Enthusiastic and Engaged Learners

160 pages • P/B • 180mm x 252mm
ISBN 9780807748800

Approaches to Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom

Research shows that positive approaches to learning improve both social,emotional and academic outcomes. Enthusiastic and Engaged Learners will help early childhood professionals implement strategies to support young children’s positive approaches to learning, their enthusiasm (interest, joy, and motivation to learn) and their engagement (attention, persistence, flexibility, self-regulation, and other essential learning behaviours). Along with extensive research, the text includes images of practice in early education programs in culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse settings.

This book will help teachers, future teachers, and other early childhood stakeholders to:

• Understand how children acquire positive approaches to learning.
• Know what research says about why approaches to learning are so important.
• Recognize what supports and what undermines children’s enthusiasm and engagement in learning.
• Identify and plan specific strategies for the classroom.
• Use culturally sensitive assessments to plan interventions.
• Select and modify curriculum and teaching practices.
• Access resources to help every child enter school with positive approaches to learning.
• Influence educational policies and decision making.

“Hyson has truly given early childhood educators a great gift. We will now have Enthusiastic and Engaged Learners as a framework to guide our understanding of and communication about approaches to learning. . . . Lively and enchanting vignettes of children, teachers, and classrooms abound in this book, bringing to life the theoretical constructs explored. In addition, the authors clear, concrete, and well-organized writing style keeps the reader enthusiastic and engaged throughout.”

From the Foreword by Sue Bredekamp, Council for Professional Recognition