Push Down- part two

Think about your own education. What topics addressed in middle school are now being pushed to earlier grade levels? In theory this sounds like a wonderful idea since the world of information has exploded. However reality presents a question mark for this line of reasoning.
The first issue is development. Our children are born with physical features like adults however full brain development and life experience is not present at birth. Young children learn by exploring and checking often using the senses to become familiar with the world. Their world is usually small at birth then grows. The first impressions are of feeling comfort and safety hopefully. There is much intake of information using all the senses long before the first word is spoken.
We know that young children mimic what has been modeled and begin to learn the names of things at a very young age. Along with learning physical movement and speech (including singing) children explore and become familiar with the physical world around them. As children begin to grow there is recognition and the beginning of connections with symbols. Visualize learning as a continuously growing solid cone with continual increase in depth and diameter. There are layers and connections. Learning leads to or builds to more learning. Learning needs to start with what is known and comfortable to build understanding and make connections. If a child is given the opportunities to build a strong foundation by using and exploring knowledge that learning will support the student to move forward and accomplish much.
We all know that positive self-worth is built on the inside. When a person feels good about an accomplishment, it builds worth, self-awareness, and pride. Learning how one learns, logic, and reasoning develop with age and success develops that positive self-image. We know that children who are developmentally younger don’t understand or realize that there are 2 symbols for each letter in English and many of those letters and letter combinations have more than one sound. This inability to recognize this relationship is due to brain and growth development not to the inability for a child to learn. When a child reaches a certain stage of development and has the prior knowledge it comes together. In the real world a solid item maintains it shape no matter how it is sitting- but depending on how you turn a p,d,b,q, this shape becomes different letters and sounds depending on how it sits on a line (visible or invisible). This is a much more complex piece of learning that takes time to practice, learn, understand, and maintain and then use.
What about what is interesting to children? We know everyone (including adults) learns what catches their attention first. Often a young child will spend hours looking at categories. At first the category may be general such as animals, toys, cars, or shapes. This then turns to sorting in a variety of ways, how many legs, color, uses etc. Often children are touching, tasting, turning, looking, and smelling- all as part of learning about attributes. There needs to be time and opportunity to experience (experiment) with a variety ideas and thought. Although it may be nonverbal, that child is experiencing and observing same and different, patterns, and comparisons, theories and strategies for future problem solving. Of course none of this is verbalized but children are developing a foundation of strategies to handle experiences in the future- practicing how to learn.
Children in the preschools K, 1, and 2 are still involved with understanding and working on connecting the symbolic world with the real word-picture and word connected to the real thing. Social skills are starting but it is an eye opener for children when they become aware (around 7 or 8) of peers and what others do. Learning social skills take off at this point as well.
There are some children in the elementary schools that are struggling and not liking school because they are daily meeting with frustration. Educators are continually observing and helping the child revisit what got missed, forgotten, or miss understood. Often it has to do with a child’s previous learning and development. These children are NOT BEHIND in learning yet society chooses to treat them as though they are behind rather than allowing time and giving experiences that will strengthen understanding.
There are adults who believe that children can be taught anything. I agree because children memorize or mimic anything to please the adults around them. However, retention without learning and understanding is not there and the information needs to be retaught. One prime example is the child that is able to read any word shown to them however, there is no understanding (comprehension) of said text. Time and again as I talk with educators in upper elementary, middle school, and high school I hear them say- that students have not made the connections or don’t remember what has been learned in in the early years. I even hear college professors talking about lack of the basics. Think about the simple premise of where in your life you start remembering.
Perhaps if I may, we as adults need to allow children several years to develop strong reading-writing-speaking and math foundations in a positive environment and then all children can build from there. Educators need to be given the time to allow students to manipulate and practice the learning for understanding, connecting, retention, and transferring.
If we truly want our children to be successful, adults need to remember that every child/person has a different developmental time line that needs to be considered as it affects a child’s outlook, strategies, mental health, and ability toward learning. Has anyone asked the educator in the classroom what children need to become strong, confident lifelong learners?????