I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Early Childhood Education and Currulum Studies. I also serve Chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. I co-authored a book for Falmer Press with Bill Johnston of the Department of Second Language Studies at Indiana University. The title of the book is "The Classroom as a Moral Context."

 Ph.D. Early Childhood Education, 1986, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

 MS. Child Development, 1976, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

 BA.  Psychology, 1974, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 

• Akerson, V.L., Buzzelli, C.A., & Donnelly, L. A. (in-press) On the nature of teaching the nature of science: Preservice early childhood teachers’ instruction in preschool and elementary settings. Journal of Research in Science Teaching.
• Akerson, V.L., Buzzelli, C.A., & Eastwood, J.  (under review). The relationship betweeen preservice early childhood teachers' cultural values and their perceptions of scientists' cultural values.  Journal of Elementary Science Education.
• Akerson, V., Buzzelli, C.A., & Donnelly, L.A. (2008). Early childhood teachers' views of nature of science: The influence of intellectual levels, cultural values, and explicit reflective teaching. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 748-770.
• Johnston, B., & Buzzelli, C. (2008). The moral dimensions of language education. In May, S. (Vol Ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Education.

• Koc, K., & Buzzelli, C.A., (2008, Sept.) Early childhood teachers’ moral dilemmas: Exploring their self-reported accounts. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Educational Research Association. Columbus, OH.
• Akerson, V.L., Buzzelli, C.A., & Donnelly, L. A. (2008, April) On the nature of teaching the nature of science: Preservice early childhood teachers’ instruction in preschool and elementary settings. paper presented at the annual conference of the National Association of Research in Science Teaching, Baltimore, MD.
• Akerson, V., Buzzelli, C.A., & Donnelly, L.A. (2007, NOvember). On the nature of teaching nature of science: Preservice early childhood teachers' instruction in preschool and elementary classrooms. Paper presented at teh annual conference of the School Science and Mathematics Association, Indianapolis, IN