Note: Unconstrained Kids unpacks, translates, and integrates academic research and data about skill type and the principles of skill building to support the improvement of PK-12 reading, writing, and mathematics. This post is part of a series that describes 7 key principles of skill building I identified from Dynamic Skill Theory and the Science of Learning and Development. Like everything on this Substack, this post is a work-in-progress. I will make updates as needed. Citations are included at the end. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
First posted: June 4, 2025
Last updated: July 24, 2026
Key Takeaway
Skill is the capacity to think and act in an organized way in a specific context (Immordino-Yang and Fischer, 2010). Skill is like a rope made of many individual fibers (Erard, 2013). Weaving a skill rope is an active process. Children need help to weave thick, durable skill ropes. Skills can be intentionally developed with positive social relationships, rich learning environments, and well-designed learning experiences. Despite different starting points and individual developmental pathways, all children share a similar capacity to develop basic and complex skills under the right conditions (Cantor et al., 2019). There are many ways to weave a strong, thick skill rope.
One of the many remarkable features of the human brain is its capacity for self-organization. In response to stimuli and experiences, the brain’s internal processes organize its functioning and development. The brain reorganizes itself multiple times between when a child is born and when she graduates high school.1 This reorganization supports progressively complex skill development (Fischer 2008; Fischer 2009).
Skills mirror this ability. Skills developed for specific purposes combine with other skills developed for other purposes to create new, integrated skills. In this way, simple skills self-organize into more complex skills that can be used to support an increasingly wider range of activities. This architecture of higher-level skills built upon a foundation of simpler skills is a distinctive feature of complex skills.
“Skills are self-organizing. Part of the natural functioning of skills is that they organize and reorganize themselves. These self-organizing properties go beyond maintenance to include growth of new, more complex skills (Fischer & Bidell, 2006).”
For example, the ability to count objects is a skill we develop in early childhood. This basic skill, which starts with concrete objects, becomes more complex when it’s applied to abstract representations of numbers (numerals). This ability eventually supports even more complex skills such as adding numbers together.
Addition later supports multiplication (which is really multiple addition). Addition and multiplication in turn support even more complex (and abstract) skills such as word problem solving and algebraic thinking. These skills support even more advanced math skills such as probability and calculus.
To help children and youth develop complex skills, we should take advantage of how skills naturally develop and grow. Developmentally and interpersonally rich experiences are the breeding grounds for skills. Decades of research show that the most impactful learning environments—from structured school curricula to youth development programs—utilize an intentional, sequenced progression of skill development (Durlak and Weisberg, 2007; Durlak et al., 2010, Kim et al., 2024, Cabell et al., 2025). Well-designed learning experiences help build progressively complex skills on top of each other.
But wait, there’s more
Works Cited
Barrett, L. F. (2020). Seven and a half lessons about the brain. Houghton Mifflin.
Cabell, S. Q., Kim, J. S., White, T. G., Gale, C. J., Edwards, A. A., Hwang, H., Petscher, Y., & Raines, R. M. (2025). Impact of a content-rich literacy curriculum on kindergarteners’ vocabulary, listening comprehension, and content knowledge. Journal of Educational Psychology, 117(2), 153–175.
Cantor, P., Osher, D., Berg, J., Steyer, L., & Rose, T. (2019). Malleability, plasticity, and individuality: How children learn and develop in context. Applied Developmental Science, 23(4), 307–337.
Christensen, K. M., Assink, M., van Dam, L., Stams, G.-J., Poon, C. Y. S., Astesano, J., & Rhodes, J. E. (2024). Youth interventions with and without supervised practice: A second-order meta-analysis. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 41(5), 769–780.
Erard, M. (2013). Weaving skill ropes: Using metaphor to enhance understanding of what skills are and how they develop. FrameWorks Institute.
Fischer, K. W. (2008). Dynamic cycles of cognitive and brain development: Measuring growth in mind, brain, and education. In A. M. Battro, K. W. Fischer, & P. Léna (Eds.), The educated brain (pp. 127–150). Cambridge University Press.
Fischer, K. W. (2009). Mind, brain, and education: Building a scientific groundwork for learning and teaching. Mind, Brain, and Education, 3(1), 3–16.
Fischer, K. W., & Bidell, T. R. (2006). Dynamic development of action and thought. In R. M. Lerner & W. Damon (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 313–399). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Fischer, K. W. (2010). Neuroscience bases of learning. In V. G. Aukrust (Ed.), International encyclopedia of education (3rd Edition, pp. 310–316). Elsevier.
Kim, J. S., Gilbert, J. B., Relyea, J. E., Rich, P., Scherer, E., Burkhauser, M. A., & Tvedt, J. N. (2024). Time to transfer: Long-term effects of a sustained and spiraled content literacy intervention in the elementary grades. Developmental Psychology, 60(7), 1279–1297.
For an excellent overview of the human brain, see Lisa Feldman Barrett’s Seven and a half lessons about the brain.