Transforming schools into communities of thinking and learning about serious matters.

In this article, a program of research known as Fostering Communities of Learners is described. This program is in place in several schools and classrooms serving inner-city students from 6 to 12 years of age. Based on theoretical advances in cognitive and developmental psychology, the program is s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Psychologist Vol. 52; pp. 399 - 414
Main Author: Brown, Ann L.
Format: Article
Published: American Psychological Association April 1997
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:In this article, a program of research known as Fostering Communities of Learners is described. This program is in place in several schools and classrooms serving inner-city students from 6 to 12 years of age. Based on theoretical advances in cognitive and developmental psychology, the program is successful at improving both literacy skills and domain-area subject matter knowledge (e.g., environmental science and biology). Building on young children's emergent strategic and metacognitive knowledge, together with their skeletal biological theories, the program leads children to discover the deep principles of the domain and to develop flexible learning and inquiry strategies of wide applicability. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.