Needless to say, when a 30-year veteran of running a school speaks, it behooves one to listen. Such is the case of the recent blog post I received from one of Rebecca's UVA students who not only takes on the challenge of adding some idea-fuel to our virtual fire, but the student (#Oem5b) is currently about ready to undergo the experience of building a new Montessori school. The design of an optimal learning environment, as you can well imagine, is a very real investment for he/she. But let's get to his/her writing. And remember, feel free to leave a comment here if you have insight/questions to offer in return:
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"Don't Mess with the Minds of Young Children"
What about the young child? So often when a great idea overtakes us (e.g. the digital explosion) we ignore or forget that what might seem so vital to others is not at all good for young children. We already know that the early years are absolutely critical as a time when children learn through all their senses, by hearing language, by exploration, by absorbing the entire world around them. It is their sensitive period of life. Let’s not get in the way of that by putting them in front of computers.
In fact, I would argue that we get out of the way, and set up environments that allow the child to develop as naturally as possible. I go so far as to urge keeping TV’s, videos, and computers away from young children until age 6. My concern is that recent studies show that the brains of children exposed to even an average amount of TV become wired differently, are not adequately developed, and have a tendency to be addicted to rapid images (Jane Healy, Endangered Minds). Apparently
Sesame Street is as guilty as others in developing programming that is deliberately designed to keep children watching it. Our school has removed all the computers from the primary classrooms (ages 3-5). Since most parents find it so hard to control the amount of TV, computer and video watching, why not take them completely away while the children are young? If you don’t want your child to eat sweets, keep sweets out of the house!
I couldn’t agree more with Davy’s Sept. 4 comment on your blog - “There is not a flower or bird in sight, only a small screen on which lines are moving, while the child sits almost motionless, pushing at the keyboard with one finger. As a learning environment, it may be mentally rich, but it is perceptually extremely impoverished. No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song (unless the computer is programmed to produce electronic tweets), no connection with soil, water, sunlight, warmth, the actual learning environment is almost autistic in quality, impoverished sensually, emotionally, and socially.”
In our haste and excitement to wave good-bye to the information age and enter the conceptual age (Daniel Pink, of course) let’s not overlook or ignore the successful models we have right in front of us, Montessori being one. We can certainly inspect that model through a modern lens, tweak it and update it, but its very essence still embraces the key concepts of authentic learning. No need to reinvent the wheel.
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Your thoughts?
Personally, I think that the answer lies in a "yes, and..." response. The 5 senses are vital. Core to life, in so many respects, especially for our youngest learners who reach out in all directions to make sense of the world. And these youngest sense-makers need to be given every opportunity to explore with the widest degree of 'sensory' interaction. But, and I mean this with all due respect, computers (and all digital technology) is merely a 'tool', like a spoon or a sponge or a hammer or a shovel. While I understand the fear of the screen as a wall between some learners and the 5 core senses, I also doubt that the alternative lies in taking all tools away our kiddos in order to preserve something primal in the leanring process. I grew up climbing trees in Maine. Covered in sap. Carrying found boards filled with rusty nails up into the upper limbs, trying to build tree forts of my own. Staring at clouds from misshapen boards in the sky. And I also grew up glued to a TV set every chance I had. Loving the early RBY pixels. Loving the hum. Loved the crazy sitcom songs. And as I look into my own 9-week old son's eyes, I know that I will provide every tool conceivable to him as a young learner -- both those that inspire the primal senses and those that tap into the virtual senses. "By any means necessary." Blog and bird. Wind and web. With only a commitment to his evolution as a learner via any tool I can provide him from beginning to end.
Ultimately, we cannot hold back the digital future. But we can always go out for a walk. And somewhere between these worlds, our youngest kiddos will still become agile learners. And hopefully equally adept at both languages in their lifetime in a "yes, and..." manner.
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