Learning in daily moments
Children, especially young ones are learning all the time. Sponges! Tape-recorders! Video recorders! They are picking everything up. They are learning all the time. While I could say much about the demerits of focusing your child's premium years on learning the ABC or 1-2-3, I won't bother. Instead, I want to explore the notion of learning in daily moments.
Here are some examples:
Similar or different: Preschoolers are constantly categorizing, compartmentalizing in small and big ways. "No, the red blocks stay with the red ones only." "This game is just for boys, not for girls." I postulate that at a deeper level these everyday remarks are rooted in being able to discern and differentiate — a capacity of higher order thinking. You couldn't choose who to vote for if you couldn't do this. So how about ceasing the moment and exploring this deeper level of thinking … how about playing some games? Like — how are animals different from machines? How are they similar?
Testing, testing: Babies start testing when they first drop a spoon on the floor. They are testing us, looking for our reaction. They learn that we pick the spoon up and soon enough, we become the robots that respond to the spoon-throw action. As preschoolers, they ask the persistent "why" question. I saw a friend of mine, a brilliant early childhood educator, turn the game on its head. She asks, "well, why do you think it is so? You have some ideas?" Once she introduces this idea, she gradually builds on it and in a few days says, "well, any idea you can test is a hypothesis". Soon enough, you've introduced a fundamental aspect of scientific thinking to a preschooler, without, if I may add, creating a crazy science lesson on it. Some hypothesis I have heard – "Birds that flap their wings do so because they have more energy in their bodies. Those that don't are too tired." That one was hard to test. Here's another one – "I think small rocks float and big ones sink." That one was so much fun to test. I wonder what hypothesis this tampax kid had in mind?
Say it the way it is: I find myself pausing when I am about to use a "big" word with a preschooler. I am pausing less these days. Correct vocabulary opens up all kinds of explorations. Rectangles and Squares are polygons. Circles are not. Of course, there are those times when it is best to use simple language (like do you really need to explain "murder" to a 3 year-old? No. But you can explain and explore the idea of "death"). On and on. Preschoolers are so curious and. Language offers a starting point for so many explorations.
What other examples of learning in daily moments can you think of? Share them please. Lets let learning happen where it truly belongs — everywhere.
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