Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Redefining Success in the 21st Century
Chapter 2: The Learning Industry and the Learning Sciences: How Educational Reform Sent Us in the Wrong Direction
Chapter 3: The Skills Needed for Success Are Global
Chapter 4: Hard Skills and "Soft Skills": Finding the Perfect Balance
Chapter 5: Collaboration: No One Can Fiddle a Symphony
Chapter 6: Communication: Lines of Connection
Chapter 7: Toppling the King That Is Content
Chapter 8: Critical Thinking: What Counts as Evidence?
Chapter 9: Creative Innovation: Rearranging the Old to Make the New
Chapter 10: Confidence: Dare to Fail
Chapter 11: A Report Card for the 21st Century
Epilogue: What If? The Reprise
Notes
Index
About the Authors

About the Author

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, PhD, obtained her bachelor's degree at Brooklyn College, her PhD at Cornell University, and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh. She is the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, and Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the James McKeen Cattell Sabbatical Award, the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, and two awards from APA: the Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science and Distinguished Scientific Lecturer. With her long-standing colleague Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Dr. Golinkoff was the 2015 recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award for lifetime contributions to applied psychological science. She routinely travels worldwide to speak to academic as well as lay groups. Having written more than 150 articles and 16 books, monographs, and special journal issues, she is an expert on language development, playful learning, and early spatial knowledge. Three of her books are directed at parents and practitioners because she is passionate about dissemination. To bring the science of learning to the streets, Dr. Golinkoff cofounded the Ultimate Block Party movement to celebrate the science of learning.
 
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research examines the development of early language and literacy, as well as the role of play in learning. With her long-term collaborator, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, she is the author of 14 books and hundreds of publications. She is the recipient of APA's Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contribution to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society, Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, and Distinguished Scientific Lecturer award, as well as the Association for Psychological Science's James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award.  Dr. Hirsh-Pasek is a fellow of APA and the American Psychological Society and the president-elect of the International Society for Infant Studies. She has served as the associate editor of Child Development. Her book Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less won the prestigious Books for a Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. Dr. Hirsh-Pasek received her bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
 

Reviews

Features a new framework, based on the science of learning and development, to help parents think about cultivating the skills people really need to succeed.
*NPR*

Tailored specifically to a 21st century global economy.
*Forbes*

Parents especially are going to great lengths to push their kids to achieve, in the hope that will guarantee success…we adults can help them get all the smarts they’ll need.
*Psychology Today*

Expertly written, organized and presented, Becoming Brilliant is especially "reader friendly" and highly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Parenting Skills collections.
*Midwest Book Review*

An essential read for every parent that wants to understand their children’s brain and it’s workings.
*Brainsmith*

Plenty of examples and practical tips are provided for raising children with the skills they need to thrive in today's world.
*Grand Forks Herald*

This well-written book is of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about parenting, education, and characteristics of a successful humane workforce… With its nontechnical and easy-to-read style, [it] has potential to disseminate important findings about parenting and education to a broader audience.
*PsycCRITIQUES*

Children need the kind of education that prepares them to think, be creative, and innovate. Drawing on input from business leaders as well as the science of learning, Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek suggest six core competencies that will create the ‘thinkers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow’: collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creativity, and confidence. The authors detail how these skills build upon each other throughout development and try to point out how each competency can be ‘scaffolded’ (broken down into teachable components) at different ages…. There is converging evidence that Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek are correct in broad strokes and that children and schools do better when there is an emphasis on softer skills, like social and emotional learning.
*The Greater Good Science Center*