MONIRAH ABDULLAH AL-MANSOUR

King Saud University
 Department of Education
Education
 
 
EDUCATION
 
2009- 2014                  PhD
                                    The Pennsylvania State University
                                    Department of Curriculum and Instruction
                                    Early Childhood Education
 
                        Dissertation title:  Young Children’s Journey Into a World of Play With Open-Ended Materials:
A Case Study of the Creative Play Club

                                    Chairperson: James E. Johnson
                                    Committee Members: James F. Nolan, Christine Thompson, Stephanie Serriere
 
2002                            M.A. Early Childhood Special Education, GWU, Washington D.C., US.
 
1996                            B.A. Early Childhood Education, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi                                         Arabia.
1988                            36 Girls High School, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
                       
 
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
 
2011-2012                   Teaching and Supervising Pre-service Teachers as a part of 602 C I Course, Penn State University, State College, PA.    
1996- Present              Staff Member, Early childhood Education, Education, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

1. Teacher for the ISA-Islamic Saudi Academy-, Fairfax, VA
2. Supervisor for Pre-service Teachers at King Saud University
3. Teacher for the University Preschool, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

OUT OF STATE EXPERIENCES 
 
Summer 2009             Participated in a 3 day study tour to gain in depth knowledge about Reggio                                   Emilia Approach as a part of the world forum, Reggio Emilia, Italy.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

2010-2013                   Coordinator for the Play, Policy, and Practice Interest Forum Café (PPPIF) of NAEYC
Spring-10-Spring-12   Volunteer at Saturday Art School, Penn State University, State College, PA.
2011-2012                   leader of the Reform Initiative and Coordinator for Weekend Islamic Program, Penn State University, State College, PA.
Fall-00/Fall-01 Internship at Belvedere Elementary School, Annandale VA.
Spring-2000                Volunteer at Child Development Center, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
1994-1995                   Student Teacher for the University Preschool, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PUBLICATIONS
 
Book chapters:
Johnson, J.E., Al-Mansour, M., Sevimli-Celik, S. (2014). Researching Play in Early Childhood. Handbook of Research Methods in Early Childhood Education.
 
Johnson, J.E., Sevimli-Celik, S., & Al-Mansour, M. (2013). Play in Early Childhood Education. Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children, 3rd Edition. Routledge. 
 
Correspondence
Johnson, J.E., Sevimli-Celik, S., & Al-Mansour, M. (2013). Correspondence: Through the lens of participatory photography.  International Journal of Play, vol.2, no.1, 45-47.
PRESENTATIONS
 
Johnson, J. with Karen McCoy, Monirah AlMansour, and Serap Celik. ECE research and
applications. Mifflin-Juniata Mini ECE Conference, Mifflinburg, Pa., October 31, 2009.  
 
Johnson, J., McCoy, K., Sevimli-Celik, S., Searfoss, A., Glisan, C., Al Mansour, M., Babu, S., Allabbad, S. & Zandawi, B. (2010, March). Teachers' values and ideas about play and morality. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 36th Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
                                                                                     
Al Mansour, M. & Johnson, J. (2010, March). Things from Nothing: using open-ended materials can build a critical cognitive skill called executive function through imaginative play. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 36th Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
 
Drew, W., Blandford, S., Rankin, B., Nell, M, Durkin, P., Wetsel, J., Patte, M.M., Peterson, A., & Al-Mansour, M.A. (2010, November). The play experience: Strengthening value-added strategies to meet early learning standards. Presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s Annual Conference in Anaheim, California.
 
Al-Mansour, M. (2011, April). Play Memories in Saudi Cultural Contexts. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 37th Annual Conference in Rochester, New York.
 
Johnson, J.E., Cheng, M.F., Al-Mansour, M., Sevimli-Celik, S., Ko, Y., & Rafie, F. (2011, April). Trans-cultural analysis of play accounts: Preliminary results. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 37th Annual Conference in Rochester, New York. 
 
Johnson, J.E., Cheng, M.F., Al-Mansour, M., Sevimli-Celik, S., Ko, Y., & Rafie, F. (2011, April). Trans-cultural analysis of play accounts: Preliminary results. Presented at the Second Annual Syracuse PSU Mini-Conference on play and early development and education  in State College, Pennsylvania. 
Ahmed, S., Beaulieu, J., Hagler-Cody, B., Al-Mansour, M., Otaala, B. (2011, May). Global Games – The Games People Play. Presented at World Forum on Early Care and Education in Wikkiki, Hawaii.
Nell, M., Drew, W., Patte, M.M., Sevimli-Celik, S., Al-Mansour, M., Baltrusaitis, S., Marshall, D., & Plumb, V. (2011, November). Supporting family and school relationships through a parent play training program. Presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
 
Patte, M.M., Johnson, J.E., Cohen, L., Nell, M., Jarrett, O., Kuschner, D., Sutterby, J., Sluss, D., Trawick-Smith, J., Van-Thiel, L., Graves, S., Reifel, S., Mahoney-Ferster, M., Tolentino, E., Waite-Stupiansky, S., Sevimli-Celik, S., Baltrusaitis, S., Cemore, J., Pyles, J., Babu, S., & Al-Mansour, M. (2011, November). Current play research spanning national and international contexts. Presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
 
Johnson, J.E., Al-Mansour, M., Sevimli-Celik, S., Rafie, F. & Ko, Y. (2012, March). Trans-cultural study of play during the early and middle childhood years. Presented at the Association for Childhood Education International Conference in Washington, DC.
Patte, M.M., Johnson, J.E., Nell, M., Jarrett, O., Sutterby, J., Sluss, D., Mahoney-Ferster, M., Waite-Stupiansky, S., Sevimli-Celik, S., Al-Mansour, M., Baltrusaitis, S., & Guirguis, R. (2012, November). Rethinking children's play in the 21st century: A discussion with play scholars from around the world. Paper presented at the Featured Session of the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Al-Mansour, M. (2013, March). A journey into children’s world of play with open-ended materials. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 39th Annual Conference in Newark, Delaware.
 
Patte, M., Nell, M., Johnson, J., Sevimli-Celik, S., Cohen, L, Trawick-Smith, J., Mahoney-Ferster, M., Sluss, D., Jarrett, O., Sutterby, J., Al-Mansour, M., Bergen, D., Guirguis, R., Zosh, J., Swaminathan, S., Sherwood, S., Schein, D., Vu, J., Han, M. (2013, November). Weaving together the golden strands of play and research. Presented at the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
Johnson, J., Johnson, K. M., Al-Mansour, M. & Sevimli-Celik, S. (2013, November). Play as an Educative Process Goes to Scale: Implementing and Evaluating Activity Components of a Required Course for Early & Primary Teacher Candidates. Presented at the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
 
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WORKSHOPS
 
Al-Mansour, M., & Sevimli-Celik, S. (2011, April). Creative expression through movement. Presented at the Association for the Study of Play's 37th Annual Conference in Rochester, New York.
Al-Mansour, M., & Sevimli-Celik, S. (2012, March). Self active play with open ended materials. Presented at ECE 479 Course, Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.
Al-Mansour, M. (2012, January-May). Creative Play Club: Self active play with open ended materials designed for children. Conducted at the Young Scholars Charter School of Central Pennsylvania, in State College, Pennsylvania.
Al-Mansour, M. (2013, March). Uncovering Pre-service Teachers Perception about Children’s Play: A reflective Play Experience. Presented at ECE 479 Course, Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.
 
Al-Mansour, M. (2013, October). Uncovering Pre-service Teachers Perception about Children’s Play: A reflective Play Experience. Presented at ECE 479 Course, Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.
 
 
 
 
WEBINARS
 
Johnson, J.E., Sevimli-Celik, S., McCoy, K., & Al-Mansour, M. (2010, May). Practice Play Visions: Journey to the center of the play world in early education.
 
 
RESEARCH INTERESTS
 
Creative Play Expression
Indoor & Outdoor Play
Play in Early Years
Pre-service Teacher Education
Positive Enrichment Intervention
Open-ended materials as Object Play 
Open-ended play as a vehicle for creative expression for young children
The use of Recyclable and Reusable Resources to Enhance Creativity,
Children’s Play in Nature
 
LANGUAGES
 
Arabic- native language
English- advanced
 
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
 
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
 The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) 
 
REFERENCES 
 
References are available upon request.