Learn this name: Alison Gopnik
Sandra Dodd
In 2011, Deb Lewis spoke at a symposium I organized. Her notes are on my site, and in part it says this:
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Be informed and stay informed. Read good unschooling information when you find it. Read stuff that supports what unschoolers already know. Alison Gopnik wrote a book called, The Scientist in the Crib and one called, the Philosophical Baby. They’re not unschooling books but they report on research that finds babies are learning in ways adults never imagined. She has an interesting talk at Ted too about what babies know. And in it she says that a baby’s consciousness is like a lantern and wherever that light falls they draw in information from all around them.
And she has done some research that suggests direct instruction makes children less likely to make new discoveries. Her team gave four year olds a toy that required two actions to make it play music. In one group a researcher played around with the toy and tried different actions, some that ended in the two that made the toy play and some that didn’t. When the children played with the toy they found the most direct way to get the toy to play music.
With the other group the researcher acted like a teacher and demonstrated actions to make the toy play music. Some of the actions were not required to produce music but the children copied the teacher exactly and didn’t discover the most direct way to make the toy play.
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Back to now. Alison Gopnik, the researcher and author Deb quoted, is about to release a new book, and there’s a long article on the Wallstreet Journal’s site here:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-manifesto-against-parenting-1467991745?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
(thanks, Robin Bentley, for sending me that link!)
The article is really good, and some of you might want to send it to relatives or friends. :-)
The credit says:
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This essay is adapted from Dr. Gopnik’s “The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children,” which will be published in early August by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a regular contributor to Review’s “Mind & Matter” column.
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What’s fun and funny is the stock photo they put with it. In light of what Deb reported above, of Gopnik’s research, it might not have been the best image for them to have used. :-)
Sandra
___________
Be informed and stay informed. Read good unschooling information when you find it. Read stuff that supports what unschoolers already know. Alison Gopnik wrote a book called, The Scientist in the Crib and one called, the Philosophical Baby. They’re not unschooling books but they report on research that finds babies are learning in ways adults never imagined. She has an interesting talk at Ted too about what babies know. And in it she says that a baby’s consciousness is like a lantern and wherever that light falls they draw in information from all around them.
And she has done some research that suggests direct instruction makes children less likely to make new discoveries. Her team gave four year olds a toy that required two actions to make it play music. In one group a researcher played around with the toy and tried different actions, some that ended in the two that made the toy play and some that didn’t. When the children played with the toy they found the most direct way to get the toy to play music.
With the other group the researcher acted like a teacher and demonstrated actions to make the toy play music. Some of the actions were not required to produce music but the children copied the teacher exactly and didn’t discover the most direct way to make the toy play.
___________
Back to now. Alison Gopnik, the researcher and author Deb quoted, is about to release a new book, and there’s a long article on the Wallstreet Journal’s site here:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-manifesto-against-parenting-1467991745?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
(thanks, Robin Bentley, for sending me that link!)
The article is really good, and some of you might want to send it to relatives or friends. :-)
The credit says:
+++++++++++++++
This essay is adapted from Dr. Gopnik’s “The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children,” which will be published in early August by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a regular contributor to Review’s “Mind & Matter” column.
+++++++++++++++
What’s fun and funny is the stock photo they put with it. In light of what Deb reported above, of Gopnik’s research, it might not have been the best image for them to have used. :-)
Sandra
belinda dutch
Great article, thanks.. This will probably only make sense if you visited the link ;-)
I love gardening, have always loved the way i can put love, attention, fertiliser and seeds into the melting pot - often also with a plan of what i want to happen - and when my garden produces or does something different to what i had planned for it, it nearly always makes me smile - because i dont kid myself that i have control over nature. It feels like a relationship. (Probably because i am not farming nor needing to grow food. )
When i make something - (the carpenter analogy) - make a shelf, sew a dress, polish some floorboards etc- its an effort of will, mastery of materials - and the results are easily judged - not always kindly - by me (or other family members!)
I love this idea of gardening vs carpentry as a way of thinking about raising children. However - I definitely think of gardening as a valid verb. I am 'gardening' when i am tending my garden. I feel i am gardening more than i feel i am 'being a gardener'. Why am i not 'parenting' when paying attention to my kids and providing a good environment for them to flourish? I'm not sure i understand what the problem with 'parenting' is as opposed to 'being a parent', unless the word has been culturally misappropriated?
(She says we wouldnt think of 'wifing' but I'm not sure i dont quite like the idea!!! Nurturing and tending to a marriage.. Yes the word would be cumbersome but i quite like the premise... )
This may seem niggly but as we know, precise use of language is key to our understanding and this is bothering me :-)
Basically, can i 'parent' well or is it better to step back and 'be a parent'?
And what is the difference? Any ideas?
Belinda
I love gardening, have always loved the way i can put love, attention, fertiliser and seeds into the melting pot - often also with a plan of what i want to happen - and when my garden produces or does something different to what i had planned for it, it nearly always makes me smile - because i dont kid myself that i have control over nature. It feels like a relationship. (Probably because i am not farming nor needing to grow food. )
When i make something - (the carpenter analogy) - make a shelf, sew a dress, polish some floorboards etc- its an effort of will, mastery of materials - and the results are easily judged - not always kindly - by me (or other family members!)
I love this idea of gardening vs carpentry as a way of thinking about raising children. However - I definitely think of gardening as a valid verb. I am 'gardening' when i am tending my garden. I feel i am gardening more than i feel i am 'being a gardener'. Why am i not 'parenting' when paying attention to my kids and providing a good environment for them to flourish? I'm not sure i understand what the problem with 'parenting' is as opposed to 'being a parent', unless the word has been culturally misappropriated?
(She says we wouldnt think of 'wifing' but I'm not sure i dont quite like the idea!!! Nurturing and tending to a marriage.. Yes the word would be cumbersome but i quite like the premise... )
This may seem niggly but as we know, precise use of language is key to our understanding and this is bothering me :-)
Basically, can i 'parent' well or is it better to step back and 'be a parent'?
And what is the difference? Any ideas?
Belinda