Under the heading, “Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School,” cognitive psychologist Alison Gopnik describes research showing that four-year-olds learn better if they’re encouraged to discover and show to others, rather than if they’re taught what to do. This makes sense, but it’s not clear to me why this wouldn’t apply to older kids and adults. It’s a commonplace in teaching at all levels that students learn by doing and by demonstrating what they can do. Even when a student is doing nothing but improvising from a template, we generally believe the student will learn better by explaining what’s going on, by having a mental model of the process to go along with the proverbial 10,000 hours or practice. The challenge is in the implementation, how to get students interested, motivated, and focused enough to put the effort into learning.
So why the headline above? Why does Gopnik’s research support the idea that preschool should be different from school? I’m not trying to disagree with Gopnik here. I just don’t understand the reasoning.
P.S. One more thing, which certainly isn’t Gopnik’s fault but it’s pretty funny/scary, given that it’s the 21st century and all. Slate put this item in the category “Doublex: What women really think about news, politics, and culture.” What? It wasn’t good enough for “Science”? No, that space was taken by “The eco-guide to responsible drinking.” But, sure, I guess it makes sense: kids in school . . . that sounds like it belongs on the women’s page, along with Six recipes to get your kids to eat their vegetables, etc.
