by Lucy Sprague Mitchell
About the author
Born in Chicago in 1878, Lucy Sprague Mitchell became one of the most influential voices in early childhood education in the United States. She studied at Radcliffe College and later taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was the first woman on the faculty.
Mitchell believed children learn best by exploring the world around them. In 1916 she founded the Bureau of Educational Experiments in New York, an organization that later grew into Bank Street College of Education. Her work helped shape a child-centered approach to teaching that valued observation, imagination, social growth, and learning through firsthand experience.
Alongside her work as an educator, she also wrote for children and about education. Her ideas left a lasting mark on teachers, schools, and families, and her influence can still be felt wherever classrooms encourage children to ask questions, investigate, and learn by doing.