|
Showing 1 - 8 of
8 matches in All Departments
To gain comparative insights into middle-class Americans'
child-related values and practices, Grove's How Other Children
Learn examines children's learning and parents' parenting in five
traditional societies. Such societies are those have not been
affected by "modern" - urban, industrial - values and ways of life.
They are found in small villages and camps where people engage
daily with their natural surroundings and have little or no
experience of formal classroom instruction. The five societies are
the Aka hunter-gatherers of Africa, the Quechua of highland Peru,
the Navajo of the U.S. Southwest, the village Arabs of the Levant,
and the Hindu villagers of India. Each society has its own chapter,
which overviews that society's background and context, then probes
adults' mindsets and strategies regarding children's learning and
socialization for adulthood. The book concludes with two summary
chapters that draw broadly on anthropologists' findings about many
traditional societies and offer examples from the five societies
discussed earlier. The first reveals why children in traditional
societies willingly carry out family responsibilities and suggests
how American parents can attain similar outcomes. The second
contrasts our middle-class patterns of child-rearing with
traditional societies' ways of enabling children to learn and grow
into contributing family and community members.
To gain comparative insights into middle-class Americans'
child-related values and practices, Grove's How Other Children
Learn examines children's learning and parents' parenting in five
traditional societies. Such societies are those have not been
affected by "modern" - urban, industrial - values and ways of life.
They are found in small villages and camps where people engage
daily with their natural surroundings and have little or no
experience of formal classroom instruction. The five societies are
the Aka hunter-gatherers of Africa, the Quechua of highland Peru,
the Navajo of the U.S. Southwest, the village Arabs of the Levant,
and the Hindu villagers of India. Each society has its own chapter,
which overviews that society's background and context, then probes
adults' mindsets and strategies regarding children's learning and
socialization for adulthood. The book concludes with two summary
chapters that draw broadly on anthropologists' findings about many
traditional societies and offer examples from the five societies
discussed earlier. The first reveals why children in traditional
societies willingly carry out family responsibilities and suggests
how American parents can attain similar outcomes. The second
contrasts our middle-class patterns of child-rearing with
traditional societies' ways of enabling children to learn and grow
into contributing family and community members.
Countless books and articles have offered remedies for the poor
learning outcomes of American schoolchildren. Virtually all of
these publications share one thing in common: They propose
improvements in the policies and practices controlled by adult
educators. Grove believes that our children's poor learning cannot
be totally the fault of educators. Our children are active
participants in classrooms, so if there's a problem with how well
our children are learning, then we as parents might be at fault. To
discover what our part is and explore what can be done about it,
Grove draws on over 100 anthropological studies of children's
learning and child-rearing in China, Japan, and Korea. They reveal
that those children, even the youngest ones, are highly receptive
to classroom learning. Why do they come into classrooms with
attentive and engaged attitudes? How did they acquire the drive to
learn? Can American parents benefit from knowing how Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean parents think about and carry out
child-rearing? The Drive to Learn explores these questions.
Countless books and articles have offered remedies for the poor
learning outcomes of American schoolchildren. Virtually all of
these publications share one thing in common: They propose
improvements in the policies and practices controlled by adult
educators. Grove believes that our children's poor learning cannot
be totally the fault of educators. Our children are active
participants in classrooms, so if there's a problem with how well
our children are learning, then we as parents might be at fault. To
discover what our part is and explore what can be done about it,
Grove draws on over 100 anthropological studies of children's
learning and child-rearing in China, Japan, and Korea. They reveal
that those children, even the youngest ones, are highly receptive
to classroom learning. Why do they come into classrooms with
attentive and engaged attitudes? How did they acquire the drive to
learn? Can American parents benefit from knowing how Chinese,
Japanese, and Korean parents think about and carry out
child-rearing? The Drive to Learn explores these questions.
The Aptitude Myth addresses the decline in American children's
mastery of critical school subjects. It contends that a
contributing cause for this decline derives from many Americans'
ways of thinking about children's learning: They believe that
school performance is determined very largely by innate aptitude.
The Aptitude Myth traces the deep historical origins, the spread
and elaboration, and the eventual triumph of the belief in the
determining power of mental abilities "given" at birth and
therefore fixed. Covered is 600 B.C.E. until 1926 (when the S.A.T.
was first administered). The belief in aptitude, assumed by many
Americans to be the modern view of learning ability, is revealed as
an archaic way of thinking that originated in the imaginations of
our ancient forebears and gradually gained credibility over 2,500
years. In recent times, the belief became elaborated to include the
fanciful notion that more-than-modest academic study injures a
child's health. Having inherited this mindset, Americans don't know
how to insure that children gain mastery. A new mindset is needed.
The final chapter offers a transformative mindset.
The Aptitude Myth addresses the decline in American children's
mastery of critical school subjects. It contends that a
contributing cause for this decline derives from many Americans'
ways of thinking about children's learning: They believe that
school performance is determined very largely by innate aptitude.
The Aptitude Myth traces the deep historical origins, the spread
and elaboration, and the eventual triumph of the belief in the
determining power of mental abilities "given" at birth and
therefore fixed. Covered is 600 B.C.E. until 1926 (when the S.A.T.
was first administered). The belief in aptitude, assumed by many
Americans to be the modern view of learning ability, is revealed as
an archaic way of thinking that originated in the imaginations of
our ancient forebears and gradually gained credibility over 2,500
years. In recent times, the belief became elaborated to include the
fanciful notion that more-than-modest academic study injures a
child's health. Having inherited this mindset, Americans don't know
how to insure that children gain mastery. A new mindset is needed.
The final chapter offers a transformative mindset.
What is the explanation for American students' comparatively
mediocre academic performance? A Mirror for Americans finds part of
it in how they are taught in primary schools. Comparisons with East
Asian teaching are supplied by 50 years of research findings. Grove
asks not that we copy East Asian teaching approaches, but that we
use them as a mirror to gain insights into typically American
approaches and their underlying values, which are handicapping our
children's learning.
What is the explanation for American students' comparatively
mediocre academic performance? A Mirror for Americans finds part of
it in how they are taught in primary schools. Comparisons with East
Asian teaching are supplied by 50 years of research findings. Grove
asks not that we copy East Asian teaching approaches, but that we
use them as a mirror to gain insights into typically American
approaches and their underlying values, which are handicapping our
children's learning.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|