27 December 2010
Research on the development of young children, including their brain development, creates a great deal of interest in early learning, with many positive, but also some negative, repercussions.
On the positive side, studies show that more and more Americans understand that “real” learning doesn’t “wait” until children enter school. The early years are critically important learning years.
On the negative side, interest in early learning sometimes strays far away from the science, leading to some misconceptions:
Misconception: Children begin learning from the moment of birth on.
Science says: Children are born learning and this learning begins even before birth.
Studies in neuroscience by Dr. Charles Nelson of Harvard Medical School, for example, reveal that at birth, a child’s brain patterns are different when hearing a “known” voice (the voice of his or her mother because the child has heard this voice in utero) from the voice of a stranger. Learning is one of the most important human survival skills and all children are born learning.
Young children from the beginning cannot help but learn—they don’t have to be taught to learn, they are naturally wired up to learn. From the very beginning, children are learning about the world. They are also learning about what learning is about. So everything that is going on is a learning experience.
Jack P. Shonkoff, MD
Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy
Former Dean, Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Brandeis University
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