A section in the book, Heart-Centered Teaching Inspired by Nature: Using Nature’s Wisdom to Bring More Joy and Effectiveness to Our Work with Children references the quote above:

“Heart-centered teaching is about so much more than helping children learn facts. I love Rachel Carson’s analogy. If we think of facts as the seeds of future wisdom, then it is the educator’s job to provide optimal conditions for healthy growth. The perfect growing conditions happen when each child is given the emotional support he or she needs – the emotional equivalent of sunshine, rain, and nutrient-rich soil that is just right for his or her particular seeds.”

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, in her article, “Reclaiming Play: Helping Children Learn and Thrive in School,” (which is part of the Exchange Essentials article collection, Advocating for Play), wrote:

“Child development theorists, researchers, and educators have long known that play is one of children's most valuable resources, vital to their social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Through play children make sense of the world around them and work through new experiences, ideas, and feelings. But in recent years, a host of social forces and trends — the influence of media, commercialism, fast-paced family life, academic pressures in schools — have been eroding healthy play, robbing children of this valuable resource for optimal growth and learning.” Now, more than ever, children need to be able to learn in the emotionally supportive environment that play provides.

This practical, joyful collection of articles offer strategies for infusing early childhood environments and activities with mathematical thinking, through inquiry-based projects and real world exploration.

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