The Importance of Early Exposure to Thinking.
I'm pretty sure that exceptions for this rule are very
very rare.
Of course, most of them also had some kind of a
genetic predisposition, a talent.
But they would have never achieved the heights of
their professional career without training which began when they were 5 or 6 years
old.
Naturally, the earlier the training begins the more
time one has to develop all skills necessary to succeed in the field. But the
real importance of early training is not just time one has to master the skills.
It is the fact that the early years of growing are the most important years for
the development of a human body. Starting training late means starting it when
the muscles and the joints become stiff and not flexible anymore, which of
course puts a person at the disadvantage compared to those who started early.
A human brain is essentially a muscle. It is a special
“muscle”, but anyway, it is a “muscle”.
A brain evolves, a brain changes itself, but more
importantly, a brain changes itself via/while/during mental actions a brain is
performing, a brain is going through.
That is why the first years of growing up are also extremely
important for a brain development.
Early exposure to reading, music, theater, sport, chess,
puzzle solving, construction games not only gives children some taste of
inventing things, and boost their imagination.
Early exposure to a variety of physical and mental
activities stimulates an intensive brain development.
Early exposure to a variety of physical and mental activities boost brain's processing power (i.e. the amount information it can process in a day, on average).
Early exposure to a variety of physical and mental activities boost brain's processing power (i.e. the amount information it can process in a day, on average).
We all know folk wisdom "practice makes perfect". It is because practicing certain actions also boosts the development of the part of a brain guiding that practice (those actions). Hence, the variety of practices is as important as intensity and continuity of those practices.
On the contrary, a dull repetitive training/drills, like rote memorization, especial during the early school years, makes a brain stiff and incapable of performing creative tasks (a good teacher v. a teacher).
On the contrary, a dull repetitive training/drills, like rote memorization, especial during the early school years, makes a brain stiff and incapable of performing creative tasks (a good teacher v. a teacher).
“If the only exercise students had been doing for 12 years
is squats, they will not be good at push-ups and pull-ups. Do not expect from
students an ability to think if all the had to do for 12 years was memorizing
facts and rules.” (the
9th law of TeachOlogy).
When some politician or a media personality complains that "people do not use a long-term thinking" or "make decisions contradicting their own interests" they need to know that the only reason for that is poorly performed educational practices.
A "ling-term thinking"requires (among others) an ability to perform a long multi-step logical chain of a cause-and-effect reasoning. That simply cannot happen for a person who on the third logical step forgets what was the first one. But a long-chain reasoning ability can be developed only as the result of years of practicing in different areas, different school subjects.
"Contradictory decisions", or "contradictory statements" (e.g. "another first kiss") represent an example of a disconnected mind, disconnected thinking, and is the manifestation an underdeveloped brain with parts which hardly communicate with each other.
Rote memorization will not lead to the development of strong sustainable multiple connections in a brain.
The top education practices should lead to the mastery of the knowledge and skill beyond just a set of Jeopardy-like facts. The top education practices should lead to the development of a scientific type of thinking.
For a more detailed description of a scientific type of thinking, please, visit "Modelling Instructions, Design Thinking, and Productive Thinking for a Science Teacher".
Additional discussion is available at:
A "ling-term thinking"requires (among others) an ability to perform a long multi-step logical chain of a cause-and-effect reasoning. That simply cannot happen for a person who on the third logical step forgets what was the first one. But a long-chain reasoning ability can be developed only as the result of years of practicing in different areas, different school subjects.
"Contradictory decisions", or "contradictory statements" (e.g. "another first kiss") represent an example of a disconnected mind, disconnected thinking, and is the manifestation an underdeveloped brain with parts which hardly communicate with each other.
Rote memorization will not lead to the development of strong sustainable multiple connections in a brain.
The top education practices should lead to the mastery of the knowledge and skill beyond just a set of Jeopardy-like facts. The top education practices should lead to the development of a scientific type of thinking.
For a more detailed description of a scientific type of thinking, please, visit "Modelling Instructions, Design Thinking, and Productive Thinking for a Science Teacher".
Additional discussion is available at:
