Teacher Observations on the Implementation of the Tools of the Mind Curriculum in the Classroom: Analysis of Interviews Conducted over a One-Year Period

doi:10.4236/ce.2012.32029

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Creative Education

2012. Vol.3, No.2, 185-192

Published Online April 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.32029

Teacher Observations on the Implementation of the Tools of the

Mind Curriculum in the Classroom: Analysis of Interviews

Conducted over a One-Year Period

Susan Im hol z 1, Anthony Petrosino2

1Independent Author, West New York, NJ, USA

2College of Education, University of Texas, Austin, USA

Email: susan.imholz@pepperdine.edu, ajpetrosino@mail.utexas.edu

Received February 23rd, 2012; revised March 20th, 2012; accepted April 3rd, 2012

The following pilot study reports on teacher observations and reflections of implementing the Tools of the

Mind curriculum in pre-k and kindergarten classrooms in an east coast urban school district in the US.

The study followed five teachers over the course of a school year. Structured interviews were conducted

with each teacher individually shortly after Tools of the Mind teacher training sessions took place. The

analysis reports on themes that emerged in these conversations. Findings address; challenges the teachers

faced in implementing the program, training issues, and the effectiveness of the program in supporting

children’s intellectual and social skills.

Keywords: Curriculum; Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education; Learning; Social Development;

Self-Regulation

Introduction

The Tools of the Mind (hereafter Tools) curriculum is rela-

tively new to the US. Its developers, Dr. Elena Bodrova and Dr.

Deborah Leong, are based at Metropolitan State College of

Denver, Colorado and have been working together on the Tools

curriculum since 1993 according to their website (www.tool-

softhemind.org). Over the past decade Dr. Bodrova and Dr.

Leong have been successful in enlisting a number of school

districts to adopt the program, as well as provide professional

development training to teachers in those schools (Bodrova &

Leong, 2007). The Tools’ website currently notes that the cur-

riculum is being implemented in Colorado, Florida, Maine,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina,

Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington1.

With a little over a decade of use in public schools here in the

US, there are still only a small number of studies that attest to

its effectiveness and outcomes (Diamond & Lee, 2011; Bo-

drova & Leong, 2003, 2005a, 2005b, 2006; Barnett, Jung,

Yaroz, Thomas, & Hornbeck, 2008), and none have specifically

addressed the concerns and experience of the teachers who are

in the early phases of implementing the program.

The history of educational curriculum and pedagogy in

American public education is nearing its bicentennial year since

the establishment of public schools outpaced private schools in

the late colonial era, circa 1840, and the publication of the

McGuffey Readers—the first grade-level reading text books

widely used in 19th century America. The evolution of the field

is marked by many mil estones. Creation of a robust educational

publishing industry and the creation of the educational software

industry utilizing multiple pedagogical approaches are two

examples of significant innovations. The portfolio of curricu-

lum content for consumption by K-12 schools continues to

grow. However, only a subset of these educational materials

represent design innovations which embody and reflect our

growing understanding of cognitive and emotional development,

or advances in our understanding of models of mind.

To illustrate this concretely, let’s use the metaphor of the

evolving automobile. If we compare and contrast a 1959 Ford

with today’s smart cars we can agree that both are forms of

transportation which convey passengers from point A to point

B. By design, smart cars are functionally more complex, more

fuel efficient, are engineered to provide navigational direction

and are sensitized to obstacles in their path, as well as being

designed to protect occupants from a crash with special features.

In short, the smarter car embodies collective advances in engi-

neering technologies across disciplines and these are advances

that passengers can see, touch, and feel. Most of us are wit-

nessing and participating in this cultural evolution because

automobiles are ubiquitous. By contrast advances in K-12 edu-

cational curriculum are not as easily understood or appreciated

because the experience of going to school is uniquely that of

the student—parents are onlookers who get to participate in the

choice of curriculum materials only if they are willing to be-

come active members of a parent/teacher association, or School

Board committee. Family members are also observers of cur-

ricular change to the extent that they are actively involved in

monitoring children’s homework (Scott-Jones, 1995; González,

Andrade, Civil, & Moll, 2001; Van Voorhis, 2003).

A brief recap of how changes in our models of mind are re-

flected in major milestones in curriculum materials over the

past century helps to put the Tools of the Mind curriculum into

perspective2. Starting with the late 18th century and early 19th

century view of the child, schooling emphasized the study of

religious texts, but home instruction also included reading,

2See: Michael Fullan (2001). The new meaning of educational change. New

York, NY: Teachers College Press.

1www.toolsofthemind.org accessed 06/06/11.

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

writing, the Greek philosophers and mathematics. The corre-

sponding model of mind that directed this choice of materials

assumed the child needed moral guidance to mature as a pro-

ductive member of society (Wishy, 1972). The accepted think-

ing about children’s character was that they were born morally

corrupted, and needed to be civilized through moral education

first and foremost. The first inter-state association of teachers to

rigorously advocate for early childhood education was The

American Institute of Instruction, formed in Boston in 18303.

The Institute published one of the first periodic journals on

teaching—the American Journal of Education. Many articles

were dedicated to the importance of establishing early child-

hood education for all communities, regardless of class and

wealth. Early Journal issues give first-hand accounts of how

teachers struggled with making the transition from a model of

crooked minds to that of the tabula rasa—the impressionable

mind, then the developmental mind—the mind that grows to

maturity in phases4.

The birth of the child study movement in the mid to late 19th

century is often attributed to G. Stanley Hall. In terms of its

impact on curriculum however, John Dewey most notably ex-

emplified its ideas in practice. Dewey promoted experiential

education that would enable children to learn theory and prac-

tice simultaneously. A modern day example of this is the prac-

tice of teaching elementary physics and biology to students

while preparing a meal (Barron et al., 1998). At Dewey’s lab

school at Teachers College at Columbia University in the early

1900’s, children built objects in wood working shops, they

cooked meals, stitched and wove cloth, and generally practiced

skills that adults engaged in as a form of parallel play which

conveyed to children that they were engaging in socially mean-

ingful activities that were more exploratory than exploitive

work chores. Dewey also acknowledged Friedrich Froebel’s

significant contribution to the design of infant and nursery

school toys (aka Froebel gifts)5 and suggested the US model

primary curriculum after Froebel’s kindergarten6. While moral

and ethical teachings were still considered important, defining

age appropriate content and subject matter became the focus of

educators. Moreover, the internal world of psychological de-

velopment was beginning to exert itself as the determining

factor in the design and production of books for public and

educational consumption.

As cognitive psychology took root as theory taught in

schools of education, teachers learned about stages and phases

of the child’s mental growth in their training. These ideas were

further refined by Jean Piaget in observations and research7.

The notion that conceptual changes in thinking were closely

allied with physical maturation was another milestone which

influenced curriculum development. Montessori, Waldorf schools

and the Reggio Emilia system all evolved in tandem during the

early to mid 20th century under the prevailing belief that chil-

dren are formed in large part by their early life experiences.

While the philosophy of teaching varied among the three peda-

gogues above, they all shared a special attention to detail in the

design of learning environments and created rich imaginative

play spaces for chi l d ren in the early pri ma ry grades.

During the second half of the 20th century experimental

psychology began to influence academic thinking with cogni-

tive information processing models of mind (Broadbent, 1958;

Newell & Simon, 1972). These theories focused on the atom-

istic analysis of how the brain acquires and processes new in-

formation, and shed light on how short term memory and long

term memory were two different but overlapping activities of

the brain; repetition and reflection being key to remembering

facts and figures long enough to do well on a test. The informa-

tion processing model of mind resulted in a renaissance of

workbooks for every school text book, along with a resurgence

of repetition and drill for K-12 education.

As theories of instruction began to evolve (Bloom & Krath-

wohl, 1956; Bruner, 1960, 1966, 1996; Kalantzis & Cope, 2008)

curriculum choices multiplied, each reflecting different models

of mind with the added dimension of using new media as a

delivery system for instruction. In 1995, Tyak & Cuban wrote

that the idea of steady progressive educational reform had met

its end in the 1970s8. Perhaps another way of saying this is that

the pluralistic choice of curriculum that sprang into existence

over the latter part of the 20th century has made it more diffi-

cult for school administrators to convince parents and their

communities that there is only one way forward in the name of

education progress.

Historically, we can see schools have vacillated between

pedagogy that offers highly structured, or drill and practice

curriculum emphasizing the mastery of content, with seemingly

less structured constructivist child-centered learning environ-

ments that value community building and social skills as much

as the development of academic skills (Hmelo-Silver, Duncan,

& Chinn, 2007). This tension still lies at the crux of curriculum

choice for school administrators, especially for pre-k and kin-

dergarten classrooms. Setting aside the No Child Left Behind

Act9 as a factor influencing decision making, education leaders

need to analyze and interpret educational research about cur-

riculum design just as medical professionals, legal profession-

als and engineers re-evaluate their practice relative to new data.

One way of defining progress that informs curriculum choice

is to pay close attention to cross disciplinary research on the

evolving understanding of mind from multiple perspectives:

cultural, psychological, cognitive and neurobiological. The

Tools program is based primarily on Vygotsky’s (1986) ideas

about the use of play as a catalyst for psychological and cogni-

tive growth; however neuroscience research can also be cited

for supporting the approach the Tools has developed. Neuro-

plasticity tells us that individuals are engaged from infancy

onward in a unique experiment in scaffolding meaning making,

one sound, one interaction, one image at a time (Pascual-Leone

et al., 2005; Doidge, 2007; McEwen et al., 2011).

3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_of_Instruction accessed 03/

30/11.

4Infant Schools, American Journal of Education online, June; 3, 6 (1828);

ducation of Infant Children, American Journal of Education online July; 3

7 (1828); Pestalozzi’s Letter on the Education of Infants, American Journal

of Educatio n online, March; 1, 2 (1830); Education of Infants—

case study

American Journal of Education online, March; 1, 2 (1830);

ddress to the

ational Teachers Association, American Journal of Education online, June

43 (1866).

5See http://www.froebel.org.uk for the history of Froebel and his method.

6Dewey, J. (1990) The School and Society & The Child and the Curriculum

Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, centennial edition, p.116.

7See http://www.piaget.or g/abou tPiag et.h tml for a fu ll in d ex of h is wr itin gs .

Accessed 04/02/11.

The main distinction of the Tools program from other pre-k

curriculum is that it offers a more complicated model of mind

8Tyak, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward public school reform: A

century of public school reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

p. 13.

9No Child Left Behind Act, legislation adopted by the US Congress in 2001

See PL 107-110, www2.ed.gov/lsec/leg/esea02/index.html.

186

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

in addition to addressing classroom organization, management,

and curriculum materials. This is an important aspect of the

program and its successful adoption by schools. It’s also worth

noting because it represents a qualitative change in the design

of classroom curriculum much the way smart cars outclass the

1959 Ford under the hood. It is for this reason that teacher ob-

servations in the implementation of the curriculum is well

worth studying. Our pilot study formally begins a dialogue

about how teachers experience and view the impact of the

Tools program in their classrooms and their professional de-

velopment, in addition to suggesting future directions for re-

search.

Study Rationale

The relationship between preschool curriculum and later

school success has been studied by Marcon (2002) with sig-

nificant findings. Over a period of five years, Marcon tracked

the academic progress of more than 300 children from an urban

school district that had been exposed to three different types of

preschool curriculum; child-initiated, academically oriented or

directed, and a combination of the two. The results showed that

preschool curriculum models did have an influence on chil-

dren’s later school achievement; students who had been in-

volved with child-initiated curriculum had higher grades, and

performed consistently better than the two other peer groups on

academic tasks as they aged into and out of the elementary

grades. What this tells us is that developing an internal locus of

control and sense of agency in carrying out academic tasks

matters, and it matters at a very young age. This appears to be

an internal psychological disposition according to many educa-

tors, and very few public schools have adopted pre-k curricu-

lum that address this goal in a serious way.

Enter, the Tools of the Mind curriculum. As me ntioned above,

Bodrova and Leong developed the Tools program in the 1990s

and have been the sole medium of its dissemination; they are

also evaluating the program (2001). Barnett et al. (2008) noted

that “while child-centered, Tools emphasizes the teacher’s role

in guiding and supporting the child’s learning… it does not fit

neatly into frameworks that classify curricula as teacher-di-

rected or child-initiated, child-centered or content-centered, and

academically-focused or socialization focused” (p. 300). The

program is highly structured for teachers, while at the same

time emphasizes active participation in play for young students.

In a recent journal article on educational media Verenikina

(2010) observed that Vygotsky claims the prize as the most

cited author in a review of current research. Although new to

media studies, many in the field of education have long appre-

ciated Vygotsky for the sociohistorical nature of cognitive

growth and language development that he proposed, in contrast

to Jean Piaget’s more stage-stepped model of internal cognitive

growth. Pea (2004) succinctly described the differences this

way: “as Vygotsky would have it, psychological development

progresses from an interpsychological to intrapsychological

plane” (p. 426), i.e., learning precedes new internal categories

to think with. Piaget surmised the opposite; that internalized

construction of new schema forged by the individual makes

new learning possible. The two theorists examine human de-

velopment from different perspectives, Piaget through concep-

tual change, and Vygotsky (1986) through semiotic analysis of

the socio-cultural environment the society provides. Wertsch

(1985) portrays the three themes at the core of Vygotsky’s

theoretical framework as an analytical technique: 1) a reliance

on a genetic or developmental method; 2) the assumption that

higher order mental processes in the individual have their ori-

gins in social processes and activities; 3) the exhortation that

mental processes are only understood through the lens of the

cultural tools and signs that mediate them. Vygotsky’s ideas

have been widely read in academia, and found enthusiastic

reception in the application and design of software environ-

ments for middle, secondary school, and adult populations (Pa-

pert, 1980; Collins & Duguid, 1989; Papert & Harel, 1991;

Lave & Wenger, 1991; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1991; Schauble

& Glaser, 1996; Sherin et al., 2004; Brown, 2006).

Description of Tools of the Mind

The Tools curriculum is designed to promote executive func-

tions and self-regulation as learned behaviors that can be facili-

tated. Applying Vygotsky’s theory through the use of 20th

century media—books, flash cards, puppets, and scripted drama

activities—presents special challenges for teachers who are the

interpreters and facilitators of the child’s experience of the

program and its highest aims. First, as agents of change the

Tools materials themselves do not embody the process oriented

goals of their use. Secondly, fully embracing the Tools curricu-

lum may involve discarding previously held models of mind

and psychological development by teachers. Purposeful play is

at the center of classroom learning—this may appear to be a

step backward for both parents and teachers who have been led

to believe reading and writing readiness are paramount goals

for pre-k and Kindergarten. Daily activities promote self-regu-

latory behaviors in children not as a strategy, but as the primary

goal of education. How this is communicated to inquiring par-

ents may create some awkward moments. The concept of self-

regulation is easily mistaken for behavioral compliance by sea-

soned educators. In the past curriculum did not address self-

regulation directly, this issue was more often considered a

classroom management topic—in other words, it was the

teacher’s responsibility to regulate students. Teachers simply

waited for executive functions to emerge of their own accord

with the arrival of “the age of reason” (Lowenfeld & Brittain,

1975; Piaget, 1957, 1975).

The Tools curricula has shown that when self-monitoring is

practiced, much the way we exercise our other muscles to im-

prove our overall physical health, the child’s ability to take

direction, collaborate, and cooperate with peers is enhanced

(Bodrova & Leong, 2003, 2005a, 2005b, 2006; Barnet et al.,

2008). These are internal attributes that are crucial to the child's

later success in the primary grades, and sense of agency as

Marcon’s and Brown & Campione’s (1994, 1996) research

indicates.

There is a prescribed method for organizing the Tools class-

room using several different activity centers along with pro-

prietary reading texts. The cost of adapting a well furnished

pre-k or kindergarten class to a Tools classroom is approxi-

mately $1000 - $1500. The greatest hurdle in the transition is

conveying the curriculum to teachers who are, in many in-

stances, taking on the tasks of becoming a Tools teacher by

decree from above and who bring with them a host of their own

ideas about how to teach early childhood education. There are

over 40 activities in the Tools curricula that address literacy and

writing skills, math, science, and drama play. A comprehensive

description cannot be provided here, but the following three

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

examples of Tools activities are discussed in the data and

analysis sections, so an explanation will be helpful10:

Buddy reading: A main feature of literacy skill building that

incorporates reflective and self-monitoring activities. Children

work in pairs; taking turns reading from a book and listening.

Symbolic mediators: Cue cards, graphic organizers, finger

puppets with special roles and messages, and games designed to

help young children transition from one activity to another, or

assist in enrolling them into play characters.

Play plans: The first writing activity of the day, a kind of

work contract the child creates, serves as plan that will guide

drama play activities that the child will engage in for the day.

The student and teacher conference once a week to review the

plans.

The current study adds to the literature on the Tools of the

Mind program by focusing on the teacher’s experience of

learning and teaching the curriculum. Just as multiple opportu-

nities for children to reflect on their work and play in the class-

room are built into the Tools activities as a means of stimulat-

ing critical thinking, inviting teachers to reflect upon their own

appropriation of the Tools curriculum as instructors might har-

bor insights and indicators of the success of the program in its

implementation. With this in mind, the researchers followed 5

teachers through the 2009-2010 school year to listen closely to

the struggles, issues, and triumphs that were arising in their

classrooms.

Methodology

A structured interview with teachers was chosen as the data

collection method most appropriate to appraising the new cur-

riculum roll-out. Information was solicited from teachers th-

rough a directed line of questioning or Socratic dialogue, with

the goal of drawing out the teacher’s thoughts and feelings,

dispelling the notion that there are right and wrong answers.

Transcripts of interviews were analyzed for themes and issues.

The questions were also use d as a heuristic schema in the a nal y-

sis of the qualitative data. Additionally, the study structure gave

the teachers an opportunity to reflect on what they were seeing

and doing over and above what was required of them in the

training program. Three of Knowles (1980) andragogical ten-

ants are inherent in the design framework. They are: 1) adults

learn best when they are involved in the planning and evalua-

tion of their instruction; 2) experiences, good and bad, provide

the basis for learning activities; 3) adult learning is problem-

centered rather than content-oriented. There were approxi-

mately 20 - 25 teachers involved in implementing the Tools of

the Mind curriculum in pre-k and Kindergarten classrooms in

the school district; 5 of these teachers were chosen to partici-

pate in the study. Three interview questions were asked of the

teachers at each of the three interview sessions scheduled in the

fall, spring, and early summer. The interviews took place within

1 - 3 weeks after Tools of the Mind training sessions had been

conducted, so that this experience would be fresh at hand. The

interviews lasted approximately 45 - 50 minutes. The three

interview questions asked were:

1) What are the challenges of implementing the Tools of the

Mind program in your classroom, and what are your sugges-

tions for improving training?

2) What is the program contributing to your own professional

development as a teacher?

3) What behavioral and cognitive/academic changes are you

seeing in your students over the academic school year?

Study Description

Adoption of Tools of th e Mind by School

Administrators

The adoption of the Tools of the Mind program in the New

Jersey school district where the study took place was under-

taken by the administration and school board in 2008, and

launched during the 2008-2009 school year with the expecta-

tion of doing three things:

1) Standardizing the experience of pre-k and kindergarten for

all students across the district, and enhancing kindergarten in-

struc tion by going from a 1/2 day to full teaching day.

2) Acknowledging the development of social skills and self-

regulation as a primary (versus secondary) goal of the pre-k and

kindergarten experience, on par with the learning of academic

skills.

3) Increasing the school readiness and self-regulatory behav-

iors of young children so that they would be better prepared to

excel academica lly in the early prim ary grades.

The School Environment

Description of the city and school district: The study was

conducted in an eastern seaboard city of approximately 50,000

according to the 2010 census, located near the New York City

metropolitan area. The school district serves approximately

2000 students. The following profile presented is taken from

2010 census data: The racial makeup of the city is 83% White,

3.1% African American, 0.16% Native American, 4.9% Asian,

and 6.3% Hispanic. The median income for a household in the

city as of the 2010 census was $105,710 while the median in-

come for a family was $130,068. A growing population of the

city is affluent; however, 32.5% of housing in the city is

owner-occupied, while 67% is renter-occupied. Over the past

six years, four new K-6 private schools have opened to compete

with the local public school system.

Choice of Subjects

Convenience sampling was used for the selection of the 5

teachers in this study. Selection was assisted by the district

Superintendent’s office and Director of Child Development,

who were overseeing the implementation of the new curriculum

project. The subjects in this study were interviewed three times

over the course of the 2009-2010 school year. Of the five

teachers, three were pre-k instructors, and two were kindergar-

ten teachers. All were in their second year of teaching the Tools

curriculum.

The subject group, all women, represented a varied spectrum

of backgrounds and skill level. Of the five the teachers the

range of years in the profession was; 33, 13, 7, 7 and 4 years of

teaching in pre-k, kindergarten, and early primary grades. All

had been exposed to other curriculum programs (Creative Cur-

riculum, and arts based pre-k and kindergarten curriculum) at

some point in their careers. All five teachers had college de-

grees, and their first choice of a profession was teaching. They

were all certified to teach pre-k and early childhood education

according to New Jersey state standards.

10See the manual: Bodrova, E. & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the Mind:

The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education.

188

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

Thematic Analysis of Interview Data

Structured interview transcripts were analyzed for themes

and issues. The themes that emerged were categorized in ac-

cordance with the three questions asked. Three main subcate-

gories of issues emerged in this analysis for each question (See

Table 1).

Data Summary

Question 1—What Are the Challenges of

Implementing the Tools of the Mind Program in

Your Classroom, and What Are Your Suggestions

for Improving Training?

Training Issues

The training sessions themselves were given high praise by

most of the teachers. There was a notable tendency for teachers

to complement the trainers and support staff about preparation

of materials needed for the training sessions, and the amount of

thought and effort that was being expended. The teachers uni-

formly agreed that active participation in the training sessions

(where activities were assigned for teams of teachers to work

on and then present findings/activities) was preferable to lecture

delivery of subject matter. Modeling how to conduct and struc-

ture new curriculum being introduced, and having the chance to

model activities themselves with feedback was also a preferred

method of conducting training activities.

The Tools of the Mind website, its teacher resources, and its

accessibility 24/7 also got high praise from two of the five

teachers.

All five teachers struggled with balancing their need for

mastery of the new program content, with reflecting on the

program’s impact on their students—in the researchers’ opinion,

this was in part a linguistic problem. In other words, their Tools

training did not address their own internal experience of con-

ceptual change brought about by the adoption of the new cur-

ricula sufficiently for them to be able to articulate their dis-

comforts in terms of epistemological change. Another way of

viewing this issue is that the Tools program training may be

overly centered on the child’s experience, rather than the teach-

ers’ experience of learning the method. Framing the teachers’

disorientation and worries as a natural result of their own

Table 1.

Interview questions and dominant themes.

What are the challenges of implementing the Tools program?

 Training issues

 Ethical issues

 Classroom challenges

What is the program contributing to your own professional development ?

 Enhancing classroom management skills

 Enhancing classroom instruction skill s

 Program addresses multiple learning styles

What behavioral and cognitive changes are you seeing in your students?

 Fewer classroom beha vioral problems

 More collaborative behaviors

 Higher level of verbalization and communicat i on among children

learning process as they move toward a more complex model of

mind would have helped them to consider their issues as

value-added contributions to the process, and would in turn

consign higher value to their own learning.

Finally, the lack of ongoing scheduled opportunities for

sharing ideas and to talk with other teachers within the school

system who were also involved in the project was an issue

raised by four of the five teachers in many contexts over the

course of the year, many times.

Ethical Issues

An ethical dilemma relative to integrating old teaching me-

thods with the new curriculum presented itself for one of the

five teachers in particular. The point of contention was resolv-

ing the readiness level needed or expected of children in first

grade, with the level of content knowledge about reading and

writing that the new Tools curriculum was providing for kin-

dergarteners. Struggling with this issue resulted in sleepless

nights. “This has real consequences for kids”, the teacher stated,

“some parents have approached me and said ‘I feel like my kid

isn’t getting what they need and isn’t going to be ready for first

grade’”.

By the end of the year the issue had resolved itself; this

teacher began recognizing that the more process oriented class-

room activities that the Tools program provides had in fact

resulted in an increase of functional skill levels across the board

in all of her students, and, even though the students did not all

share the same uniform level of content information (which her

old teaching method provided) she was satisfied that the chil-

dren as a group were ready for first grade.

Classroom Challenges

The Tools of the Mind curriculum does require that teachers

learn a new way of documenting student progress. Keeping up

with the amount of new note taking required was a challenge

for all of the teachers, and some readily admitted that they were

falling behind. Two teachers questioned the purpose of constant

documentation of student activities, with the complaint that

taking notes was interfering with their ability to interact with

students. Fitting all of the daily activities suggested into the

school day posed scheduling problems for at least 2 of the 5

teachers. By year end, this issue was less pressing as the teach-

ers’ mastered new learning activities that had been introduced

during the year.

There was also resistance to becoming fully involved with

drama play by two of the five teachers. Reasons given were that

the play scenarios offered in training were too complicated for

the children to act out, and, drama play was the activity viewed

as most expendable in order to fit in another activity center.

From the researchers’ perspective, this appeared to be an issue

of not fully understanding the theoretical bridge between per-

sonal and formal knowledge that the Tools program strives to

build through drama play. These are training issues. In this

particular instance, one’s model of mind clearly determines

how you set priorities in the classroom, and how teachers inte-

grate new information with old.

Question 2—What Is the Program Contributing to

Your Own Pr of ess ional D evelopment as a Teacher?

Enhancing Classroom Management Skills

Four out of the five teachers agreed that the Tools program

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

was enhancing their professional development by giving them a

more structured approach to classroom management (their

terms). One of the interesting revelations expressed by one

teacher was a growing awareness of how much she had been

doing for her students, as opposed to allowing them to do

things for themselves without her hovering assistance. With this

new insight, she planned on backing off from being an aggres-

sive interventionist. In her own words, “I realized how much I

was doing for them—I think I was unaware of how independent

they could be”.

Enhancing Classroom Instruction Skills

Four of the five teachers also agreed that the Tools program

was providing them with new activities for their arsenal of

teaching techniques. One teacher felt as if she had already ac-

quired many of the Tools program activities in principle, for

example, use of mediator cards as behavioral prompts and

puppet plays as a way of transitioning from one activity to an-

other. On the other hand she did recognize that the Tools cur-

riculum was exerting its influence on the children’s social be-

havior in very positive ways.

A perceptive observation from the most senior teacher was

that the Tools curriculum had succeeded in blurring the bound-

ary between what the children considered play and work in her

classroom. In her own words, “I’m not hearing—‘Mrs. G—I’m

done with my work, can I go play?’—anymore”.

Program Addresses Multiple Learning Styles

It was noted by two of the five teachers in the interviews that

the Tools curriculum truly provides for multiple learning styles,

the visual learner, the auditory learner and the haptic11 learner

in a way that previous curriculum materials used did not. The

visual learner gets to draw and symbolize, the auditory learner

is engaged through buddy reading and role play, and the haptic

learner gets to act out his or her ideas in dramatic play.

Question 3—What Beh a vi o ral and C ogni ti ve Ch anges

Are You Seeing in Your Students?

Behavioral Change

All five teachers reported fewer classroom behavior prob-

lems during the third and last interview of the school year.

Reasons given included the following:

 “The kids show more patience with one another… there

aren’t as many classroom squabbles”.

 “They have respect for one another”.

 “I do not have to raise my voice to get [the classes] atten-

tion”.

 “Kids are using language more to resolve conflicts… where

they use to resort to hitting or shoving each other”.

 “They follow rules better”.

 “There is calmness to the classroom now”.

It is interesting to note that many of the improvements cited

by the teachers are functional proficiencies describing the

young students taking on greater responsibility for their learn-

ing, as well as showing a heightened level of engagement in

classroom activities. These behaviors definitely fall under the

category of self-regulation and greater self-reflection.

Cognitive and Academic Change

Teachers’ observations suggested that the teachers did see

cognitive changes in students’ abilities, but not all of the teach-

ers were able to articulate the relation between the Tools cur-

riculum activities and the emergence of new skills and abilities

on the part of the students:

 “[The children] can be self-monitoring in terms of moving

from activity to activity center over the course of the day”.

 “Best group of students ever in [my] seven years of teach-

ing… by far my most independent and brightest group, but I

don’t know if it has anything to do with the Tools program”.

 “They follow rules better”.

Here again, training sessions that set forth a clear framework

for thinking about conceptual changes in one’s developmental

model of mind may be the missing link in making these con-

nections for teachers.

Cognitive and Academic Change

Overall, teachers reported a higher level of verbalization and

communication among students:

 “[The children] express their feelings when interacting with

one another now… [for example] ‘you are making me feel

sad’ which I’ve never heard before”.

 “Their atten t ion span is greater”.

 “They are writing three or four sentences—all their own

ideas. They may be spelling words phonetically, so it’s not

perfect writing, but they’ve got the idea that what they say

and think matters”.

 “They are more comfortable explaining and talking about

what they are doing in the classroom—in drama play and in

buddy reading”.

The observed increase in the student’s verbalization skills

and communication with each other goes hand in hand with the

perceived increase in collaborative behaviors among children.

What is implied here is that academic achievement may follow

from these behaviors.

Discussion and Analysis

Teacher Observations Confirm Empirical Findings

The interviews suggest that the implementation of the Tools

of the Mind program is demanding according to teachers’ self-

report. Even so, all five subjects in the study report achieving a

level competence and mastery of the curriculum that is provid-

ing them with a sense of accomplishment. At the conclusion of

the school year, two of the five teachers mentioned that they

were thinking about applying to the Tools of the Mind En-

dorsed Teacher Program which would give them certification

status. One cannot discount the bias, or halo effect of the re-

searchers in this small study. As interested observers appearing

on a regular basis throughout the year, we were repeatedly re-

inforcing the idea that what teachers have to say is important

and worth documenting. Yet, what they observed as cognitive

and social benefits, i.e., fewer classroom behavioral problems,

more collaborative behaviors, a higher level of verbalization

and communication, dove-tails with the empirical research

findings of Barnett et al. (2008). This 2008 study compared

Tools classrooms and a control group on a number of parame-

ters. ECERS scores (the Early Childhood Environmental Rating

Scale) and SELA scores (Support for Early Literacy Assess-

ment) were among the tests used for assessing differences be-

11The term haptic was authored by Victor Lowenfeld in his observations o

how children approach artistic and creative problem solving. See: Lowenfeld,

V. and Brittain, W. (1975) Creative and Mental Growth. New York, NY:

MacMillan , 8th edition.

190

S. IMHOLZ ET AL.

tween the classes. Results showed the Tools classrooms at-

tained higher overall levels of quality: “the [higher] ECERS

scores were particularly evident on the Language and Reason-

ing Activities, and [classroom] Interactions subscales” (p. 310).

The concept of blurring work and play which the Tools pro-

gram fosters—noted by one teacher—maybe key to the forma-

tion of an internal locus of control and self-regulation. The

melding of personal knowledge and formal knowledge could be

the lynch-pin to keeping children engaged in their own learning

process as they move through elementary school. It is the sense

of separateness, the self-imposed distinction that academic

study is for someone else, which forms the crack in the armor

of identity marking the beginning of the end of a successful

academic career.

Sharing Good News

Teachers report overall quality of the training was good, but

inter-school communication was poor. A gulf still appears to

exist between the theoretical understanding of Vygotsky’s work,

his model of mind, and how it relates to academic achievement

and the growth of self-regulatory behaviors in children. Impor-

tant individual differences in the teachers’ ability to articulate

the impacts and benefits of the program existed among the five

subjects. Therefore, providing an ongoing forum for all pre-k

and kindergarten teachers across the district to share their ex-

periences on a regular basis together, and opportunities for

peer-to-peer mentoring could be very beneficial to achieving

superior mastery of the Tools curriculum allowing best insights

to be shared. If a distinguishing characteristic of the Tools pro-

gram is its model of mind, our study suggests that there were

lost opportunities to discuss and use that model as a touchstone

for understanding the “how” and “why” of day to day curricu-

lum activities for instructors. This can be easily addressed, but

first needs to be recognized as a problem. Ultimately, it is

teachers and not curriculum materials that are the transmitters

of pedagogical culture.

The two kindergarten teachers in the study also expressed the

desire to reach out to first grade teachers and communicate

what they were doing to facilitate a smooth transition for the

children from the Tools of the Mind curriculum program to the

new first-grade curriculum. If this were to become a formalized

activity that occurred at the beginning of the school year, it

would be a way to share the good news about the goals and

objectives of the Tools program across grade levels. Any aca-

demic benefits that have accrued to young students in the Tools

pre-k program may be diluted or lost if the elementary-grade

teaching-staff is left in the dark about the curriculum. For ex-

ample, the unique hieroglyphs used in Tools’ writing tasks may

appear as gibberish to the uninitiated elementary instructor—is

it fair to young students to be put in the position of being their

own advocates in regard to building upon previous learning

experiences?

Conclusion

The Tools of the Mind program is still relatively young and

its benefits are still being measured and assessed as children

advance from pre-k and kindergarten through the primary

grades. One could argue that the program’s true value is to be

found in what children accomplish academically in second,

third, and fourth grade. The teacher observations and reflections

in this study give us new insights into how the ongoing integra-

tion of the Tools program can be enhanced at this site, thereby

improving the educational experience for students. The scale,

scope, and method used in this work does not allow for gener-

alizing its findings. Nonetheless, lasting education changes in

teaching practice have to be anchored in good administrative

practices and supportive work environments. What we have

brought to light can best be categorized as lapses in planning

and professional development activities—and these are easily

remedied.

More importantly, we introduced the teacher as collaborator

whose learning process constitutes a dynamic form of parallel

play in the appropriation of the Tools curriculum with their

students. We know from extensive research (Goe & Stickler,

2008; Hanusek et al., 2005; Darling-Hammond, 2000) that

teacher quality is the primary factor in whether a child advances

academically in almost any classroom. Extending to teachers

the same attributes of mind that are highly valued for young

students—i.e., the primacy of the social construction of knowl-

edge—is central to the evolution of the education ecosystem.

Regardless of research methodology, a systems approach to the

study of education change and innovation enhances the applica-

tion and usefulness of academic research by acknowledging

that true knowledge is not gained from simple observation and

measurement of things alone, but in finding the connections

between things that lead to a more in-depth understanding of

learning environments.

Suggestions for continued research include: 1) comparing a

problem-centered vs content-oriented approach to Tools teacher

training in the second year of the program implementation, with

student academic outcomes; 2) knowing that adults learn best

when they are involved in the planning and evaluation of their

instruction, incorporating ongoing discussions of epistemo-

logical change among Tools teachers in future research evalua-

tion rubrics to better assess conceptual transformation.

Acknowledgements

We thank the teachers and principals who generously gave

time and effort to this project freely.

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