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The educational question is then how best to build upon the already-existing competence of children. Is there an optimal timing and are there any preferred modes of learning?
There has long been a general belief among the non-specialists that from birth to 3 years of age, children are the most receptive to learning (Bruer, 1999). On this view, if children have not been exposed fully and completely to various stimuli, they will not be able to recuperate the benefits of early stimulus later on in life.
However, even for the skills for which sensitive periods exist, the capacity to learn will not be lost even after the sensitive period. While there is no scientific evidence that over-stimulating a normal, healthy infant has any beneficial effect, there is evidence that it may be a waste of time (Sebastian, 2004).
The findings on which these arguments are based relate to very basic functioning such as vision; it would not be appropriate to apply this directly to the learning of cognitive skills. For more comprehensive understanding of how the experience during early childhood affects later development, a large cohort study would be required.
Sensitive periods do nevertheless exist in certain areas of learning such as language acquisition.
"Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science", 2007, page 44
Childhood Plasticity (2)
Only Until 3 Years Old?
Only Until 3 Years Old?
The educational question is then how best to build upon the already-existing competence of children. Is there an optimal timing and are there any preferred modes of learning?
There has long been a general belief among the non-specialists that from birth to 3 years of age, children are the most receptive to learning (Bruer, 1999). On this view, if children have not been exposed fully and completely to various stimuli, they will not be able to recuperate the benefits of early stimulus later on in life.
However, even for the skills for which sensitive periods exist, the capacity to learn will not be lost even after the sensitive period. While there is no scientific evidence that over-stimulating a normal, healthy infant has any beneficial effect, there is evidence that it may be a waste of time (Sebastian, 2004).
The findings on which these arguments are based relate to very basic functioning such as vision; it would not be appropriate to apply this directly to the learning of cognitive skills. For more comprehensive understanding of how the experience during early childhood affects later development, a large cohort study would be required.
Sensitive periods do nevertheless exist in certain areas of learning such as language acquisition.
"Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science", 2007, page 44
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