Visitors didn’t trek to this exhibit to view famous works of art or historic artifacts.

They were at Boston University to visit “The Wonder of Learning,” a traveling exhibit highlighting a pedagogical approach to early childhood education known as “Reggio Emilia.”

Named after the city in northern Italy in which it emerged after World War II, Reggio Emilia is an educational philosophy that prioritizes play-based, hands-on learning over a prescribed curriculum.

Despite the growing popularity of play-based learning approaches such as Reggio Emilia, it’s no secret that such approaches are typically confined to expensive private schools and, thus, off-limits to children from low-income families.

But over the past several years, the Department of Early Childhood in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) has been working to change the view of play-based learning as being available exclusively to the wealthy by bringing the philosophy of Reggio Emilia to its large, urban school system where over two-thirds of students are economically disadvantaged.

Now, with the announcement in April that Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh will invest $15 million to make pre-K available to all four-year-olds in Boston within five years, the city is poised to make the wonders from “The Wonder of Learning” exhibit real for children across all income levels.

Read the full article about bringing playful pre-K to students by Aaron Loewenberg at The Hechinger Report.