The Learning Environment

A child's first three years: a special learning period which needs a special environment. Part III of "Rethinking Early Childhood."

Stephen H. Stearn, Ph.D. and Susan Sirigatti, October 25, 2020

Review

“Too many schools place a double burden on young children. First, they heighten their stress by demanding that they master material beyond their developmental level. Then they deprive children of their chief means of dealing with that stress—creative play.” This appeared in “Crisis in the Kindergarten,” written in 2009. (Miller, Edward, and Joan Almon. Alliance for Childhood, 2009, p. 49, files.eric.ed.gov).

Today, more than fifteen years later, a large number of preschool programs focus on getting children “kindergarten ready.” What this means is that despite what was written in “Crisis in the Kindergarten,” many preschools serving children 3 to 5 years of age have introduced more rigid curricula and routines, more teacher dominated activities, and even less play time. This report suggests that more has been lost than gained by introducing rigorous and controlled elementary school procedures at earlier ages and at least some balancing of things needs to happen. For certain children, particularly where their families are struggling with job losses and poverty, more than this is needed.

While there is reason to be concerned about what is happening in the preschools for 3 to five- year old’s, particular attention should be focused on children’s first years from 0 to 3 where they are being served by parents in the home and in childcare facilities. In this case, ignoring the findings of the early learning research can lead to more serious long-term consequences. This report shows that we now know that children can and do learn more at an even earlier age than was thought and that a positive early learning environment from 0 to 2 years is vital to children’s health and development.

This paper begins by reviewing the research done by psychologists and neuroscientists on the human brain and on early childhood learning and development over the past thirty years. It then goes on to discuss the important implications of the research for parenting, for early childhood learning, and for children’s healthy development as well as actions and practices that support children and their parents. We include such topics as the role in learning of children’s innate curiosity and intrinsic motivation, nature’s pattern for learning, how approach and avoidance influence learning, children’s need to explore and discover, the importance of encouraging children to question and be creative, the role of praise and rewards, play, guided play and play-based learning, the role of the parent/teacher, the importance of adult-child bonding, play learning tools, early childhood settings and preschools, and parents’ concerns about an uncertain future.

With the right supportive programs and with early interventions, it is now possible to help children from all socioeconomic groups look forward to living fulfilling lives and making positive contributions to our society.

The Problems

Preschools and Kindergartens:

The important research in early childhood education and development is not being widely implemented. While this important research is not totally ignored and can be found in public media, it has unfortunately had little effect on current practices.

Many preschools serving children from 3 to 5 years, in an effort to prepare children for these “academic” kindergartens, have become more “academic” as well, and in so doing, have also reduced play time and independent child activities. These changes work against children’s innate motivation to learn and against their creativity and their opportunity to explore and discover. This, in turn, impacts negatively on children’s independence, thinking abilities, joy in learning, outlets for stress, and healthy development.

Parents:

Problems of implementation of the latest research on early childhood learning are compounded by:

1. The deleterious effects of joblessness and poverty;

2. The concern on the part of many parents of young children regarding the Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEA) that accompany entry into the new “academic” kindergartens. Anxiety about these assessments has them looking to the preschools to help prepare their children academically and behaviorally for kindergarten.

3. Many parents with a misguided faith that technology will make their children smarter, turn towards electronic products in a wide array of formats including electronic educational toys, apps, videos, games, and TV programs which make strong educational claims but many of which work against what is now known to be good practices in early childhood development and learning.

Since there is a lot to say on the subject of positive and effective early childhood learning, we’ve decided to deliver this report section by section.

Part III of “Rethinking Early Childhood Education”

The Learning Environment

The human brain doubles in size the first year and by the time the child is three, it has reached eighty percent of its volume. These are the most important years in a child’s development. Accompanying this considerable growth is a great deal of learning including the learning of complex things as well as learning at a deeper level than we once thought. It is a special learning period which needs a special environment.

A. Carrots and Sticks

According to nature’s plan, this special learning period is accompanied by a special environment that encourages learning and positive development. Because babies are born so helpless, they require nurturing, both physical and emotional, and because they’re so adorable, it’s easy for the adults around them to love them and for their mothers, especially, to give them unconditional love. They also require protection because they’re so vulnerable. For babies who are provided with the most positive environments that include these conditions, learning usually takes place the way nature intends it to, and it does so at a very rapid rate. For babies who do not have this safe environment, things don’t usually progress so smoothly. We know that among the many problems that may result, learning is often affected negatively.

Why is learning affected? This brings us to the proverbial carrot and stick or to put it another way, reward and punishment. As the story goes, if you want to get the donkey to move, you put a carrot in front of it and a stick behind. Since the donkey likes carrots, it moves forward to get the carrot, its reward, and avoids the punishment of getting hit with the stick. Similarly, when children follow their curiosity and their intrinsic motivation to explore, to approach, to seek novelty and challenges, to learn, the satisfaction engendered is the reward, the carrot, and children want to repeat the process. If the environment is not safe, if the children feel endangered or in some way threatened, if their needs are not being answered, if they feel uncomfortable, the situation is perceived as being unpleasant or even fraught with danger. It acts like a stick to be avoided if possible, and avoidance works against approach which is brought about by curiosity and the innate desire to explore and learn. It becomes guided by the negativity bias.¹

B. The Negativity Bias

Our human history gives us insight into reasons why this negativity bias is strong. Millions of years ago, conditions of life made us fearful and anxious for good reason. As hunters and foragers in a world full of dangerous animals, our ancestors’ negativity bias increased their chances of survival each day. Their caution led them to think carefully about their choices when confronted by a dangerous situation. “Do I approach that sleeping animal to kill and eat it, the ‘carrot,’ or do I pass it up, avoid it, in case it wakes up and makes me its dinner, the ‘stick?’” Those who survived more often were guided by the negativity bias.

Although the negativity bias was more useful to our ancestors than it is today, it is still with us. It is built-in and it affects our choices. As Rick Hanson, Ph.D., and Richard Mandius, M.D., wrote:

“[It] primes you for avoidance. This bias makes you suffer in a variety of ways.For starters, it generates an unpleasant background of anxiety, which for some people can be quite intense; anxiety also makes it harder to bring attention inward for self-awareness or contemplative practice, since the brain keeps scanning to make sure there is no problem. The negativity bias fosters or intensifies other unpleasant emotions, such as anger, sorrow, depression, guilt, and shame. It highlights past losses and failures, it downplays present abilities, and it exaggerates future obstacles.” ²

We are heavily involved in avoidance. Many of us choose flight rather than fight. This is how we perceive that we maximize our chances of survival. Our brains still want us to pass up something we want, like the proverbial carrot, if it is associated with anything dangerous. Avoidance is perceived to be safer than approach. This goes for young children as well.

C. Approach and Avoidance

During the early critical years of development and learning, children need to feel safe, loved, and free to explore, to approach, to gather carrots. Their inherent motivation and curiosity should be given free rein (within the confines of safety). The mother or other primary caregiver is the one that nature has made instrumental in ensuring that the child has as many positive, fun-filled, learning experiences as possible. This helps the child to better develop and learn and to continue to experience the sense of mastering the world outside of him or herself. This, in turn, builds the child’s self-confidence and resilience which will be especially needed when easing out into the world to face and deal with the sticks of adult life.

What are the sticks that could cause avoidance to young inquiring minds? Here’s a list: limited play time and too much adult structured play, absence or minimal number of creative opportunities, teacher dominated instruction, rote learning, developmentally inappropriate curricula, excessive testing, unrealistic expectations, enticing screen distractions. These are some of the things that interfere with fun and joy in learning, independent thinking, creativity, innovation, and self-confidence.

References

¹ Vaish, Amrisha et al. “Not All Emotions Are Created Equal. The Negativity Bias in Social-Emotional Development. Psychol Bull., May 2008, 134(3), pp. 383-403, doi.org/10.1037/0033-2903.134.3.383.

² Hanson, Rick, and Richard Mendius. Buddha’s Brain. New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2009, p.42.