Ireland in winter is a magical place, with misty mornings, winding country roads and a promise of adventure at every turn. Over the past few weeks, my colleague and I packed up our notebooks, voice recorders and...
I am delighted to share my new article The storythinking programme: a framework for nurturing critical thinking in preschool which was published today (04/10/24) by Taylor & Francis Online.
Critical thinking, a multifaceted cognitive process, is more crucial than ever in the digital age. It involves listening, comprehension, understanding information from multiple viewpoints, comparing the information to what you know and looking at new information to find out how accurate (or fake) the information might be.
Dyslexia is a word used to describe a learning disability that commonly affects reading, writing and related skills, such as the use of language, articulation and grammar. However, this blog will not examine reading, writing or language use. Instead, it highlights the impact of dyslexia on self-esteem.
Have you ever wondered how educators decide to teach the way they teach and why they use the practices they adopt in the classroom to support learning and development? There are many ways to answer this question; your answer will be influenced by your knowledge of the educational system and your values, beliefs and hopes of how your children will experience their time in school.
As I begin the second year of my Ph.D. in the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, I decided to write a post about different ways children are involved in research. While there are many different opinions on this topic, I thought you might be interested in a few to get you thinking...
Yes, COVID-19 sucks! However, while it might be lonely, there are so many ways to reach out. For example, Zoom, whoever knew it would become part of so many lives? Personally, I love Zoom. Some other platforms, not so much. Zoom has helped me continue to take part in colleague classes where I see my lectures, supervisors and fellow students
In today's post, I thought I would write about what it is to think critically. But what exactly is critical thinking? Let's start by clarifying the oblivious! All humans think, how else would we ever make a decision. For example, will I get out of bed on this cold wet winter morning? Or will I stay in bed and avoid the forces of mother nature?
Lately, I have been hearing a lot on social media about the extra burden on parents to step into a teaching role as the ‘home-school educator’. As a parent of older children, I appreciate this is no easy task. Interesting, I have heard very little coverage discussing the opportunity that teaching and learning can give parents to connect with their child (and themselves) in a new way.
The following activities are child-led and work best when they take place after a story has been told. Because this is child-led, the adult has minimal input to the thinking from which the activity will develop. For that reason, the adult’s role is to encourage all children to participate in the activities and to facilitate and implement the children’s ideas.