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Preschool Should Not Be Like School
December 13, 2012
Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
-Peter Drucker
-Peter Drucker
"Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they're reading books to babies in the womb. They pressure teachers to make kindergartens and nurseries more like schools. So does the law — the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act explicitly urged more direct instruction in federally-funded preschools....
"As so often happens in science, two studies from different labs, using different techniques, have simultaneously produced strikingly similar results. They provide scientific support for the intuitions many teachers have had all along: Direct instruction really can limit young children's learning. Teaching is a very effective way to get children to learn something specific — this tube squeaks, say, or a squish then a press then a pull causes the music to play. But it also makes children less likely to discover unexpected information and to draw unexpected conclusions."
This volume of Exchange Essentials includes the following selected Exchange articles, in pdf format, focusing on supporting the development of scientific thinking: Science Literacy
"Try it Out and Test it"
Best Brains in Science Under Five
- And 4 More!
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Large 15 Gal Commercial Container. Hands-Free “Step & Drop” Disposal. Clean Hygienic Enclosed System. Preferred by University Child Care.
Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 CommentsUnited States
As we push our most vulnerable population to be early learaerners they are losing the most precious part of their lives... their childhood, and the wonders around them. Children are not learning how to learn thorough play. paper and pencil have replaced blocks, junglegyms, fingerpainting, and fingerplays.
Newton, NJ, United States
Although there is an important message in this piece, I take issue with one aspect. I would encourage reading to children at age any. There are so many benefits to reading to children from womb to adult including: bonding, building familiarity with grammar and language syntax, and encouraging a life-long love of reading. I believe that reading to young children is not synonymous with direct instruction and pushing down education. That being said, there is an important message here for all who work with young children.
United States
School probably shouldn't be like school. At least not in the ways we often think of "school." Places where people (children, young people, and adults) spend their days should include learning and play, rest and activity.
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