Principle 11: Skill building is varied and stable at the same time.
Skill building looks stable and predictable with high support. Without this support, it can vary from one moment to the next.
Note: Unconstrained Kids unpacks, translates, and integrates academic research and data about constrained and unconstrained skills for people that run, fund, and assist organizations that teach and serve kids. This post is part of a series that describes 14 key principles of skill building I identified from the Science of Learning and Development. (Especially Dynamic Skill Theory.) 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.
Last updated: June 4, 2025
Key Takeaway
Skill is the ability to think and act in an organized way in a specific context (Immordino-Yang and Fischer, 2010). Up close, skill building can look highly variable. This is especially so for skills that children are able to do independently. Under conditions of high support, however, skill development looks more predictable and stable. Moreover, children are capable of engaging in higher, more complex skills sooner when they receive strong social support to do so.
“When children's problem solving is analyzed according to support and its related changes in performance, the stage debate disappears. Development has strongly stage-like properties under conditions of high support, but not under conditions of low support.” (Fischer & Immordino-Yang, 2002)
Viewed up close, skill level can vary greatly from one moment to the next. A child’s ability can change for many reasons: how they feel (emotion), level of support, the task, goal, etc. (Cantor et al., 2019). “Even from moment to moment, a person performs a task differently as she or he adapts to variations in the situation, social context, or emotions of self and others” (Fischer & Bidell, 2006).
Although skill levels can vary for multiple reasons, there are predictable patterns in this unevenness. A very powerful source of this variation is the level of social support a child receives. In conditions of high support, a child is able to more consistently produce skills closer to the optimal level of their developmental range. (See Principle 9.)
Such support, however, does not always have to come from interaction with another person. Based upon the situation, well-designed instructional resources and materials (e.g., texts, diagrams, etc.) can be used to support a child’s optimal skill level (Fischer & Immordino-Yang, 2002).
Modeling or providing examples is another way to move a child’s ability towards their optimal level. For example, a beginning learner might more readily sound out words and suggest other words that rhyme with them when given examples or words to choose from by her teacher. When this support is removed, the child’s skill will likely collapse (Fischer & Immordino-Yang, 2002).
Under conditions of low support, skill building can appear quite uneven–even chaotic. (See Principle 10.) Under conditions of high support, however, skill building has a more stable, “stage-like” growth pattern (Fischer & Immordino-Yang, 2002). Together and within the context of the developmental range (See Principle 9), this explains the variation and stability of skill development.
The developmental psychologist Kurt Fischer and his colleagues identified multiple stages of skill development that correspond with child and brain development (Fischer & Rose, 1998; Fischer & Bidell, 2006; Fischer, 2009; Mascolo and Fischer, 2010). Each stage represents the ability for greater skill complexity.
We have two examples from Mascolo and Fischer (2010) for math and narrative understanding. The age ranges are based on research with middle-class American and European children and could vary across social groups. The skill examples should be considered illustrative rather than definitive.
The first example is for very young children. The math skills involves counting objects. The narrative skill involves simple description of an event the child experienced. Under conditions of high support (optimal level), a child can demonstrate these skill levels as early as 18-24 months. Under conditions of low support (independently or functional level), a child can demonstrate these skill levels between 2-5 years.
Skill stage: Single representations
Age range of optimal skill level: 18-24 months
Age range of functional skill level: 2-5 years
Math skill: The child begins to count objects. They slowly learn to associate a number with an object. They learn cardinality.
Narrative skill: The child can provide simple descriptions of individual events. (“We went to the park.”) Adults move the narrative forward (shift focus) using questions. (“What did we do? Who did we see? What did we do next?”)
The difference in skill level between the two levels (function and optimal) is the child’s developmental range. (See Principle 9.) Under conditions of high support, the child can consistently demonstrate the optimal level as early as 18-24 months. With practice, they are likely to demonstrate this skill level on their own (functional level) on the earlier part of the 2-5 year age range. Without lots of practice under high support, they are likely to demonstrate this skill on their own near the latter part of the 2-5 year age range.
Our second example occurs about a decade later. The math skill this time is simple algebraic expressions. The narrative skill is the ability to understand complex stories (likely both oral and written text). Once again, the child potentially can reach these levels of math and narrative skills sooner with high support. The timing of independent ability (functional level) will depend upon multiple factors, including the opportunity to reconstruct and reconstruct these skills under different conditions of support. (See Principle 10.)
Skill stage: Single abstractions
Age range of optimal skill level: 10-12 years
Age range of functional skill level: 13-20 years
Math skill: The child has initial understanding of simple algebraic expressions with abstract variables representing quantity (2x=4).
Narrative skill: The child can understand complex stories. These stories involve characters with distinct mental states and motives. The narrative has organized plots and subplots. These are driven by conflicts between characters and attempts to resolve these conflicts.
But wait, there’s more
Works Cited
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.
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.
Fischer, K. W., & Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2002). Cognitive development and education: From dynamic general structure to specific learning and teaching. In E. Lagemann (Ed.), Traditions of scholarship in education. Spencer Foundation.
Fischer, K. W., & Rose, S. P. (1998). Growth Cycles of Brain and Mind. Educational Leadership, 56(3), 56–60.
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.
Mascolo, M. F., & Fischer, K. W. (2010). The dynamic development of thinking, feeling, and acting over the lifespan. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of life-span development (Vol. 1, pp. 149–194). Wiley.