Children—and adults—need more than just academic knowledge to succeed and thrive in school and in life. They also need essential life skills based on executive function. Executive function refers to the set of attention-regulation skills that enable us to use our working memories, to think flexibly, and to use self-control to solve problems rather than acting on impulse. Executive function is foundational to life skills like setting goals, collaborating, and taking on challenges. Yet such skills don’t just happen—we learn them with support and practice.
In partnership with the Families and Work Institute, CEED is offering a new 8-module online training series: Mind in the Making: Essential Life Skills for Children and Adults. This self-paced series is suitable for both professionals and families with children birth through eight years old. All content is accessible 24/7, so you can log on and learn anytime on a schedule that works for you.
Seven essential skills
The Mind in the Making: Essential Life Skills for Children and Adults modules will prepare you to support children’s executive function using the lens of seven essential skills.
The seven essential skills are:
- Focus and Self-Control
- Perspective Taking
- Communicating
- Making Connections
- Critical Thinking
- Taking on Challenges
- Self-Directed, Engaged Learning
Transformational learning
- All content is pre-recorded, so you can learn at your own pace and on a schedule that works for you
- $130 for 8 research-backed modules
- 16 clock hours awarded by CEED
- Learn from leading child development researchers and neuroscientists and take virtual field trips to their labs
- Ellen Galinsky, author of Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs; motivational speaker Erin Ramsey; and nonprofit leader Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario are your guides
- Turn research into action in your work and in your life
- Deal with challenges and conflict with children in new ways
Embark on a journey of self-reflection and discovery that participants have called “life-changing”
Learn more
The Mind in the Making: Essential Life Skills for Children and Adults modules curate the science of child development and translate it into accessible tools and strategies that you can apply immediately at work and at home. They include interactive exercises and activities as well as editable PDFs and downloadable workbooks for each module. You’ll learn how to help children improve their executive function, but you’ll also develop an understanding and appreciation of the role of these skills in your own life. That’s important, because when we adults see the value of executive function, we do a better job of promoting it in children. It all starts with us.
The seven essential skills are described in greater detail in this downloadable infographic.
The modules include virtual field trips into leading research labs and feature the following experts so you can see classic and cutting-edge studies in action:
Lauren B. Adamson, PhD
Georgia State University
Patricia J. Bauer, PhD
Emory University
T. Berry Brazelton, MD Founder, Brazelton Touchpoints Center
Joseph J. Campos, PhD University of California, Berkeley
Stephanie Carlson, PhD
University of Minnesota
Judy S. DeLoache, PhD
University of Virginia
Adele Diamond, PhD
University of British Columbia
Carol S. Dweck, PhD
Stanford University
Anne Fernald, PhD
Stanford University
Roberta M. Golinkoff, PhD
Professor of Psychology
Alison Gopnik, DPhil
University of California, Berkeley
Wendy Grolnick, PhD
Clark University
Megan R. Gunnar, PhD
University of Minnesota
J. Kiley Hamlin, PhD
University of British Columbia
Kathryn A. Hirsh-Pasek, PhD
Temple University
Patricia K. Kuhl, PhD
University of Washington
Megan McClelland, PhD
Oregon State University
Walter Mischel, PhD
Columbia University
Charles A. Nelson III, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Gabriele Oettingen, PhD
New York University
Geetha B. Ramani, PhD
University of Maryland
Laura Schulz, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert S. Siegler, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
Catherine Elizabeth Snow, PhD
Harvard University
Sharon A. Ritchie, PhD University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Bethany Rittle-Johnson, PhD
Vanderbilt University
Jenny R. Saffran, PhD Professor of Psychology University of Wisconsin, Madison
Rebecca Saxe, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Edward Z. Tronick, PhD University of Massachusetts, Boston
Samuel S.-H Wang, PhD
Princeton University
Karen Wynn, PhD
Yale University
Philip David Zelazo, PhD
University of Minnesota
The Mind in the Making team also interviewed and filmed these additional researchers whose studies have inspired and informed our work:
J. Lawrence Aber, PhD
New York University
Nameera Akhtar, PhD University of California, Santa Cruz
Heidelise Als, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Daniel R. Anderson, PhD
University of Massachusetts
Clancy Blair, PhD
New York University
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD Columbia University Institute
Laurie Brotman, PhD
New York University
Maureen A. Callanan, PhD University of California, Santa Cruz
Geoffrey Canada
Harlem Children’s Zone
Mary (Maya) Carlson, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Stanislas Dehaene, PhD
College of France
Felton J. Earls, MD
Harvard Medical School
Maurice J. Elias, PhD
Rutgers University
Kurt Fischer, PhD
Harvard University
Kelly Fisher, PhD
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Nathan A. Fox, PhD
University of Maryland
Martin F. Gardiner, PhD
Brown University
Michael S. Gazzaniga, PhD University of California, Santa Barbara
Rochel Gelman, PhD
Rutgers University
Lisa Gennetian, PhD
Duke University
Herbert P. Ginsburg, PhD
Columbia University
Susan Goldin-Meadow, PhD
University of Chicago
John Gottman, PhD University of Washington
Elena Hoicka, PhD
University of California, Santa Cruz
Carollee Howes, PhD University of California, Los Angeles
Janellen Huttenlocher, PhD
University of Chicago
Jerome Kagan, PhD
Harvard University
Frank C. Keil, PhD
Yale University
David Klahr, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University
J. Ronald Lally, EdD
Center for Child & Family Studies WestEd
Susan Levine, PhD
University of Chicago
Alicia F. Lieberman, PhD University of California, San Francisco
Kristi Lockhart, PhD
Yale University
Karen L. Mapp, Ed.D. Harvard Graduate School of Education
Andrew N. Meltzoff, PhD
University of Washington
Rochelle Newman, PhD
University of Maryland
Robert C. Pianta, PhD
University of Virginia
Michael Posner, PhD
University of Oregon
Craig T. Ramey, PhD
Carillon School of Medicine and Research
Mitchel Resnick, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Georgene L. Troseth, PhD
Vanderbilt University
Sharon A. Ritchie, PhD University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Bethany Rittle-Johnson, PhD
Vanderbilt University
Jenny R. Saffran, PhDUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison
Rebecca Saxe, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lawrence J. Schweinhart, PhD HighScope Educational Research Foundation
Jack P. Shonkoff, MD
Harvard University
Daniel J. Siegel, MD University of California, Los Angeles
Elizabeth S. Spelke, PhD
Harvard University
Daniel N. Stern, MD University of Geneva Cornell University
Dorothy Strickland, PhD
Rutgers University
Ross A. Thompson, PhD
University of California, Davis
Whitney Weikum, PhD
University of British Columbia
Janet F. Werker, PhD
University of British Columbia
Amanda L. Woodward, PhD
University of Maryland
Questions? Email us.