Threads of Thinking: Young Children Learning and the Role of Early Education

Threads of Thinking: Young Children Learning and the Role of Early Education

by Cathy Nutbrown (Author), Cathy Nutbrown (Author)

Synopsis

Threads of Thinking, Third Edition is a book for all early years practitioners who wish to support and develop children's thinking. The author presents evidence of continuity and progression in young children's thinking and shows, with detailed observations, that they are able and active learners. She considers aspects of children's patterns of learning and thinking - or schemas - and demonstrates clearly how children learn in an active, dynamic and creative way. Numerous examples of young children 'in action' are used, which illustrate their learning in areas of literacy, mathematics and science. Observations of babies and toddlers are included in this new edition with discussion of how their early schematic development can be supported. Examples of children learning through creative experiences in the arts are also included. Implications for curriculum, assessment and work with parents are thoroughly considered in a style that compels attention to children's own learning agendas. The Second Edition of Threads of Thinking was published 1999. Since then the policy context of early childhood education has undergone radical change.In response to this and other important policy developments, this fully revised Third Edition includes numerous detailed descriptions of children learning and discusses those observations in the light of our understanding about how children learn and how early childhood educators might teach. The impact of current national policies is addressed throughout, including the implications for practitioners of early assessment and the relationship of assessment to learning.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
Edition: Second
Publisher: Paul Chapman Publishing
Published: 26 May 1999

ISBN 10: 185396459X
ISBN 13: 9781853964596

Media Reviews
`There are some excellent sections on scientific and mathematical learning in Part Three. Many practical ideas are provided for developing these concepts in young children. There are also excellent sections on literacy that again provide valuable insight into developing these concepts.... There are valuable ideas and suggestions in the book, and I feel that teachers of young children in nurseries or early years settings would be quite interested in the contents' - Education Review

`The focus of Threads of Thinking is on children's patterns of learning and thinking, particularly schemas. However, the book as a whole is much more than that and provides material for reflection by anyone working with and for young children. Many of the examples discussed are ones considered in the First Edition, but the changes Cathy Nutbrown has made throughout the book bring it right up to date, including some speculation on the ideas of a Foundation Stage in England. There is much here that is valuable for reading alone, but also a lot that could be shared by groups of people, including those already working in the field as well as those in training' - International Journal of Early Years Education

`The book is well organized and covers key areas which include children's developing understanding of mathematical and scientific ideas, early literacy, what is involved in the provision of a respectful and challenging curriculum, assessment.... This book makes an important contribution to the continuing debate with regard to the kind of training required by those involved in early childhood education' - Educational Research

Author Bio
Professor Cathy Nutbrown is Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, where she teaches and researches in the field of early childhood education. Cathy began her career as a teacher of young children and has since worked in a range of settings and roles with children, parents, teachers, and other early childhood educators. Cathy is committed to finding ways of working 'with respect' with young children, and sees the concept of quality in the context of what it means to develop curriculum and pedagogy in the early years with the ambition of working in a climate of 'respectful education'. She established the University of Sheffield MA in Early Childhood Education in 1998 and a Doctoral Programme in Early Childhood Education in 2008. In 2010 she contributed to the Tickell Review of the Early Years Foundation In June 2012 she reported on her year-long independent review for government on early years and childcare qualifications (The Nutbrown Review). She is Editor-in-Chief of the SAGE Journal of Early Childhood Research and author of over fifty publications on aspects of early childhood education.