Articles about how we concept ideas, draw pictures and — most importantly — test our ideas in the real world to make sure they work!
Dr Sara Williams shares her thoughts about children’s mental health and well being in picture books with Tiny Owl, an independent children’s book publisher in the UK.
A summary of a research study conducted by the University of Cincinnati to test the efficacy of a Dream Workshop and whether it improved children’s self-confidence as measure of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).
How the hand-drawn cover was conceived and illustrated, including descriptions of the thumbnails. And how this affected title of the book and website.
Student’s using the workbook “Dream It!” had a scientifically proven, evidence-based improvement in optimistic thinking and perseverance (along with improvements in hope, growth-mindset and overall school climate) among elementary school students. Highlights from our most-important study to date, including lots of pictures and graphs.
If you’ve been reading our website, you’ve learned that we spent a great deal of effort learning educational theory, cognitive development and psychological theory, and combining it all with our own life experiences to form a comprehensive, evidence-based process for learning how to dream and turn those dreams into reality. However, one aspect of the book that is not apparent by reading it is all the work we’ve done learning how to work within the bureaucracy of the school system, connecting with community leaders and implementing educational programs.
During the creation of our first book, we spent countless hours researching. And we also ran our own research project. During the way, we ran across a lot of great ideas that got lost, so we thought we should begin collecting the best of the best articles we have read.
As with most aspects of a children’s book, vocabulary — or should we say diction? — or should we say word choice? — can become a complex topic, especially if you want to teach them new concepts, like how to dream. Even the word “dream” has two very different meanings. Let’s dive a little deeper into this topic and have some fun along the way.
This is a big topic ranging from educational psychology to cognitive development and from teaching styles to learning styles and much more. But to put it simply: We believe that kids are driven by passion and that they learn by doing — playing. And we believe the concepts, activities and games should be evidence-based, meaning tested and proven in the real world.
We tested the Dream Playbook in over a dozen schools. We called it our “Dream Workshop” but it was so much fun that the students called it “The Dream Club.”
The Dream Playbook was tested by the University of Cincinnati in a year-long study called “Promoting Optimistic Thinking in YMCA After-School Students” as part of community service and outreach program.
