Part I: Cognitive development from birth through age 8 -- Cognitive development in the first three years of life / Zero to Three -- Cognitive development in the preschool years / Heather Biggar Tomlinson & Marilou Hyson -- Cognitive development in the kindergarten year / Heather Biggar Tomlinson -- Cognitive development in the primary grades / Heather Biggar Tomlinson -- Becoming enthusiastic and engaged / Marilou Hyson -- Part II: Approaches for promoting cognitive development in the early childhood classroom -- Section 1: Symbolic thought in the early years -- Chopsticks and counting chips: do play and foundational skills need to compete for the teacher's attention in an early childhood classroom? / Elena Bodrova & Deborah J. Leong -- Moving into uncertainty: sculpture with 3- to 5-year-olds / Carol Anne Wien with Bobbi-Lynn Keating, Annette Coates Comeau, & Barbara Bigelow -- Building foundations for spatial literacy in early childhood / Susan L. Golbeck -- Section 2: Executive function and the development of self-regulation -- Recognizing and supporting the development of self-regulation in young children / Martha B. Bronson -- Thinking out loud: development of private speech and the implications for school success and self-control / Becky A. Bailey & Carolyn Brookes -- How planning and reflection develop young children's thinking skills / Ann S. Epstein -- Developing self-regulation in kindergarten: can we keep all the crickets in the basket? / Elena Bodrova & Deborah J. Leong -- Section 3: Higher order, complex thinking -- Let's SQUINK about it! A metacognitive approach to exploring text in a second grade classroom / Karen Capraro -- From high chair to high school: research-based principles for teaching complex thinking / Roland Tharp & Susan Entz -- Science in kindergarten / Ingrid Chalufour & Karen Worth.