研究生英语高级教程第8单元_第1页
研究生英语高级教程第8单元_第2页
研究生英语高级教程第8单元_第3页
研究生英语高级教程第8单元_第4页
研究生英语高级教程第8单元_第5页
全文预览已结束

下载本文档

版权说明:本文档由用户提供并上传,收益归属内容提供方,若内容存在侵权,请进行举报或认领

文档简介

研究生英语高级教程第8单元TooMuchTooSoon[1]Inasocietythatpridesitselfonprovidingitschildrenwithgreatopportunitiestolearn,growanddevelopisitpossiblethatwemightbedoingmoreharmthangood?[2]OnmorethanoneoccasionIhavepausedtoreflectonthatveryquestiongivensomecurrenttrendsandideasaboutchildrenaslittlespongesoflearning.Irememberseeingarecentcurrentaffairsprogramwheretherewasmuchhypeaboutteachingtwo-year-oldstoreadandwasmystifiedattheparentswhogleefullyexpressedhowtheywerepavingthewayfortheirchild’sfuturebyhavingthemparticipateinthisprogram.[3]Interestingly,manyofthesechildrenwerealsointhethrongsofextracurricularoverloadandshuffledfromoneformoftuitiontoanotherastheirparentsespousedhowimportantitwastogivethemthebeststartinlife…remember,thesekidsweretwo!Addingtothistypeofhypearenewsstoriesandadvertisementstellingparentsofparticulartoysand“educational”activitiesthatwillbuildbetterbrainsandturntheirchildrenintolittlegeniuses.[4]Moreover,inordertoensurethatchildrenhaveskillsandknowledgeneededforthefuture,schoolsareincreasingacademicdemandsonchildrenatveryyoungages—eveninpre-schoolorearlier.Thetruthofthematter,however,isthatanyagendawhichforceslearninguponyoungchildrenmayactuallybedoingmoreharmthangood.[5]Oneofthemostfascinatingneurologicalfindingsinrecentyearsistherecognitionoftheimportantinfluenceofexperienceonbraindevelopmentandlearning.Insomesensethisseemsratherintuitiveandmostpeoplehavealwaysknownthatwelearnfromexperience.WhatistrulyamazingishowexperienceactuallyshapesthearchitectureofthebrainandthefactthatthisprocessstartslongbeforelittleJohnnytakespianolessonsorsomeacademictest.Infact,Johnny’sbrainistakingshapeaboutthreeweeksafterconception.[6]Inuterus,Johnnyhasactuallybegunhislifelonglearningjourneyviasensorystimulireceivedfromtheworldinsideandoutsideofthewomb.Uponbirth,Johnny’slearningreallybeginstotakeoffwiththegrowthofconnections(synapses)betweensome100billionneurons.[7]Theseconnectionsareinfluencedbyindividualexperienceandthemorerepetitiveanexperiencethegreatertheopportunityforconnectionstobecomepermanentlyhardwired.ItiswidelyrecognizedthatJohnnywillneeddevelopmentallyappropriateenvironmentalstimulitofacilitatehislearningandneurologicalfunctioning.Importantly,over-stimulationandactivitiesthatareintroducedtoJohnnytooearlycanactuallyhinderhislearning.Inotherwords,“appropriate”doesnotnecessarilymeanmoreandmuchofthisisdependentonthegrowthofafattymaterialcalledmyelin.[8]Asnotedabove,neuronsprovidetherawmaterialforlearningbybuildingconnectionsinthebrain.Throughoutlifeneuronsbecomedifferentiatedtoassumespecialisedrolesandformconnectionswithotherneuronsenablingthemtocommunicateandstoreinformation.Stimulatingexperiencesactivatecertainconnections,repetitionconsolidatestheseconnectionsandthebrainlearns.However,thereisalsoaneurologicaltimetablethatextendsfrombirthintotheseconddecadeoflife.Throughearlychildhoodandintoadolescencethistimetableissignificantlyinfluencedbymyelin.Thisimportantmaterialinsulatesanequallyimportantpartoftheneuronknownasthe“axon”.Currentresearchidentifiesthattheescalationofmyelinoccursinvariousstagesandthereisactuallya100%increaseinmyelinduringadolescence.Inotherwords,thebuild-upandacquisitionofmyelintowardsfullbrainmaturationismoremarathonthansprintandnomeasureofextratuitionorearlytraininginanyactivitywillinfluencethisdevelopmentaltimeline.[9]Youmaybewonderingwhymyelinissosignificant.Asaninsulator,myelinaidsinthetransmissionofinformationfromoneneurontoanotherandthemore“myelinated”axonsinthebrain,thegreateropportunityforneuralinformationtobepassedquickly.Theendresultofallofthisisthatcertainactivitiesmaybeeasiertolearnwhenregionsofthebrainaresufficientlymyelinatedorwhenourbrainsbecome“fatter”.Thegrowthofmyelin,otherwiseknownasmyelination,isveryimportantforchildrenduetothefactthatwhenwearebornwehaveveryfewmyelinatedaxons.Thisisonereasonwhyvisualacuityandmotorcoordinationaresolimitedatbirth.[10]Anotherimportantaspectofmyelinisthataswegrowolderdifferentregionsofthebrainmyelinateatdifferentages.Forexample,whentheregionofthebrainresponsibleforlanguageproductionmyelinates,childrenarethenabletodevelopspeechandgrammar.Thesetimesofmyelinationhavebecomereferredtobyneuroscientistsas“learningwindows”andamazingly,ahealthybrainknowswhichareasneedtobemyelinatedfirstandthatmyelinationcannothappenallatonce;again,ittakestimetobecomea“fathead”.Therefore,claimsofteachingtwo-year-oldchildrentoreadwouldbehighlydependentonachild’sneuraldevelopment.[11]Giventheimportanceofexperience,somemightsuggestthattheearlierchildrenareintroducedtocertainexperiencesorstimulationthegreaterthepropensityforlearningandearlysuccess.However,whileweknowthatinputfromtheenvironmenthelpsshapethebrain,wemustalsorememberthatbrainmaturationandoveralldevelopmentdonotfollowaniceneatagenda.Significantly,eachindividualchildisdifferentandsimplyimmersingachildinanendlessbombardmentofstimulimaydomoreharmthangood.[12]Thinkofpenmanshipasanexample.Thereisnodenyingtheimportanceofprovidingachildwithopportunitiestocolour,doodleandmimiclettermakingwithdevelopmentallyappropriatetoolslikelargecrayonsorchalk.However,manychildrenoftengetaholdoforarepresentedwithwritinginstrumentsdesignedforthemanualdexterityofanadult.Thisbecomesevenmoreproblematicifachildisintroducedtoformalizedwritinglessonstoosoon.Inthesesituationsthechildcompensatesforalackoffinemotorskilldevelopmentwherebythebrainadaptsandfindsagripthatisuseful.Thisadaptationisneurologicallyhardwiredintothebrainandbecomesaproblemwhenthechildentersaschoolonlytobetoldhehas“incorrect”pencilgrip.Thisproblemisoftenexacerbatedwhenateacherorparentaimstocorrectthisproblemand

温馨提示

  • 1. 本站所有资源如无特殊说明,都需要本地电脑安装OFFICE2007和PDF阅读器。图纸软件为CAD,CAXA,PROE,UG,SolidWorks等.压缩文件请下载最新的WinRAR软件解压。
  • 2. 本站的文档不包含任何第三方提供的附件图纸等,如果需要附件,请联系上传者。文件的所有权益归上传用户所有。
  • 3. 本站RAR压缩包中若带图纸,网页内容里面会有图纸预览,若没有图纸预览就没有图纸。
  • 4. 未经权益所有人同意不得将文件中的内容挪作商业或盈利用途。
  • 5. 人人文库网仅提供信息存储空间,仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理,对用户上传分享的文档内容本身不做任何修改或编辑,并不能对任何下载内容负责。
  • 6. 下载文件中如有侵权或不适当内容,请与我们联系,我们立即纠正。
  • 7. 本站不保证下载资源的准确性、安全性和完整性, 同时也不承担用户因使用这些下载资源对自己和他人造成任何形式的伤害或损失。

评论

0/150

提交评论