Integrating Developmental Domains in Education

The Children's School introduces parents and prospective students to its six domains of development its educational program and the cognitive foundations for its design (in lay terms) emphasizing the goal-driven nature of its instruction and assessment approaches outlined by the Goals Program Assessment (GPA) Approach which is based on research originally conducted by Jim Greeno (1976). Parents are also introduced to the low-risk research conducted at the school and assured that the students' educational experiences are administered with the highest ethical standards in mind. After signing a blanket permission form for the child to participate in any research projects conducted at the school parents are kept in the loop with abstracts of studies being conducted and updates about completed studies in the school's monthly newsletter. This likely requires a more thoroughly developed understanding of learners’ contexts in the home.

Dr. Carver works with undergraduates in a seminar course by relating theory in assigned readings with the case study of a student at the Children's School. Undergraduates will interview the student's teacher and sometimes the parents to apply methods learned in the Children's School relating cognitive foundations of instruction to understand the context within the student develops and learns.

To successfully educate children teachers at the Children’s School adapt programs to each individual student based on their assessments of the child's understanding progress attitude etc. while addressing multiple goals aligned with the Whole Child philosophy. To integrate the social cognitive and physical domains within one child requires understanding their physical and mental health as well as idiosyncrasies they possess that may hinder development - in a holistic manner.