Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/wonderland-and-the-tickling-of-alices-neurons/5025572/
There is wonder in the eyes of every child. Young children wonder at the world emerging around them – and we, observing their progress, wonder at the mysteries of what may come. As early learning professionals, how can we prepare a child for all that lies ahead? To a teacher, the future can seem like an endless list of things to be known and skills to be mastered. Early education can sometimes feels like an urgent race against the calendar to make sure that kids are ready to take their place in the classroom down the hall. This is what parents expect in our accountability-driven culture. Knowledge is currency responsibly deposited in the bank of education. But, if young learners flourish based on what they know, early childhood also includes a black-market tab in the developmental ledger—an off-the-books space where there is value in not knowing, in exploring the places beyond questions and without answers. A young child’s untuned senses may take in elements that, to mature observers, have become blurred by time and the filters of experience. Could it be that young children are alive to a sensibility that lies outside the educational march to competence? What does knowing matter ...