Thursday, March 17, 2011

Remarkable, spontaneous learning



Happy to be out in the Spring sunshine!

Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School in Slate reinforces the notion that it's more important than ever to give children's remarkable, spontaneous learning abilities free rein.  Studies at MIT and UC Berkeley came to the same conclusion: that teaching kids more and more at ever younger ages, can backfire. 

While being instructed about something directly from a teacher may help children get to a specific answer more quickly, "it also makes them less likely to discover new information about a problem and to create a new and unexpected solution."

That's why it is so important to give children practice in exploration and innovation. Plus, it's way more fun!

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