ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

In her Exchange article, "Kids and Science �" Magic in the Mix," Sally Cartwright offers these observations about helping children learn…

"To be sure, young children are more physical than verbal, but any child (or adult) needs to know this kind of deeply felt, right-brained learning through direct experience. In our society, with its left-brained, linear, intellectual rationale dominating our schools, experiential/intuitive learning seems, by comparison, sheer magic. Nevertheless, infants and toddlers depend on it. Both walking and talking are best learned in this way. We teachers need to nurture our children's innate curiosity, their imagination, their creativity, their purposeful, child-initiated work toward discovery.

"It's so easy to drown a child's resourceful learning initiative in teacher-directed procedures. Instead, I warmly supported the children with my own genuine interest. But I wouldn't steer them. I trusted these young kids to use their intrinsic curiosity, intuition, and compassion. I trusted them to make connections, to see relationships, to really think, and then to test their findings on their own. This process, using both right and left brain, the yin and yang in each of us, is not only valuable learning �" it is the essence of scientific discovery….

"The nursery child has a wonderful drive and capacity to learn on her own. She finds out what she needs to know through her own effort quite as she learned to walk. There need be no contrived motivation. Learning is hard work. It's often frustrating. At the same time, it can be an exciting challenge, a living, expanding adventure for the children. I've worked hard over the years to quicken this magic in the mix �" a child's curiosity, wonder, intuition, purpose, and caring.

"Magic for a good science program depends on the setting and spirit of the entire curriculum. A small child needs to feel assured and easy in his surroundings if he is to turn his full energy to building skills and to learning effectively. Thus, along with the steady, warm support of the teachers, the setting and routine were intentionally simple, consistent, and predictable…

The entire Cartwright article can be reviewed on our web site at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/884

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