New ‘Tools of the Mind’ Curriculum Aims To Boost Memory, Self-Control, And Literacy

Reaching Deeper, Teaching Better

It was the fall of 2001, and the world outside was full of fear and trembling. But inside the classroom, Amy Hornbeck found a certain calm. She was in Denver and it was her chance to observe "Tools of the Mind" in action.

"The quiet was the first thing I noticed, and that the children seemed to know exactly what to do without adult direction," she says. "They were completely absorbed. No one was running around crazy, no one was at loose ends. They were busy, relatively quiet, and so self-directed."

That would be notable in most any classroom of 3- and 4-year-olds. But it was especially noteworthy, given the children's background. This was a Head Start classroom, with nearly every child at risk of school failure and many suffering significant deprivation. Yet here they were, intent on the projects at hand, from fantasy in the housekeeping corner to building with blocks. Not only that, but they used language in a way that showed not only recognition, but comprehension.

Even better, Hornbeck says, these children were self-motivated and directed. She'd watched them plan the activities before they even went to their stations, drawing pictures--sometimes only scribbles, but representations nonetheless--of what they intended to do that day. Then they spent more than a half hour--up to 50 minutes--carrying out the plan, with little input from the classroom teachers.

"I couldn't believe what I saw at first," she says. "They all planned out their activities and then they went off and did it. And they did it for longer than you normally see in a preschool classroom. Many teachers wouldn't even believe me at first when I told them about it. They'd say it would be cruel or harsh to expect kids that age to spend that much time on one thing. But there it was. I'd seen it with my own eyes. The kids weren't suffering! If anything, they were happier and more focused than most preschoolers I'd ever observed," she says. "And not one, not even one, was wandering without a purpose. Each one was engaged."

Welcome to "Tools of the Mind," a new approach to early education that seeks to cultivate children's ability to regulate their emotions, activities and actions--to plan and follow through, using language and writing to get the job done. "It's truly an innovation, a bridge between the two main schools of thought in early education. It's not just free play with clay that can leave children directionless, nor is it what some of us call the "drill and kill" approach that stresses teaching basic skills through drills and worksheets that can kill their love of learning," says Hornbeck, a research associate at the National Institute for Early Education Research.

More than anything, Hornbeck was intrigued by the prospect of teaching children self-regulation, a skill that is key to getting along in life way beyond preschool and a skill that studies show is best cultivated in the preschool years. "Learning how to regulate emotions and attention is just so basic to everything else children have to learn," says Hornbeck. "With it, they can get along, pay attention and build more skills. Without it, they almost certainly get frustrated and frustrate other people."

NIEER Director Steve Barnett now has a full-fledged research study underway to see how well the "Tools" method works. "The initial results look good, and I am very excited to see more," says Barnett. "This could be one of the most important innovations in early education in years."

Think First, Act Later
The "Tools" method is based on the writings and philosophy of L. S. Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist who had developed quite a following in Eastern Europe even before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Initially trained as a philologist, Vygotsky decided to take up psychology to follow his lifelong interest in human development. Though he died in the mid-1930s, his work about the central importance of language and culture in child development gradually gained a wide following in the Soviet Bloc. More than most of his peers, he saw the potential for using language and dramatic play to cultivate both children's ability to learn and to enhance their emotional growth.

In the Vygotskian classroom, children use language and other forms of representation--drawing, scribbling and eventually writing--to plan their activities. "They are learning to think ahead and act based on those thoughts," says Deborah Leong, who co-created the "Tools" methods with Elena Bodrova. "That's the beginning of self-control and self-regulation, the ability to direct oneself instead of always needing the adults to plan and regulate everything."

But the curriculum is based on an even deeper and richer conception of human development, calling upon children to use their minds in a more expansive way than most other techniques. "Vygotsky understood that language was a vehicle for not only representing the world, but expanding development and learning. Vygotsky believed that planning play was the activity that would produce the most positive developmental outcomes. This approach gets children to use language and representation to plan and think before they even begin to act," says Leong. Those activities, in turn, lead children to create ever-more sophisticated narratives, role playing, and representations that keep them engaged and expand their universe of knowledge.

Such learning is evident in public preschool classrooms in Passaic, New Jersey, which have adopted the "Tools" approach. One teacher, Yannelys Aparicio, and her aide, Leticia Dennis, gather the 17 children who show up in mid-March and get them to plan their morning play. Nearly every child in this classroom started out as a non-English speaker, and most qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Yet each one takes paper and scribbles or draws a "sketch," some more representational than others, of what he or she plans to do for the next hour.

One child, Zavier, plans to go to housekeeping and enact a drama about taking the baby to the doctor. Emily also has plans for the housekeeping corner, but initially, they do not include a sick baby doll. But within minutes, the two join each other there, gradually adapting their narrative to include each other and the baby doll. The other children troop to other learning stations, using blocks, paints, or a sink and a sand table for their imaginary dramas.

Aparicio watches, but rarely takes part in the play unless it is to help the children move their narrative along. "The teachers ask questions and get children to think their way through their roles and expand the narrative," says Hornbeck. "In that way, they scaffold the children's ability, serving as a platform and asking questions so the children can add ideas and language, solve problems and keep on learning."

So it is with Aparicio who only gently asks Emily in housekeeping, "Oh, do you hear the baby crying?" That simple inquiry sparks Emily and Zavier to expand their imaginary roles as parents and move the story along, dress the baby and go to the doctor. "With each question, the children enrich their play and take it to a new level," says Leong. "Or at least, that's the idea."

The increasingly sophisticated role-playing helps the children problem-solve, empathize, and get along. So do other parts of the "Tools" method. For example, at reading time, children pair off and one gets a pair of toy lips and another gets toy ears. The one with the lips reads, while the one with the ears must listen. "This helps children learn to listen, take turns, really important social skills," says Hornbeck. "But it's not because a teacher is telling them to. It's because they are doing it themselves. After a while, they don't need the props. It's internalized."

Certainly, the results are promising in Passaic. The number of children sent to the principal's office for a time-out virtually disappeared by mid-year. That's down from two incidents a day at the beginning of the year.

"What's exciting is that this is coming from the children directing themselves, not from the teachers directing them," says Hornbeck. "You see and feel the difference as soon as you are in these classrooms. The children don't need to challenge the teachers because they are in charge of themselves. And with their improved language, they are better able to get along with each other."

Study Underway
Can the method be adopted across America? That is Leong's hope and a question that Barnett, Hornbeck and their colleagues at NIEER are now exploring. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has already embraced "Tools" as a promising innovation and features it on the International Bureau of Education's website.

The big question remains whether the approach can be replicated, or whether it depends heavily on particularly talented teachers. "For me, that's the ultimate question," says Dorothy Strickland, professor of education at Rutgers University and member of the National Early Literacy Panel. "It will take teachers who are really well-trained in the method. When they are, it is a very, very exciting new approach."

For more information, contact Hornbeck at ahornbeck@nieer.org or Deborah J. Leong at leongd@mscd.edu. For UNESCO's endorsement of the new method, visit http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/Databanks/Innodata/inograph.htm.