Threads of Thinking: Young Children Learning and the Role of Early Education

Written for early years practitioners who wish to support and develop children′s thinking, Threads of Thinking, Third Edition, presents evidence of continuity and progression in young children′s patterns of thinking and learning (schemas), and with detailed observations shows that they are able and active learners.

The author reviews children′s patterns of learning and thinking and demonstrates clearly how children learn in an active, dynamic and creative way, using examples of young children ′in action′, illustrating their learning in areas of literacy, mathematics and science. This new edition presents observations of babies and toddlers, discusses how their early schematic development can be supported, and includes examples of children learning through creative experiences in the arts. Focusing attention on children′s own learning agendas, this resource thoroughly reviews implications for curriculum, assessment and working with parents.

This fully revised third edition includes abundant, detailed descriptions of children learning and discusses those observations in the light of our understanding about how children learn and how that influences early childhood teaching strategies.

Cathy Nutbrown is President of Early Education and Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research over the last 30 years, has focussed on young children’s learning and work with parents to support young children’s literacy development.  She won an ESRC Award for Research with Outstanding Impact on Society and a Nursery World Lifetime Achievement Award. She is author of over 150 publications including Early Literacy Work with Families (with Hannon and Morgan, Sage, 2005), Early Childhood Educational Research (Sage, 2019), and Home Learning Environments for Young Children (with Clough, Davies and Hannon, Sage, 2022).