BOOK: "The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind"

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

Here’s a link. http://www.amazon.com/Scientist-Crib-Early-Learning-Tells/dp/0688177883/re

I was wondering if anyone had any comments about this book, which I’ve yet to read, or the authors and their work. I haven’t seen Alison Gopnik’s TED video yet, but like many of us, I’m familiar with Patricia Kuhl’s (who happens to be married to Meltzoff).

2

hmmm just found this here: http://thrivebyfivewa.org/2012/10/01/babies-are-like-scientists-and-that-idea-could-change-early-education/

“What we need to do to encourage these children to learn is not to put them in the equivalent of school, tell them things, or give them reading drills or flash cards or so forth. What we need to do is put them in a safe, rich environment where these natural capacities for exploration, for testing, for science, can get free rein,” Gopnik said.

… I believe in early reading too … i understand why ‘drills’ and ‘flash cards’ may have a bad rep, but I really wish some things would come out to refute it, and help people understand that they are useful and they don’t have to be ‘bad’. :-/

3

I read it a few months ago & i thought it was fantastic. I’ll take a look over it again & post a review over the weekend.

4

http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html

here is the link to the ted talk

5

I had to find this thread,

I am sitting here on the couch while my son is doing his own little science experiment. He took one of his cars and he drove it on his chalkboard and the wheels became chalky. He comes to me to show me his observations. He then goes and drives it on the chalkboard again. Still chalky.
Next he goes and gets another car and shows me the non chalky wheels, he takes it to the chalkboard and voila! The wheels are chalky. He is now following his experiment through with a third car.
And now he is going to try a car in the whiteboard.

I love this stage.

He now wants to clean his cars wheels. I asked how come they are chalky. He said it s from the chalkboard and not the whiteboard.

6

I love it.

If only we understood our children better, I feel like we’d do such a better job of nurturing the best out of each of us.

Instead, we end up with things like society and early learning at odds. Like when a baby gets yelled at (or even has their hand spanked) for observing that things fall off of the edge and attempting to try it with a variety of things. Instead, if we tie objects to the table, then the child soon learns that it goes over, but that it’s not gone … if they tug on the string - voila! There it is again. I absolutely LOVED watching Joey go through this stage … it was a very neat moment to observe him look over the edge to see exactly where things went and then realize that he could get them to come back and repeat.

It makes me sad that my daughter hasn’t had the same opportunities :frowning: Instead, she’s in an antiquated environment that actively discourages such behavior so that she can conform to society’s standards. She’s not even 1.5 y/o, come on! There will be time for restraining behavior … now is the time for experiment and play! … ugh… I wish so badly that what we learn from each other on this forum were already common knowledge and in full practice everywhere. … but it’s not :frowning: I just pray that it won’t always be like this. I would love my kids to have the choice of care providers rather than feeling forced to choose between work at the sacrifice of their children’s development and raising their kids at the sacrifice of their professional development. Anyway, I digress.

Thanks for sharing that example!!