Edward S. Ebert II, professor emeritus of education, Coker College, has been in professional education for more than thirty-seven years. With a doctorate degree in Psychological Foundations of Education, Dr. Ebert has taught courses in educational psychology, philosophy of education, elementary science methods, child development, classroom management, assessment, and creative problem solving. He has authored fourteen books in education ranging from teacher resource materials to textbooks, and has published an original model of cognitive processing that focuses on the role of creative thinking. He has done numerous presentations nationally and internationally. He spent a semester teaching educational psychology, science methods, and English language speaking at Shanghai International Studies University in Shanghai, P.R. China. He is the recipient of several awards for excellence in teaching. He resides in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, with his wife, Dr. Christine Ebert, where he is a former member of the regional technical high school district’s school committee and is an active volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
Darlene McLeod Maxwell, Professor of Education, Coker College, has over forty years of educational expertise spanning the teaching of preschool through sixth grade in the United States and Germany. These classroom teaching experiences have been broad in scope and design and include private and public schools, to university laboratory schools, Department of Defense Schools in Germany, and Montessori schools. In higher education, Dr. Maxwell has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels in Arizona, Maryland, Georgia and South Carolina in private and public colleges and universities. She continues to publish research in the area of children's play, including a chapter in the recent book, Connecting Children to Nature. Dr. Maxwell is a board member of the International Association for the Child's Right to Play/USA, a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Montessori Educational Programs International, the South Carolina Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators, and the US Play Coalition. She is responsible for hosting an annual community-wide “Play Day” for approximately 600 preschoolers, their parents and teachers, community agencies, and Coker College faculty, staff and students. She and her husband, a retired career military officer, continue to enjoy traveling with their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.