Enchanted Learning Experiences -Why They Should Be The Norm For Our Children.

 
 
 Brain Based Research
And Your Child

"Walk upstairs, open the door gently, and look in the crib. What do you see?

 Most of us see a picture of innocence and helplessness , a clean slate. But, in fact, what we see in the crib is the greatest mind that has ever existed, the most powerful learning machine in the universe."

From "The Scientist in the Crib"

(Alison Gobnik, Ph.D., Andrew N. Meltzoff, Ph.D., Patricia K..Kuhl, Ph. D.)

Such minds should be exposed to enchanted learning experiences where learning becomes the magical natural process nature intended it to be.

The more we discover about the universe around us the more we realize how little we really know.

What is true of outer space is also true of inner space.

Our minds.

At birth we stand like Lucy before the magic Wardrobe prepared to enter a world where enchanted learning experiences become the air we breathe.

The latter part of the twentieth century has seen more discoveries about the human brain than in all previous history of mankind.

It is as though we have been paddling in the shallows of a vast ocean hitherto unaware of its existence.

Enchanted learning experiences beckon us out into the deep oceans of discovery and no ocean is more wondrous or mysterious than our brains.

The brain contains a vast number of cells or neurons.

It is connections made between these neurons that constitute learning.

Robert Ornstein has estimated that there are more possible links between the neurons in our brains than there are atoms in the known universe.

"We are only now on the threshold of knowing the range of the  educability of man . . . We have never addressed ourselves to this problem before."

Dr Jerome Bruner, Harvard University

"We will by conscious command evolve cerebral centers which will permit us to use powers that we are now not even capable of imagining.”

Dr Fredric Tilney - leading French brain specialist.

The implications for our children are staggering and have focused the attention of many educationalists around the world on the early years of child development. In this context, enchanted learning experiences are not an optional extra. We now believe that we only use around 4% of our brain's potential. Jack Schwartz, psychophysical trainer, believes:

"We are hoarding potentials so great that they are just about

unimaginable."

Given these revelations enchanted learning experiences should be the norm for our children.

Yet, despite this knowledge, educational systems world-wide still insist on devising ways and means of classifying children in terms of their intellectual capacity, often using very narrow criteria and limited learning styles. As far removed from enchanted learning experiences as you can imagine.

While these systems work well for certain types of learners they disadvantage the majority in a manner akin to self-fulfilling prophecies.

This is particularly true when we consider the structure of the brain.

Next: The Brain's Most Powerful Ability