Scherer’s Cultivating Care book published

In June 2025, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company published a new book by Stephanie Scherer.

Publication Title

Cultivating Care: Lessons from a Rural Kindergarten Classroom

Author

Stephanie Scherer

Publisher

Kendall Hunt Publishing Company

Publication Date

June 2025

About the Book (from the publisher)

Grounded in autobiographies, this classroom-based narrative inquiry focuses on understanding and making meaning of experience. This study is centered on a particular wonder: how does one rural kindergarten teacher experience and embody care in her classroom? From this question, rich and complex stories emerge—interwoven accounts of daily practices, personal beliefs, and relational moments that reveal the “lived and told” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 20) stories of one rural Indiana teacher and her kindergarten students.

About the Author

Dr. Stephanie Scherer is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of the Purdue Center for Rural Research, Education, and Outreach. As a qualitative researcher specializing in narrative inquiry, her work concentrates on rural education, specifically preparing undergraduate students to teach in rural schools and supporting rural teachers in enhancing instructional quality and student learning. A key aspect of her research explores preservice teachers’ perceptions of place-based education and their involvement with local community organizations. For ten years, she taught Social Studies and English Language Arts to students in grades 6-12 in both rural and urban environments across Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Idaho. She resides on a farm in rural Indiana with her husband.