For young children, pretend play is so much more important than just having fun. In a study by Dr. Stephanie M. Carlson, University of Minnesota Professor and Reflection Sciences CEO and Co-founder, and U of MN alums Dr. Rachel White, Dr. Emily Prager, and Catherine Schaefer, children who pretend to be their strong-minded hero are…
Minnesota Executive Function Scale + Outcome Measure for Montessori Education
By Stephanie M. Carlson, PhD and Philip David Zelazo, PhD The notion of reflection is rooted throughout Montessori methods. The environment and pedagogy are designed to cultivate children’s awareness of their work and self-motivated learning. Reflection is also the key to developing life skills known as “executive function.” Educators and employers are increasingly hearing about…
Be a Better Mentor with Executive Function
Joseph Angaran, national Check & Connect trainer at the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota, explains the power of ‘pausing’ to enhance executive function and be a better mentor. Reflection, which refers to the ability to “notice challenges, pause, consider options, and put things into context prior to responding”, supports healthy academic,…
How to Improve Early Childhood Education: Help Teachers De-Stress
A new report out this month: 46% of teachers say they feel high daily stress. Roughly 50% agree that “stress and disappointments involved in teaching at this school aren’t really worth it.” What helps? Mindfulness. Patricia Jennings, Associate Professor of Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, mindfulness practitioner of more…
Advantages of Early Childhood Education
According to recent research by Professor and Nobel-winning economist James Heckman, there are huge advantages of Early Childhood Education. High-quality early childhood development programs can deliver an annual return of 13% per child on upfront costs through better outcomes in education, health, employment and social behavior. “Investing in the continuum of learning from birth to…
Montessori Schools + Executive Function
We have teamed up with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector to provide the Developmental Environment Rating Scale, or DERS, and the MEFS App to Montessori schools across the nation. Click here for more information and to find out how you can get started.
Strategies for Parents: Goldilocks Parenting
Reflection Sciences Co-founder Dr. Stephanie Carlson explains how “goldilocks parenting”, or finding techniques that are “just right” for a child’s autonomy development, affects the child’s executive function development. When parents interact with their child in a way that balances patience, helpfulness, and involvedness, the child develops the ability to reflection on choices and make decisions according to their own…
Early Childhood Education Benefits and How to Make Them Last
The National Public Radio education blogger Elissa Nadworny explores Early Childhood Education Benefits and how differences between preschools affect children. “The question is turning away from whether we should do pre-kindergarten and instead to HOW should we do pre-kindergarten…” See the full article here.
Executive Function Issues or Laziness?
This 2-part series by Dr. Lynn Margolies of Psych Central features the published work of Reflection Sciences Co-founder, Dr. Phil Zelazo. Part 1 of the series describes how Executive Function issues, the new “hot” umbrella term being used by teachers, counselors, and parents to describe an array of learning and attentional issues, differs from laziness. Part…
U of MN Newsletter features Reflection Sciences
Reflection Sciences Co-founders, Dr. Stephanie Carlson and Dr. Phil Zelazo, are also Co-directors of the Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience (DSCN) Lab at the University of Minnesota. See what their lab has been up to in the past year by reading the Lab’s Play-by-Play newsletter, found here!