Hands On, Minds On


Book Description

Hands On, Minds On describes the importance of childrens foundational cognitive skills for academic achievement in literacy and mathematics, as well as their connections with other areas of school readiness, including physical health and social and emotional development. It also examines the growing evidence in favor of guided object play.




Hands On, Minds On


Book Description

A growing body of research indicates that three foundational cognitive skills—executive function, motor skills, and spatial skills—form the basis for children to make a strong academic, behavioral, and social transition to formal school. Given inequitable early learning environments or “opportunity gaps” in the United States, these skills are also a source of substantial achievement and behavioral gaps. Hands On, Minds On describes the importance of children’s foundational cognitive skills for academic achievement in literacy and mathematics, as well as their connections with other areas of school readiness, including physical health, social and emotional development, and approaches to learning. The author emphasizes how social relationships and interactions, both in and outside the classroom, encourage or constrain young children’s development in these skills. The book concludes with a summary of the growing evidence in favor of guided object play, which teachers can introduce to children to exercise and strengthen foundational cognitive skills. “Teachers, both novice and veteran, are eager to learn how to apply brain research to their practice, and Dr. Cameron has offered some very real knowledge and support to this effort.” —From the Foreword by Sharon Ritchie, FPG Child Development Institute “Research has accelerated in the last decade, and Hands On, Minds On deftly summarizes and integrates these exciting advances. This is a must-read for educators and policymakers.” —Daniel T. Willingham, University of Virginia “Offers educators an entry point into what developmental research is telling us about early childhood and how best to support our youngest learners.” —Nora S. Newcombe, Temple University




Hands Down, Speak Out


Book Description

Math coach, Kassia Omohundro Wedekind and literacy coach, Christy Hermann Thompson, have spent years comparing notes on how to build effective classroom communities across the content areas. How, they wondered, can we lay the groundwork for classroom conversations that are less teacher-directed and more conducive to student-to-student dialogue? Their answers start with Hands-Down Conversations, an innovative discourse structure in which students' ideas and voices take the lead while teachers focus on listening and facilitating. In addition to classrom stories and examples, Christy and Kassia provide 28 micro-lessons designed to help K-5 students develop and excercise their speaking and listening muscles. Inside Hands Down, Speak Out you'll learn how to: Build talk communities that are accessible to everyone, especially those whose voices are often traditionally left out of classroom discourse. Analyze classroom conversations in order to plan next steps for developing the classroom talk community Plan and facilitate three types of conversations across literacy and math Christy and Kassia believe that the development of dialogue skills is worth the investment of time not only becuase it has the power to deepen our understanding of literacy and mathematics, but also to deepen our understanding of ourselves, our communities, and the world.




Hands and Minds


Book Description

The reflective practitioner's guide to project-based learning, written by teachers for teachers.




Mindstorms


Book Description

In this revolutionary book, a renowned computer scientist explains the importance of teaching children the basics of computing and how it can prepare them to succeed in the ever-evolving tech world. Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers. Technology changes every day, but the basic ways that computers can help us learn remain. For thousands of teachers and parents who have sought creative ways to help children learn with computers, Mindstorms is their bible.




Handbook of Research on Transforming Teachers’ Online Pedagogical Reasoning for Engaging K-12 Students in Virtual Learning


Book Description

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically transformed the classroom by keeping students and teachers apart for the sake of safety. As schools emptied, remote learning rapidly expanded through online services and video chatrooms. Unfortunately, this disrupted many students and teachers who were not accustomed to remote classrooms. This challenge has forced K-12 teachers to think differently about teaching. Unexpectedly and with little time to prepare, they have been confronted with redesigning their curriculum and instruction from face-to-face to online virtual classrooms to protect students from the COVID-19 virus while ensuring that these new online initiatives remain sustainable and useful in the post-pandemic world. As teachers learn to take advantage of the affordances and strengths of the multiple technologies available for virtual classroom instruction, their instruction both in online and face-to-face will impact what and how students learn in the 21st century. The Handbook of Research on Transforming Teachers’ Online Pedagogical Reasoning for Engaging K-12 Students in Virtual Learning examines the best practices and pedagogical reasoning for designing online strategies that work for K-12 virtual learning. The initial section provides foundational pedagogical ideas for constructing engaging virtual learning environments that leverage the unique strengths and opportunities while avoiding the weaknesses and threats of the online world. The following chapters present instructional strategies for multiple grade levels and content areas: best practices that work, clearly describing why they work, and the teachers’ pedagogical reasoning that supports online implementations. The chapters provide ways to think about teaching in virtual environments that can be used to guide instructional strategy choices and recognizes the fundamental differences between face-to-face and virtual environments as an essential design component. Covering such topics as K-12 classrooms, pedagogical reasoning, and virtual learning, this text is perfect for professors, teachers, students, educational designers and developers, instructional technology faculty, distance learning faculty, and researchers interested in the subject.




English Language Learners in the Mathematics Classroom


Book Description

Strengthen mathematical understandings and academic vocabulary with standards-based strategies! With straightforward language and examples, the authors help teachers develop specialized understanding and knowledge of strategies for supporting a high level of mathematics learning along with language acquisition for ELLs. Providing specific suggestions for teaching standards-based mathematics, this resource: Demonstrates how to incorporate ELL supports and strategies through sample lessons Uses concrete materials and visuals to connect mathematical concepts with language development Focuses on essential mathematical vocabulary Includes brief research summaries with rationales for recommended practices




Tools of the Mind


Book Description

Now in its third edition, this classic text remains the seminal resource for in-depth information about major concepts and principles of the cultural-historical theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, his students, and colleagues, as well as three generations of neo-Vygotskian scholars in Russia and the West. Featuring two new chapters on brain development and scaffolding in the zone of proximal development, as well as additional content on technology, dual language learners, and students with disabilities, this new edition provides the latest research evidence supporting the basics of the cultural-historical approach alongside Vygotskian-based practical implications. With concrete explanations and strategies on how to scaffold young children’s learning and development, this book is essential reading for students of early childhood theory and development.




Schools for All Kinds of Minds


Book Description

This book shows how schools can--and must--develop expertise in "learning variation" (understanding how different kinds of minds learn) and apply this knowledge to classroom instruction in order to address the chronic learning challenges and achievement gap faced by millions of students. Barringer shows how using what we know about learning variation with a focus on discovering learning strengths, not just deficits, can help schools create plans for success for those students who often find it elusive. The book specifically addresses how school leaders can incorporate this knowledge into instructional practice and school-level policy through various professional development strategies. Schools for All Kinds of Minds: Provides a readable synthesis of the latest research from neuroscience, cognitive science, and child and adolescent development as it relates to understanding learning and its many variations. Links this information to strategies for understanding struggling learners and adapting school practices to accommodate a wider array of learning differences in a classroom. Demonstrates how this understanding of learning variation can change the way teachers and others help students succeed in various academic and content areas and acquire necessary 21st century skills. Includes discussion questions and facilitator guidelines for staff developers and teacher education programs; downloadable forms that accompany exercises from within the book; an action plan for schools to implement the ideas found in the book; and more.




The Minds-On Hearts-On Hands-On Learning Engagements


Book Description

Document from the year 2016 in the subject Pedagogy - The Teacher, Educational Leadership, Kampala International University (Institute for Social Research), language: English, abstract: Decisive components in the teaching-learning process are the educators and the learners. The Minds-on*Hearts-on*Hands-on Engagements in three types namely: the cognitive, affective, behavior and motor engagements are featured and emphasized to manage a supportive research and educational sphere. Research and academic courses can better be appreciated if they co-exist with learner-centered philosophies of creative pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy accentuated through globally accepted and implemented innovative techniques such as game-based, gamification, hybrid, immersive and adaptive learning mechanisms. Teaching is not about being fully engaged in talking as the traditional authoritarianism projects but it is about being creative in selecting options that should work for the learners’ benefits thus leading these learners to be innovative, self-directed and self-determined to acquire knowledge attitude and skills. -- This book features substantial learning engagements, learner-centered philosophies, learning mechanisms in actual application, inventories on social behavior, multiple intelligence, Keirseian temperaments, change management skills, teaching styles and learning patterns, applied research and development components.