Topic: adult capabilities

All resources related to adult capabilities are displayed below. View Deep Dives: The Science of Adult Capabilities and Key Concepts: Building Adult Capabilities for more information on this topic.

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Building Core Capabilities for Life

This report identifies the core capabilities adults need to succeed in life and support the development of the next generation, how these capabilities develop, and what compromises them, and provides approaches for helping adults to build these core skills.

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A cover image from the Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts paper, showing the title and an image of two parents kissing their baby

From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts

This report synthesizes 15 years of dramatic advances in the science of early childhood and early brain development, analyzes evidence generated by 50 years of program evaluation research, and presents a framework for driving science-based innovation in early childhood policy and practice.

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Theory of Change video still

Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change

This 5-minute video depicts a theory of change from the Frontiers of Innovation community for achieving breakthrough outcomes for vulnerable children and families.

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Building the Skills Adults Need for Life: A Guide for Practitioners

This guide for practitioners explains the science behind our core life skills, what affects their development, and how practitioners can help adults build them.

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Animated people standing outside (a still from the Science by Design video)

Science X Design: Three Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children

Moving forward as a society depends on children developing to their full potential, and the science of early childhood development can help us figure out the best ways to make this happen. In this video, learn about three principles we’ve identified that community leaders, policymakers, and practitioners can use as a guiding star for designing […]

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A child and caregiver wearing goggles and doing a science experiment at a children's museum

Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting

In this video, learn more about how play can foster children’s resilience to hardship, and how the complex interactions involved when children play help build their brains.

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InBrief: Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare Systems

The healthy development of all children is essential for a thriving and prosperous community, and we now know a great deal about how child development works, as well as how to prevent and address problems. So, how can we use insights from cutting-edge science to improve the well-being and long-term life prospects of the most […]

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Motivation Brain

The Brain Circuits Underlying Motivation: An Interactive Graphic

The brain circuits underlying motivation are critical for attention, learning, and decision-making. In this interactive graphic, learn about the different parts of the brain that affect motivation and how they interact.

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Working Paper 14 cover

Understanding Motivation: Building the Brain Architecture That Supports Learning, Health, and Community Participation

A healthy, engaged community depends on people achieving to the best of their potential, contributing actively to the economy and public well-being, and helping the next generation to thrive. A complex set of intertwined social and biological factors influences people’s motivation to participate actively and productively in schools, jobs, and communities–and to persevere in the […]

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cover of guide

Building the Core Skills Youth Need for Life: A Guide for Education and Social Service Practitioners

All youth need to develop a set of core life skills to manage school, work, outside interests, and social relationships successfully. No one is born with these skills, but everyone can learn them through practice.

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Building Core Capabilities for Life brain graphic with airplanes

How Children and Adults Can Build Core Capabilities for Life

Every day we take on the ordinary, sometimes challenging, tasks of work, school, parenting, relationships, and just managing our busy lives. How do we navigate these tasks successfully? And what can send us off course? Science offers an explanation.

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Three Principles to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families

Understanding how the experiences children have starting at birth, even prenatally, affect lifelong outcomes—combined with new knowledge about the core capabilities adults need to thrive as parents and in the workplace—provides a strong foundation upon which policymakers and civic leaders can design a shared and more effective agenda.

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Intergenerational Mobility Project: Building Adult Capabilities for Family Success

This video profiles the Intergenerational Mobility Project and its use of a coaching framework to strengthen families’ ability to navigate the complexities of poverty.

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Ready4Routines: Building the Skills for Mindful Parenting

This video focuses on Ready4Routines, a project which supports parents as they work with their children to build regular family routines.

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Using Brain Science to Build a New 2Gen Intervention

In a “TED-style talk,” Stephanie M. Jones describes a new intervention that links the science of brain development with supports for adults and children.

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FIND: Using Science to Coach Caregivers

This video focuses on Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND), a video coaching program that aims to strengthen positive interactions between caregivers and children.

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Beth Babcock

Using Brain Science to Create New Pathways out of Poverty

EMPath CEO and Frontiers of Innovation associate Beth Babcock spoke at TEDxBeaconStreet about taking a science-informed approach to breaking the cycle of poverty. Her talk explains how poverty impairs the development of executive function in the brain, and shares the success of new coaching models that allow clients to practice and rebuild their executive function skills.

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Vroom

Vroom is a set of tools and resources from the Bezos Family Foundation designed to inspire families to turn everyday moments into “brain building moments” by layering activities that are essential to healthy brain development onto existing routines. Vroom was developed with input from early childhood experts, neuroscientists, parents, and community leaders, as well as the Center on the Developing Child.

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