Table of Contents

About This Book

Part I Cognitive Development from Birth through Age 8

1. Cognitive Development in the First Three Years of Life

2. Cognitive Development in the Preschool Years

3. Cognitive Development in the Kindergarten Year

4. Cognitive Development in the Primary Grades

5. Becoming Enthusiastic and Engaged

Part II Approaches for Promoting Cognitive Development in the Early Childhood Classroom

Section 1: Symbolic Thought in the Early Years

6. Chopsticks and Counting Chips: Do Play and Foundational Skills Need to Compete for the Teacher’s Attention in an Early Childhood Classroom?

7. Moving into Uncertainty: Sculpture with 3- to 5-Year-Olds

8. Building Foundations for Spatial Literacy in Early Childhood

Section 2: Executive Function and the Development of Self-Regulation

9. Recognizing and Supporting the Development of Self-Regulation in Young Children

10. Thinking Out Loud: Development of Private Speech and the Implications for School Success and Self-Control

11. How Planning and Reflection Develop Young Children’s Thinking Skills

12. Developing Self-Regulation in Kindergarten: Can We Keep All the Crickets in the Basket?

Section 3: Higher-Order, Complex Thinking

13. Let’s SQUiNK about It! A Metacognitive Approach to Exploring Text in a Second Grade Classroom

14. From High Chair to High School: Research-Based Principles for Teaching Complex Thinking

15. Science in Kindergarten

Promotional Information

From the beginning of life, young children’s learning and activities depend on their cognitive capabilities and development. To cope with the environment they live in, children need to learn about their physical and social worlds; acquire language; regulate their bodies, emotions, and thoughts; and gain competence in literacy, mathematics, science, and other knowledge domains. This collection of readings from books and Young Children articles outlines important dimensions of their early cognitive development and describes approaches for promoting it.

About the Author

Carol Copple received her doctorate in human development from Cornell University and joined the faculty of Louisiana State University. As senior research psychologist at the Educational Testing Service, she directed a prekindergarten program for enhancing young children’s thinking skills and wrote Educating the Young Thinker: Classroom Strategies for Cognitive Growth with Irving Sigel and Ruth Saunders. At the National Association for the Education of Young Children from 1993 to 2010, Dr. Copple headed the publications program, authored numerous books, and played a leading role in developing the association’s position statements and education initiatives. She is now an early education consultant based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Reviews

“I welcome this timely compilation of articles by these insightful leaders in early learning. The focus on cognition in the context of the whole child and the development of concept knowledge and skills is just what we need to balance practices. I am eager to introduce this to our educators.” — Ellen Frede, Senior Vice President for Early Learning, Research, and Training, Acelero Learning

“With consummate grasp of the leading directions and significant achievements of the field, Carol Copple has brought together a stand-out volume. I was impressed that a book on “growing minds” would start off with relationships in infancy, and dwell on self regulation in preschool and kindergarten, before turning to complex thinking skills during the primary years.” — Carolyn Pope Edwards, Willa Cather Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“This is a much needed practitioner’s primer highlighting the importance of child development as a foundation for professional practice. Everyone interested in increasing children’s ability to take initiative in their learning as well as engage in questioning, probing, and problem solving can benefit by building strong cognitive foundations in early childhood.” — Ed Greene, Senior Advisor, Piramide Approach to Early Learning, Cito USA