Comments on: Kids Play the Way Scientists Work

By: Pippa

Pippa — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 23:06:05 +0000

There was a time when our children simply played, mostly with other children. Their days were less structured and they had a lot more freedom to simply explore the world. They had few organised activities and walked and rode everywhere, lacking parental chauffeurs. Death from childhood infection was high, so parents were less paranoid about physical danger and pedophiles which seemed to be relatively less of a risk. Now children rarely die of infectious illnesses, and we are paranoid about physical dangers and pedophiles – even though chances of being abused by one are actually less, in so far as we can measure it – and we hover over them all the time structuring their world for them and keeping them ‘safe’. Children even have toys that come with a script. We sit them in front of a TV as infants, lull them into a nonthinking state with it, and criticize parents who actually encourage their children to get outside and play in the mud. Children are not likely to be able to learn how to ask questions and test hypotheses at any stage, as we do not give them a chance to do so. Even science lessons in school tend to be prescriptive. Will we change as a result of this study – it is unlikely. Would our Grandparents have been surprised by the studies’ findings – probably not.

By: Solitha

Solitha — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 04:15:18 +0000

I had the same question about the white and red balls. It was easily answered by checking the link.

By: Jockaira

Jockaira — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 04:26:04 +0000

This points up the inadvisability of exposing children too early to dogma and belief systems having little resemblance to reality. Wide exposure to the entire world tempered by the accompaniment of adult guides (to answer questions and encourage further investigation) and tolerant allowance for natural mistakes would seem to be optimal for the best intellectual development. Most important: not to shut down the innate curiosity of the child, to allow him to find his own way without the obstruction of pre-packaged answers.

By: David Billa

David Billa — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Great article for a new parent like me.
Watching my little one discovering the world has been fascinating indeed, and I hope she keeps that curiosity and sense of experimentation all of her life.

By: John Lerch

John Lerch — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:23:02 +0000

White and red might be 2 different classes of things to the baby. So the scientists needed to try to figure out what constituted things in the same class before they inferred anything about probability and babies’ deductive abilities.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:49:42 +0000

“The infant knew that drawing several red balls out of the bin was unlikely, and therefore noteworthy” – What about the possibility that red balls are simply more interesting than white balls? I assume the study would control for something so obvious like that but I haven’t checked.

By: Kasi

Kasi — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:32:01 +0000

http://lifewithlightandhappiness.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-little-scientist.html