The Natural Laws of Children
Why Children Thrive When We Understand How Their Brains Are Wired
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A powerful, neuroscience-based approach to revolutionize early childhood learning through natural creativity, strong human connections, spontaneous free play, and more.
All children are born wired to learn and to love. As young children explore the world and interact with others, their brains can naturally develop in incredible ways. And yet, despite our best intentions, early education often fails to fully encourage this natural learning and empathy. The Natural Laws of Children draws on current research in childhood development to share powerful insights on how to enhance learning for all kids, regardless of income or access to resources.
This book tells the story of Céline Alvarez’s pioneering work in early childhood education. Over three years in a low-income school, Alvarez’s students achieved exceptional results in math and reading, as well as outstanding social and emotional skills. The Natural Laws of Children shares, in a clear and accessible way, the main scientific principles that underpin human learning to revolutionize early childhood education by supporting strong human connections, spontaneous free play, and more.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Child development researcher Alvarez provides a cogent argument for child-directed early education, inspired by the pedagogy of Maria Montessori and bolstered by "current scientific research on human development and French linguistics." For support, she reports on her successful three-year experiment in teaching a group of three-to-five-year-olds in an underprivileged French public school, using a guided exploration approach predicated on the child's built-in desire to learn and the plasticity of young brains. Alvarez describes her students flourishing using traditional Montessori learning exercises, such as being directed to sort differently sized but otherwise identical red rods by length. She strongly argues for the superiority of classic tools over newer, technology-assisted methods, such as "Montessori-based" apps or videos, in the latter case describing how children picked up language more readily from hearing it in person than from recordings. Nonetheless, Alvarez persuasively uses modern methods to substantiate her approach, such as MRI scans showing accelerated development of brain areas associated with reading in her students. Kohn's translation should be particularly credited for seamlessly offering English alternatives for Alvarez's examples of phonetic language teaching. Parents and educators will find Alvarez's study both fascinating and useful.
