Young children demonstrate an amazing ability to learn peculiar or implausible concepts, above adults understanding in certain aspects of learning. Studies show that by the age of three, a child’s intelligence is doubled as active as an adult’s. The famous Developmental Psychologist Jean Piaget questioned traditional concepts of how parents and teachers should educate children. He suggested that adults nurture children’s natural interests and learning methodologies rather than imposing knowledge and skills upon them. Piaget considered that children learn best through personal experience and creativity, much like scientists performing experiments to comprehend the world around them. His ideas affected the progress of child-centered education systems that give priority to practical activities over inactive observation.
Alison Gopnik, an eminent figure in Developmental Psychology, and her research team have made remarkable findings about young children’s cognitive abilities. They found that 18-month-olds can understand varying choices in others. Babies also learn ideas connected to statistics and cause-and-effect through experiments. For instance, in one experiment, 18-month-olds were provided with raw broccoli and Goldfish crackers. An explorer tried both items and showed either a happy or revolted expression. When asked to share, the toddlers presented broccoli if the explorer felt to liked it, even if they didn’t select it themselves, indicating their ability to understand another person’s viewpoint. Moreover, babies as young as eight months old demonstrated an understanding of statistical concepts. In a study involving ping-pong balls of different colors, babies were more curious when the investigator dragged an implausible combination of balls from a box corresponding to a more likely consequence.
Gopnik and her team stress the significance of nurturing children’s innate curiousness and passion for learning. They emphasize how children contend in scientific inquiry across diverse fields, using hypothesis testing, probability theory, and understanding in their learning processes. This highlights the importance of promoting interest as a positive incentive for early learning. As an example, a three-year-old boy unintentionally drops milk from a large carton. His scientist’s mother, instead of lecturing him, caught the chance to exasperate his curiosity. She used paper towels to demonstrate how milk carried through fibers and was absorbed, spinning the incident into a scientific experiment. This strategy of bringing out interest rather than employing negative emotions like fear or shame can raise a child’s cognitive growth and boost their ability as future scientists.
John Locke, a philosopher, considered a baby’s mind as a blank slate, while psychologist William James thought that babies lived in a cluttered and sensory-rich world. Even today, a surface observation of babies and young children might infer that their cognitive processes are not very active. However, children’s inner mechanisms are not always clear on the surface; rather, adults can feel their cognitive actions by examining their behaviors and activities. Studies reveal that children are innately driven to learn about the world around them. They discover, both in the real world and in their imaginative play, often illusion up imaginative scenarios. This form of inquiry provides children with the capacity to find unique solutions to problems, which can be more refined than those developed by adults.
In this digital age, children often display a greater understanding of technology than adults. For example, research cited by Richard Jenkin suggests that by the age of seven, children may have consumed the equivalent of 456 days watching at screens, averaging about four hours a day, while outdoor playtime totals just 182 days, or a little over an hour and a half daily. A lot of parents express a desire for their children to spend more time outdoors and less time in front of screens. While screens are often used to amuse children and provide parents with comfort, this behavior can likely hinder children’s creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.
So we can sum up with the note that developmental psychology studies demonstrate that young children have extraordinary cognitive abilities, and it is important to develop their interest in learning rather than restrict their system with negative emotions.
