Preschool Should Not Be Like School

"New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire," writes Alison Gopnik in her Slate article, "Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School."  In the article, which summarizes the findings of two recent studies, Gopnik observes...

"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."

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