Friday, January 04, 2008

Holt on learning

"Children learn from anything and everything they see. They learn wherever they are, not just in special learning places...We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions and helping them explore the things they are most interested in."


From Learning All the Time by John Holt 1989, Perseus Books

2 comments:

overthere said...

Now that's advice worth remembering.

Beth said...

Absolutely! Enriching *anyone's* environment increases their chance of mental well-being; this is REALLY important with children.

And I don't mean the frenetic rounds of sports and after-school type activities. I mean talking with them, going new places, trying new activities and new tastes, having new experiences, meeting different types of people, and in general exploring the world.