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Education,Adjectives,Pronouns,
Commas
1. WhatBabiesKnowAboutPhysicsandForeignLanguagesbyAlisonGopnik
Parents and policy makers have become obsessed with getting young children to learn
more, faster. But the picture of early learning that drives them is exactly the opposite
of the one that emerges from developmental science.
In the last 30 years, the United States has completed its transformation to an
information economy. Knowledge is as important in the 21st century as capital was in
the 19th, or land in the 18th. In the same 30 years, scientists have discovered that
even very young children learn more than we once thought possible. Put those
together and our preoccupation with making children learn is no surprise.
The trouble is that most people think learning is the sort of thing we do in school, and
that parents should act like teachers — they should direct special lessons at children to
produce particular kinds of knowledge or skill, with the help of how-to books and
“parenting” apps. Studies prove that high-quality preschool helps children thrive. But
policy makers and educators are still under pressure to justify their investments in
early childhood education. They’ve reacted by replacing pretend corners and
playground time with “school readiness” tests.
But in fact, schools are a very recent invention. Young children were learning
thousands of years before we had ever even thought of schools. Children in foraging
cultures learned by watching what the people around them did every day, and by
playing with the tools they used. New studies show that even the youngest children’s
brains are designed to learn from this simple observation and play in a remarkably
sensitive way.
Young children today continue to learn best by watching the everyday things that
grown-ups do, from cleaning the house to fixing a car. My grandson Augie, like most
4-year-olds, loves to watch me cook, and tries manfully to copy what I do. But how
does he decide whether to just push the egg whites around the bowl, or to try to
reproduce exactly the peculiar wristy beating action I learned from my own mother?
How does he know that he should transfer the egg yolks to the flour bowl without
accidentally dropping them in the whites, as Grandmom often does? How did he
decide that green peas would be a good addition to a strawberry soufflé? (He was
right, by the way.)
Experimental studies show that even the youngest children are naturally driven to
imitate. Back in 1988, Andrew Meltzoff of the University of Washington did a study
in which 14-month-olds saw an experimenter do something weird — she tapped her
forehead on top of a box to make it light up. A week later, the babies came back to the
lab and saw the box. Most of them immediately tried to tap their own foreheads on the
box to make the light go on.
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In 2002 Gyorgy Gergely, Harold Bekkering and Ildiko Kiraly did a different version
of this study. Sometimes the experimenters’ arms were wrapped in a blanket when she
tapped her forehead on the box. The babies seemed to figure out that when the
experimenter’s arms were wrapped up, she couldn’t use her hands, and that must have
been why she had used her head instead. So when it was the babies’ turn they took the
easy route and tapped the box with their hands.
In 2013 David Buttelmann and his colleagues did yet another version. First, the babies
heard the experimenter speak the same language they did or a different one. Then the
experimenter tapped her head on the box. When she had spoken the same language,
the babies were more likely to tap the box with their foreheads; when she spoke a
different language they were more likely to use their hands.
In other words, babies don’t copy mindlessly — they take note of who you are and
why you act. Children will also use what they see to figure out intelligent new actions,
like putting peas in a soufflé. For example, in our lab, Daphna Buchsbaum, some
colleagues and I showed 4-year-olds a toy with lots of different handles and tabs. A
grown-up said, “Hmm I wonder how this toy works” and performed nine complicated
series of actions, like pulling one of the handles, shaking a tab and turning the toy
over. Sometimes the toy played music and sometimes it didn’t.
The actions followed a pattern: Some of them were necessary to make the machine
go and some were superfluous. For example, the children might see that the toy lit up
only when the experimenter shook the tab and turned over the toy, no matter what else
she did.
Then she asked the child to make the music play. The children analyzed the pattern of
events, figured out which actions actually made the toy go, and immediately produced
just those actions. They would just pull the tab and turn over the toy. They used their
observations to create an intelligent new solution to the problem.
We take it for granted that young children “get into everything.” But new studies of
“active learning” show that when children play with toys they are acting a lot like
scientists doing experiments. Preschoolers prefer to play with the toys that will teach
them the most, and they play with those toys in just the way that will give them the
most information about how the world works.
In one recent experiment for example, Aimee E. Stahl and Lisa Feigenson of Johns
Hopkins showed 11-month-old babies a sort of magic trick. Either a ball appeared to
pass through a solid wall, or a toy car appeared to roll off the end of a shelf and
remain suspended in thin air. The babies apparently knew enough about everyday
physics to be surprised by these strange events and paid a lot of attention to them.
Then the researchers gave the babies toys to play with. The babies who had seen the
ball vanish through the wall banged it; those who’d seen the car hovering in thin air
kept dropping it. It was as if they were testing to see if the ball really was solid, or if
the toy car really did defy gravity.
It’s not just that young children don’t need to be taught in order to learn. In fact,
studies show that explicit instruction, the sort of teaching that goes with school and
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“parenting,” can be limiting. When children think they are being taught, they are
much more likely to simply reproduce what the adult does, instead of creating
something new.
My lab tried a different version of the experiment with the complicated toy. This time,
though, the experimenter acted like a teacher. She said, “I’m going to show you how
my toy works,” instead of “I wonder how this toy works.” The children imitated
exactly what she did, and didn’t come up with their own solutions.
The children seem to work out, quite rationally, that if a teacher shows them one
particular way to do something, that must be the right technique, and there’s no point
in trying something new. But as a result, the kind of teaching that comes with schools
and “parenting” pushes children toward imitation and away from innovation.
There is a deep irony here. Parents and policy makers care about teaching because
they recognize that learning is increasingly important in an information age. But the
new information economy, as opposed to the older industrial one, demands more
innovation and less imitation, more creativity and less conformity.
In fact, children’s naturally evolved learning techniques are better suited to that sort
of challenge than the teaching methods of the past two centuries. New research tells
us scientifically what most preschool teachers have always known intuitively. If we
want to encourage learning, innovation and creativity we should love our young
children, take care of them, talk to them, let them play and let them watch what we do
as we go about our everyday lives.
We don’t have to make children learn, we just have to let them learn.
STUDENTTASK
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Define or form new sentences with the highlighted words
Did you learn anything new from this article?
Did you find it interesting?
What is the main argument in this essay?
Do you agree with the viewpoints of the Author or do you disagree? Why?
2.GRAMMARSECTION
In this section, you will have exercise that tests your grammar and writing skills. Your
teacher will ask you to provide the correct answer for each question, and in some
cases, you may have you justify your reasoning. Good luck! J
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AdjectivesExercise
CHOOSE THE CORRECT OPTION:
1. Generally, girls are ______ than boys.
talkative
more talkative
most talkative
2. Cricket is an ______game.
exciting
excitinger
excitengest
3.
Arpita is looking _______ in this dress.
gorgeous
gorgeousest
gorgeouser
4.
She has a very ______voice.
sour
bitter
sweet
5.
Diamond is the _______natural material.
hard
harder
hardest
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This exercise is quite ______
more simple
most simple
simple
7.
Rohan is a _______ boy.
trustworthy
trustworthier
trustworthest
8.
The entire staff of the hotel we stayed at was very ________.
friendly
friendlier
friendliest
9.
You are getting _____ all the time!
gooder
goodest
better
10.
Your efforts to accomplish this project are _____!
outstandinger
outstandingest
outstanding
TheCorrectUseOfCommas
1. For each of the following, choose the sentence with the correct comma
placement.
A) I took Angie, the one with the freckles to the movie last night.
B) I took Angie, the one with the freckles, to the movie last night.
C) I took Angie the one with the freckles, to the movie last night.
D) I took Angie, the one with the freckles, to the movie, last night.
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2.
A) Jeremy, and I, have had our share of arguments.
B) Jeremy and I, have had our share of arguments.
C) Jeremy and I have had our share of arguments.
D) Jeremy and I have had, our share of arguments.
3.
A) You are I am sure, telling the truth.
B) You are, I am sure, telling the truth.
C) You are, I am sure telling the truth.
4.
A) She left Albany, New York, on January 18 of that year.
B) She left Albany, New York on January 18, of that year.
C) She left Albany New York, on January 18 of that year.
D) She left Albany New York, on January 18, of that year.
5.
A) I need, sugar, butter, and eggs from the grocery store.
B) I need sugar, butter, and eggs, from the grocery store.
C) I need: sugar, butter, and eggs from the grocery store.
D) I need sugar, butter, and eggs from the grocery store.
6.
A) Please Sasha, come home as soon as you can.
B) Please, Sasha, come home as soon as you can.
C) Please, Sasha come home as soon as you can.
D) Please Sasha, come home, as soon as you can.
7.
A) Although, you may be right I cannot take your word for it.
B) Although, you may be right, I cannot take your word for it.
C) Although you may be right I cannot take your word for it.
D) Although you may be right, I cannot take your word for it.
8.
A) My oldest sister Maya is the feisty one.
B) My oldest sister Maya, is the feisty one.
C) My oldest sister, Maya is the feisty one.
D) My oldest sister, Maya, is the feisty one.
9.
A) “Why,” I asked, “are you still here in Maine?”
B) “Why” I asked “are you still here in Maine?”
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C) “Why,” I asked. “Are you still here in Maine?”
10.
A) She finished her work, and then took a long lunch.
B) She finished her work, and then, took a long lunch.
C) She finished her work and then took a long lunch.
D) She finished her work and then, took a long lunch.
SynonymsExercise:Choosethecorrectsynonym
Q1) Synonym of: Boast
Q6) Synonym of: Drench
Brag
Interpret
Recommend
Probe
Acquire
Cane
Prompt
Douse
Q2) Synonym of: Assisted
Q7) Synonym of: Affection
Attached
Conveyance
Aided
Winner
Demote
Fondness
Fortnightly
Contemplation
Q3) Synonym of: Religion
Q8) Synonym of: Divorce
Faith
Tidy
Boating
Brawl
Reckoning
Allow
Tumult
Split up
Q4) Synonym of: Chuck
Q9) Synonym of: Transform
Toss
Typify
Range
Assent
Evaporate
Meddle
Hesitate
Metamorphose
Q5) Synonym of: Mourning
Q10) Synonym of: Use
Bereavement
Admire
Suffocation
Writhe
Clique
Utilize
Speculation
Desire
End Of Lesson
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