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How can families and teachers give kids the life skills they need to cope in our multi-tasking, multimedia, modern world?

Ellen Galinsky felt compelled to seek an answer to this question more than a decade ago when her own research showed that far too many young people were turned off to learning—the fire in their eyes had dimmed, if not gone out.

Since then, Ellen has been conducting an extensive review of the research on how children learn best. With her partners at New Screen Concepts, she has traveled across the country filming researchers “in action” and interviewing them as they conduct groundbreaking experiments on child development.

On April 20, 2010, Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs was published by HarperStudio. In a first, Ellen shares this journey not only in the book but also in a Vook (video book) that takes us into the labs of the scientists as they conduct their studies.

In another first, Ellen has identified skills from child development research and neuroscience that help children thrive both now and in the future—that’s why they are called life skills.

All of the life skills involve the part of our brain (the prefrontal cortex) that weaves together our social, emotional and intellectual capacities in pursuit of our goals. Ellen believes that we will not be able to effectively address the achievement gap in this country unless we help all children gain these life skills.
Among her findings are:

• Any child can learn these skills at any age—it is never too late;
• Any adult can teach these skills; and
• Promoting these skills doesn’t call for expensive toys or equipment or lots of time—they involve doing fun, everyday things in new ways.

The Launch

• A preview event that took place on March 30, 2009 in Washington, DC: Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools, sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Education Commission of the States, the Children’s Leadership Council, Voices for America’s Children and select members of the Learning First Alliance
• A meeting in Washington, DC of national organizations where we will offer mini-grants for national organizations that would like to partner with Mind in the Making to promote engagement in learning and essential, learning-related skills;
• Special sessions at national, regional and state conferences (including annual conferences of the Southern Early Childhood Association, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and Parents as Teachers); and
• A Congressional launch event.