Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children

Sue Robson is Honorary Research Fellow in the Early Childhood Research Centre, Froebel College, at the University of Roehampton. Sue taught in early years and primary settings before moving into higher education, where she was Principal Lecturer and Subject Leader for Early Childhood Studies at the University of Roehampton. Her research interests include cognition in early childhood, in particular self-regulation and metacognition (the subject of her doctoral studies), young children’s creative thinking, well-being and early childhood practitioner development. She is particularly interested in working with young children as participants in research, using a range of research methods to elicit their perspectives. Sue is a National Teaching Fellow and a Trustee and Member of Council of the Froebel Trust. Sue has written and presented widely.

• 1. How can we think about young children’s thinking? 2. Theories of cognitive development: learning to think and thinking to learn 3. The social, cultural and emotional contexts of thinking and understanding 4. The brain and the body: neuroscience and embodied cognition 5.Knowing about the mind: executive function, theory of mind, self-regulation and metacognition 6. Observing, describing and documenting children’s thinking and understanding 7. Language, communication and thought 8. Knowing about the world: the development of children’s concepts 9. Young children’s visual thinking 10. Young children’s thinking in music 11. Approaches to developing young children’s thinking and understanding