Janet Thompson, MA, is director of the Early Childhood Lab (ECL) School at the UC, Davis, CCFS. She has established the school's outdoor spaces as a Certified Nature Explore Classroom and works with families, teachers, and college students on ways to design and use outdoor environments to enhance children's learning and health. She has a particular interest in social and emotional competency and its contributions to early learning and is a strong advocate for active learning approaches that emphasize responsive adult-child interactions.

Janet was a primary author on social-emotional development for the California Department of Education's Preschool Learning Foundations and Preschool Curriculum Frameworks and a contributing author for the California Preschool Program Guidelines.