ECOLOGICAL LEARNING PARTNERS
Mapping to Make the Invisible Visible
Practitioners who can see their conditions clearly are more attuned and responsive to the children and families they serve.
At Ecological Learning Partners LLC, we work with leaders and practitioners to map their experiences, their relationships, and the conditions shaping their work.
We position practitioners as investigators of their own practice and build their capacity for the relational work that teaching requires.
How We Work Together
We listen and learn. We talk with leaders and practitioners to understand priorities, culture, and conditions.
We facilitate mapping. We help practitioners document their individual and collective experiences and look for patterns in their maps.
We examine maps. Through individual conversations and group convenings, we guide practitioners to examine how their position shapes their practice.
We convene to act. We bring practitioners and leaders together to discuss their observations and envision the infrastructure that can fully support their work.
Our Methodology: Contemplative Mapping
Contemplative mapping helps practitioners build a self-to-system practice of observation through three maps:
Life/Self mapping - Practitioners draw their own educational journeys as maps, uncovering how their personal experiences shape how they teach, respond, and relate.
Situational mapping - Teams map the people, policies, and conversations shaping their work to see where collaboration is already strong and what conditions need to be built to support it better.
Practice mapping - Practitioners observe and document their own daily practices over time, noticing what feels easy, what feels hard, and where adjustments could be helpful.
Together these maps position practitioners as investigators of their own positionalities, a foundational step for the skillful relational practice teaching requires.
About Sarika S. Gupta, Ph.D.
I am a learning ecologist who specializes in contemplative mapping, a methodology that uses self, situational, and practice mapping to explore what influences a practitioner's work and what conditions make it possible for them to teach, partner, and navigate complex systems.
Since 2000 I have taught preschoolers with and without disabilities, coached practitioners on an NIH-funded study, and trained as a doctoral fellow at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. I have provided technical assistance through the DaSy Center at Johns Hopkins, managed the research portfolio at the Pew Center on the States, prepared teachers at Johns Hopkins, George Washington University, Hunter College, and George Mason University, led evaluation studies with the Maryland State Department of Education through the University of Maryland, and directed a Foundation for Child Development-funded study at Bank Street College of Education.
In 2008 I began practicing Iyengar yoga, pranayama, and running. Through that practice I developed the capacity to observe myself, understand my position, and recognize how institutional conditions shaped what I could see and do. Contemplative mapping grew from that practice. I founded Ecological Learning Partners LLC so that practitioners have a partner in building this capacity.
My work leading to contemplative mapping has been published in Young Exceptional Children, Yoga Samachar, The New Educator, Distance Learning, Edutopia, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, Lion's Roar, Educational Leadership, and NNERPP Extra. I also document this methodology in my public blog, Mapping from the Margins.
I hold a Ph.D. in Special Education, completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Early Childhood Special Education Leadership and Policy, and am completing an M.S. in Data Science to scale contemplative mapping through computational methods.
Let’s Talk
Ecological Learning Partners LLC works with educational communities whose leaders and practitioners want to understand what is shaping their relational culture and why.
Start here.
Publications Across Ecological Levels
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Gupta, S. S. & Nagasawa, M. (2023). WeDesign: Conceptualizing a process that invites young children to CoDesign inclusive learning spaces. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491231179000
Gupta, S. S. (2023). Building pre-k students' skills to CoDesign the classroom. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/pre-k-classroom-design
Gupta, S. S. (2022). How preschool teachers can benefit from mindful thinking. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-preschool-teachers-can-benefit-mindful-thinking
Gupta, S. S. (2022). Using project-based learning in professional development for preschool teachers. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-project-based-learning-professional-development-preschool-teachers
Gupta, S. S. (2020). Voices from the field: Why aren't we talking about teacher well-being with inclusion? Young Exceptional Children, 23(2), 59-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096250619846581
Gupta, S. S. & Glen, J. (2020). Storytelling in a rock study: Using emergent learning and universal design to promote every child's learning in an inclusive preschool classroom. Childhood Explorer. https://www.childhoodexplorer.org/emergentcurriculum
Gupta, S. S. (2019). Engaging young children and families as design partners in the learning process: Reflections from an inclusive preschool classroom in Washington, DC. Childhood Explorer. https://www.childhoodexplorer.org/design-partners
Gupta, S. S. & Daniels, J. (2012). Coaching and professional development in early childhood classrooms: Current practices and recommendations for the future. NHSA Dialog, 15(2), 206-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/15240754.2012.665509
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Gupta, S. S., & Zhu, X. (2026). Life mapping: Redefining bias training. ASCD Educational Leadership, 83(8). https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/redefining-bias-training
Gupta, S. S., Cheatham, G. A., Strassfeld, N., Zhu, X., Medellin, C. & Nagasawa, M. (2024). Examining the ecology of preschool inclusion in New York City: A mixed-methods study underway. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491241229229
Gupta, S. S. & Rous, B. S. (2016). Understanding change and implementation. How leaders can support inclusion. Young Children, 71(2), 82-91. https://www.jstor.org/stable/ycyoungchildren.71.2.82
Lieber, J., Butera, G., Hanson, M., Palmer, S., Horn, E., Czaja, C., Diamond, K., Goodman-Jansen, G., Daniels, J., Gupta, S., & Odom, S. (2009). Factors that influence the implementation of a new preschool curriculum: Implications for professional development. Early Education and Development, 20(3), 456-481. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280802506166
Technical Reports:
Gupta, S. S. & Guha, M. L. (2019). Conversations About Inclusion at the Center for Young Children at the University of Maryland, College Park: Final Summary. New York: Hunter College CUNY. 33 pages.
Book:
Gupta, S. S. (Ed.) (2014). First steps to preschool inclusion: How to jumpstart your programwide plan. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
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Gupta, S. S. (2025). The myna bird knows her name. Lion’s Roar-Bodhi Leaves. https://www.lionsroar.com/the-myna-bird-knows-her-name/
Gupta, S. S. (2021). Mapping the design and facilitation of critical self-reflection in a culminating clinical course for early childhood special education teacher candidates. The New Educator, 18(1-2), 42-60. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2021.2005855
Gupta, S. S. & Lewin-Smith, J. (2020). Employing design-thinking to create opportunities for ECSE teacher candidate reflection through infographic design in an online course. Distance Learning, 17(2), 11-23.
Gupta, S. S. (2020). Building practitioner resilience for change in EI/ECSE. Young Exceptional Children, 24(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096250620913258
Gupta, S. S. (2019). Unraveling resistance in my journey to truth. Yoga Samachar, 23(1), 47-48. https://issuu.com/iynaus/docs/22_yoga_samachar_ss2019/s/11206351
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Gupta, S. S., & Zhu, X. (2026). Using situational mapping to explore collaborative dynamics in research-practice partnerships. NNERPP Extra, 8(1), 12-20. https://nnerppextra.rice.edu/resources/how-might-situational-mapping-be-used-in-rpps/
Gupta, S. S., Sherif, V., & Zhu, X. (2023). Re-examining state Part C early intervention leaders' views through a positive lens on leadership: A qualitative secondary analysis. The Qualitative Report, 28(2), 517-543. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.4786
Tirrell-Corbin, C., Sweet, S., Gupta, S., & Lieber, J. (2016). Evaluation of the birth to five service delivery models in Maryland – Phase I. College Park: University of Maryland Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention. 269 pages.
Tirrell-Corbin, C., Lieber, J., Cummings, K., Jones Harden, B., Klein, E., Silverman, R., & Gupta, S. (2016). Evaluation of the efficacy of Maryland's Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge grant. College Park: University of Maryland Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention. 183 pages.
Ruggiero, T., Gupta, S., Nicholas, A., & Mauzy, D. (2016). State spotlight on data use. Maryland: Establishing partnerships to build data use capacity. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
LaRocco, D. J., Bruns, D. A., Gupta, S. S. & Sopko, K. M. (2014). National early childhood special education leadership summit: Final report February 2014.
Gupta, S. S. (2011). Strategies to facilitate and sustain the inclusion of young children with disabilities [Policy Brief]. Denver, CO: The Colorado Center for Social Emotional Competence and Inclusion. 4 pages.
Sarpatwari, S. S. (2006). A qualitative analysis of the 1st Annual Joint Technical Assistance and Dissemination Conference. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. 10 pages.