Ch 2 reflecton this

The way children learn is so fascinating to me. What has been proven to work through years of research is pushed aside for the sake of the test scores. Learning can be so much fun; discovering, researching, exploring, experimenting. Yet we force so much conformity on them at such a young age that soon some of those bright young minds become bored and frightened. My favorite learning perspective is a combination of the constructivists and cognitivist perspective. With young children you can observe the way they 'construct' knowledge. How many times can you read the same book, watch the same video, do the same puzzle? As long as it takes. For some children it will be 1 or 2 times for others maybe 10 or more times. They will also revisit something they have mastered for that feeling of success. Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences is also very important and allows a teacher to focus in on a student's best learning style. Ideally, a child should be taught in the manner which they learn best, but it is also important for them to learn how to develop the other styles as well in order to maximize the learning experience. If we could get past the need to rush them through and let them have time to internalize what they have learned, I have a feeling they would be better learners and we could be better teachers because of it.