Bright Start: Cognitive Curriculum for Young Children

BRIGHT START is a flexible cognitive program for young children, designed for use with children functioning at developmental levels from 3 to 6 years, including those who are “normally developing,” those who are placed at risk of school failure because of lack of educational opportunity, and those who have learning difficulties, irrespective of their cause. The primary goal of BRIGHT START is one of “stretching the mind,” that is, broadening children’s understanding and thinking processes, thereby increasing competence to learn new information, skills and dispositions. It is a structured approach, with strong emphasis on the child’s understanding of rules and explanatory concepts. Teachers emphasize the orderliness and predictability of the world, beginning with principles of organization, rule following, rule-making, rule applying, and the systematic processes required for orderly perception, analysis, understanding, learning, and problem solving.

Children learn to

• conform their behavior to internalized standards for rational reasons.
• perceive the existence of problems.
• identify processes for finding solutions.
• apply those processes according to logical functions.
• set aside unsuccessful strategies to seek new ones.
• be critical of their own solutions.
• offer logical support of their thinking, learning, and problem-solving processes.