Tools of the mind is a early childhood program that aims at building strong foundations for preschool and kindergarten children through promotion of self-regulated and intentional learning Berk & Winsler, 1995). The program was started with the aim of developing tools to enhance cognitive development among young children. The program aims at readying children for school by helping them regulate their social, emotional and cognitive behaviors.
Play plans are descriptions of what children expect to do during the play period. These include the roles, the imaginary situation and the props Preschool programs incorporate play into their daily activities by including organized play as part of the curriculum of preschools and allocating time (40-45 minutes) each day for children to play.
Scaffolded writing is the support of a person’s learning of the written language with aim of transferring autonomy to the person (Berk & Winsler, 1995). Among preschool children, teachers collaborate with children through modeling, using structured outlines and doing exercises. The children are thus enabled to do what they could not do on their own and eventually become more dependent on reading and writing on their own.
Teachers in Vygotskian-based programs such as the tools of the mind are trained to help children develop strong cognitive behaviors and become less dependent on teachers as they advance in their education. Teachers are trained to concentrate more on the leaning process rather than the specific product. As such teachers are trained to observe and handle unique conditions such as Attention Deficiency Disorder (ADD), dyslexia among others, (Berk & Winsler, 1995).
The Tools of the Mind program has been shown to improve Executive Functions (EFs) or the cognitive control of children. The skills increase school readiness among children and thus helps them kick start the formal learning process. A study by the National Reading Panel (2000) of 426 children (218 in project, and 208 in non-project classrooms) conducted in 1997 showed that children from projected classes performed better in assessments and exhibited faster rates of progress than those from non-projected classes.
References
Bowman, B.; Donovan, M.S.; Burns, M.S. (2000). Eager to learn: educating our preschoolers. Washington, DC, National Academy Press.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC, National Reading Panel.
Berk, L. & Winsler, A. (1995). Scaffolding children’s learning: Vygotsky and earlychildhood education. Washington, DC, National Association for the Education of Young Children.
