| "body"> | | | | * Trying on various roles and interacting with one |
| Children are active, concrete, experiential learners | | | | another at housekeeping and other dramatic-play |
| who acquire information and knowledge with all of | | | | centers (social studies). |
| their senses. Studies have shown that: | | | | Today, these types of lessons are steadily |
| * Movement is the young child's preferred mode | | | | disappearing as the "earlier-is-better" syndrome |
| of learning. | | | | takes hold, critically affecting the child's first |
| * Lessons that are physically experienced have | | | | experiences with formal education. Today, the |
| more immediate and longer-lasting impact. | | | | curriculum once considered appropriate for first |
| * The integration of body systems allows for | | | | and second grades is being taught to children in |
| optimal learning to take place. | | | | kindergarten, and the kindergarten curriculum is |
| * The more senses used in the learning process, | | | | foisted on children who are not yet five years old. |
| the more information retained. | | | | Even kindergarten through third-grade students |
| * Play is linked to greater creativity and problem | | | | should be doing less seatwork and more active |
| solving, improved reading levels, and higher IQ | | | | learning, because, developmentally speaking, |
| scores. | | | | they're more like preschoolers than like their |
| * There is a strong correlation between the time | | | | upper elementary counterparts. But instead of |
| children are most playful and the time when the | | | | making active experiences a greater part of the |
| brain is making the most connections. | | | | primary-grade classrooms, we're instead making |
| Given all of that, it seems pretty clear that there | | | | early education less developmentally appropriate |
| should be no debate: play is far more appropriate | | | | for everyone, beginning in preschool. |
| for a young child's first formal school experiences | | | | However, recent brain research is confirming |
| than academics. Yet despite this information, the | | | | what many educators have believed all along: the |
| education efforts of such groups as the National | | | | mind and body are not separate entities. Eric |
| Association for the Education of Young Children, | | | | Jensen, author of Brain-Based Learning: The New |
| and the fact that educators have for years | | | | Science of Teaching and Training, confirms that |
| emphasized the importance of educating the | | | | not only do children learn by doing but also that |
| "whole child," preschoolers are now being required | | | | physical activity activates the brain much more so |
| to do more and more seatwork. This includes | | | | than doing seatwork. While sitting increases |
| producing worksheets that purport to show | | | | fatigue and reduces concentration, movement |
| evidence of their learning, and following curriculums | | | | feeds oxygen, water, and glucose to the brain, |
| originally designated for kindergartners and even | | | | optimizing its performance. Moreover, learning by |
| first-graders. | | | | doing creates more neural networks in the brain |
| Why are schools devoted to making children | | | | and throughout the body, making the entire body |
| simply sit still and learn? Part of the explanation | | | | a tool for learning. Active learning is also more |
| comes from society's long-entrenched belief that | | | | enjoyable for young children. |
| the functions of the brain are more significant | | | | Parents don't have to worry their child will fall |
| than the functions of the body. Moreover, we've | | | | behind if enrolled in a preschool that emphasized |
| labored for years under the misguided notion that | | | | play and discovery. Studies have determined that |
| the mind and body are separate entities. Thus, | | | | children who are enrolled in play-oriented |
| schools have insisted on training minds via the | | | | preschools do not have a disadvantage over |
| eyes and ears only. | | | | those who are enrolled in preschools focusing on |
| In the past, based on what they knew of and | | | | early academics. One study, in fact, showed that |
| observed in young children, early childhood | | | | there were neither short-term nor long-term |
| teachers designed their programs to meet their | | | | advantages of early academics versus play, and |
| students' developmental needs. Play and active | | | | that there were no distinguishable differences by |
| learning were considered key tools to | | | | first grade. The only difference was that the |
| accommodate those needs and facilitate the | | | | children who had experienced early academics |
| children's education. Typical activities included: | | | | were more anxious and less creative than their |
| * Sorting and stacking blocks and other | | | | peers who had been in traditional, play-based |
| manipulatives (mathematical knowledge). | | | | preschools - a distinctive disadvantage. In another |
| * Singing and dancing, or acting out a story | | | | study, fourth-graders who had attended |
| (emergent literacy). | | | | play-oriented preschools in which children often |
| * Growing plants from seeds, exploring the | | | | initiated their own activities had better academic |
| outdoors, and investigating at sand and water | | | | performance than those who had attended |
| tables (science). | | | | academic-oriented preschools. |