Tools of the Mind: Research on an Early Childhood Educational Model
Tools of the Mind:
Research on an Early Childhood Educational Model
Carlyn Knight
Sonoma State University
Background
Tools of the Mind is an educational model based on the theories of Lev Vygotsky, a 20th century Russian educational theorist. It was developed in the 1990’s by Elena Bodrova, PhD and Deborah J. Leong, PhD. The authors state that it began as a search “for tools to support the cognitive development of young children” (Bodrova & Leong, 2001, p.4). Just as physical tools empower us to do things beyond our normal ability, Tools of the Mind was created to empower the mental capacities of developing minds. However, the authors believe that these tools do more than enhance cognitive abilities. Based on Vygotsky’s theories they believe these tools can change how a child attends, remembers, and thinks. The tools, therefore, are to help children “learn how to learn.” (Bodrova & Leong, 2007, p.4) It sounds like a lofty goal, yet Tools of the Mind is the subject of one of the chapters in a recently published book Nurture Shock (Bronson and Merryman, 2009) and the authors report impressive results from three studies.
Reflecting on the historical, political, and social context in which this model was developed reveals several noteworthy events. Although Vygotsky’s work was written before 1934, his work was suppressed in Stalin’s police state. It wasn’t until after the Cold War that Vygotsky’s work came to light and began to exert considerable influence in the field of educational psychology. Piaget and Vygotsky both espoused a constructivist view of cognitive development and the importance of play for the young child. However, Vygotsky introduced the idea of the zone of proximal development. Dr. Bodrova first worked at the Institute of Pre-School Education and the Centre for Educational Innovations in the Russian Federation. She came to the U.S. in 1992 and began collaborating with Dr. Leong. Tools of the Mind was first tested in 1997. By this time Vygotsky’s theories had grown in influence, research and understanding of brain development had reached a new summit, and there was dissatisfaction in student achievement. (It is interesting to note that “No Child Left Behind” was signed and put into law in 2001.) All of these factors contributed to the development and implementation of this new educational model.
Theoretical Underpinnings
Vygotsky’s perspective is articulated as Cultural-Historical Theory (Pass, 2005, p. 277). In this theory, Vygotsky asserts that social interaction is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture. Cognitive development was viewed by Vygotsky, as a socially mediated process. He agreed with Piaget that children are active and constructive in their learning. However, Vygotsky differed from Piaget in that he saw children as dependent upon the assistance that adults and more-expert peers provide in learning (Berk, 2005). Vygotsky defines development as two different levels. Both levels are accessible to the child at any given time.
The lower level is what the child can do independently, without help from anyone. The upper level of the child’s ability is what that same child can do with assistance from another person either directly or indirectly. The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the distance between the lower and upper levels. It defines where the child’s learning happens. (Bodrova and Leong, 2006, p. 168)
In Vygotsky’s opinion the two primary means of learning occur through social interaction and language. The assistance that a peer or a teacher offers is referred to as scaffolding. Scaffolding provides a metaphor or word picture of a house painter who uses a scaffold to reach parts of the house that would otherwise be out of reach. In the same way adults and peers can help a child ‘reach’ a new concept or skill by giving supporting information (Mooney, 2000).
There are similarities and differences between Vygotsky’s theories and information processing theory. Topics like metacognition, self-regulation, and executive function have an important focus in their conversations, as do memory and focused attention. However, Vygotsky is interested in the developmental process and understanding why and how children improve in learning as they grow older. Furthermore, Vygotsky looks at the social and cultural context of learning, as well as the emotional aspects that are involved – which are not addressed by information processing theory. (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, pp. 33-34)
Play, according to Vygotsky, is crucial to the mental development of the young child. Vytgotsky (1966) wrote:
Play is the source of development and creates the zone of proximal development. Action in the imaginative sphere, in an imaginary situation, the creation of voluntary intentions and the formation of real-life plans and volitional motive – all appear in play and make it the highest level of preschool development. (p. 96)
Vygotskyians contend that play, rather than providing limitless freedom, “presents the context in which children face more constraints than in any other context… (Yet) children are extremely motivated to abide by these limits” (Bodrova and Leong, 2001, pp. 15-16).
The theoretical underpinnings that guide the approach of Tools of the Mind are: the Cultural-Historical perspective, socially-mediated constructive learning, the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding, and play. These are the means by which language and thinking develop best in young children. Bodrova and Leong apply Vygotsky’s theory to development and learning in early childhood: from infants through the primary grades. The focus is on relationships among peers and teachers, and activities that support cognitive development. In 2009, Bronson and Merryman observed several pre-K and kindergarten Tools of the Mind classes and they noted that although the main elements of the day are similar to a traditional class (with things like recess and lunch), there are some differences in the way the room appears.
The wall calendar is not a month-by-month grid, but a straight line of days on a long ribbon of paper. Gone is the traditional alphabet display; instead, children use a sound map, which has a monkey next to Mm and a sun next to Ss. These are ordered not from A to Z but rather in clusters, with consonants on one map and vowels on another. (p. 161)
Bodrova and Leong do not delineate specific environmental features that must be part of the physical environment, other than emphasizing the importance of creative dramatic play.
The Role of the Teacher
Tools of the Mind is not a set curriculum, but rather a philosophical and theoretical approach to early childhood education. There are several examples of how individual teachers implemented these ideas and the authors also write of training teachers in this approach. However, there are not explicit materials that are used or even outlined schedules that are prescribed. Bodrova and Leong (2007) state that “Play is the leading activity and most of the teachers’ efforts should be directed toward play…” (p. 153). Their aim is for children to reach a level of mature play which is distinguished from immature play by these characteristics:
1) The ability to pretend without actually having a prop, and/or using objects in different roles (symbolic representations)
2) Language is used for dramatization
3) Multiple themes are interwoven,
4) Roles are multifaceted
5) An extended time frame occurs
These imaginative situations can extend over days, surviving interruption and restarting again, with changes occurring in response to the player’s new ideas and roles. (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, 2012) One example that was given was a dramatic play area set-up as an airport that lasted for several weeks:
The literacy center is a ticket counter, with a travel agency complete with child-made passports, tickets, and travel brochures. In the block area the children have constructed a walk-through X-ray scanner from cardboard boxes. A smaller box with openings on both ends functions as the screening device for carry-on luggage. There is an airplane cockpit made out of a big piece of cardboard with child-drawn instruments, an upside-down egg carton for a keyboard, and a paper plate that functions as the steering wheel. (Leong and Bodrova, 2012, p. 28)
To help scaffold this rich and mature play, the teachers have important roles. One prominent responsibility is to identify many different roles that pertain to specific play themes. In most preschools there is a dramatic play area and children enjoy dressing up and pretending they are firefighters, mommies and daddies, doctors, police officers, etc. However, play is often not sustained for a long period of time. Another familiar difficulty is to have the majority of the children wanting to enact the same role. For example if the dramatic play area is set up as a doctor’s office, most of the preschoolers may seek to be a doctor or nurse. Often their knowledge about who the doctors/nurses interact with, what they say in these situations, and what they do, is very limited. However, with a teacher’s help there are many other roles that the children can learn about (i.e. the patients and their many needs, the office staff, the adjoining hospital with x-ray technicians, lab workers, etc.). With this growth in knowledge and understanding, play is opened up to more roles and richer scenarios. Preparation for play can be done in a variety of ways. In all methods, the teacher’s emphasis is on what people do, as opposed to the objects that they use. Before a field trip, specific roles can be identified ahead of time and they can be explained and acted out during the trip. Books are another source of information about various roles in different occupations. Stories can also be used to help develop play; chapter books aid in developing sequential episodes. Classroom visitors are one more rich resource. (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, pp. 142-151)
Another unique distinction of Tools of the Mind is the use of children’s “play plans.” The child plans the role he/she will play. The teacher helps the child to focus on what he/she will do in this role. The authors state that “it is the action of mentally planning that is the major benefit to the child” (Bodrova and Leong, 2001, p. 18). Yet they also share that they believe play plans on paper are more valuable than oral plans alone. I will highlight these advantages later in this paper.
The role of the teacher is multi-faceted. To begin with, the teacher is one who plans and prepares the environment and the learning opportunities. Some of these experiences will be led and guided by a teacher; others will be for the children to engage and explore in independently. Another important role of the teacher is observing the child, understanding who he is, and learning what is within his ZPD. In this way diverse and individual needs are comprehended and met. Engaging in educational dialogue is another Vygoskyian role of the teacher. In interactions and discussions with students the teacher provides a “template for learning” (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, p. 85). This is done through the types of questions she asks, the strategies she uses to solve problems, and the way she models types of learning. An important goal is for children to grow in conceptual knowledge with an understanding of how things fit in a bigger picture of learning. In these ways teachers are both planners and participants in shared activities with children.
Vygotsky stresses the importance of language and social interaction in cognitive development. He writes about the influence of culture in this process, through: families, schooling, and the community at large. Tools of the Mind reiterates these beliefs; yet the role of community and parents is not delineated with a specific role in the classroom. Field trips in the community and imaginative play with real-life scenarios are two ways that the cultures of community and family can intersect in the culture of school.
Cognitive and Language Development
Supporting and promoting cognitive and language development is foundational to the Tools of the Mind approach. This educational model was given its name because Vygotsky believed that it is when thinking and speech unify, “thinking acquires a verbal basis and speech becomes intellectual, because it is used in thinking” (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, p. 67). Language becomes a tool for private speech and verbal thinking - -which has a transforming effect on cognitive development. The authors state that it is sometime “between 2 and 3 years of age, (that) thinking and speech merge” (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, p. 67). Therefore, this early childhood educational model focuses on supporting both cognitive and language development through all of its activities.
As stated earlier, Vygotsky believed learning is a socially-mediated process. The Zone of Proximal Development is seen as “a strategy for learning and development” (Bodrova and Leong, 2007, p. 40). In Tools of the Mind there are three specific tools or “tactics” which are covered with explicit attention to promote cognitive growth. In the beginning the tactics are introduced and supported with adult assistance, just as we would introduce and assist in the introduction and use of a physical tool like a hammer. Eventually the goal is for the child to use these tools independently.
The first tactic is using mediators. Mediators can be both internal and external tools which aid and assist behaviors and mental processes. Examples of mediators that adults use in everyday life are: arrows or signs on a road, chants or mnemonic devices, and graphic organizers. For young children mediators need to be external and evident. Research by Leont’ev (1981, 1994 as cited by Bodrova and Leong, 2007, p. 53) revealed that in early childhood children are not able to create or use external mediators unassisted. However, they were able to accomplish this skill in the “context of meaningful activity shared with adults” (p. 55).