Babies learn about flavors even before they are born. Can prenatal learning give rise to food preferences? Can it make some individuals more prone to consume alcohol?
Young dinosaur enthusiasts can learn surprisingly sophisticated concepts about biology and natural selection. Use your child’s interest in dinosaurs to teach lasting lessons about science.
How is animal tracking related to cognitive development? Before the rise of urban life, kids spent a lot of time learning read the visual clues left behind by other animals. Nowadays, many kids never get to learn the art of tracking. But maybe they should. Tracking gets kids outdoors and interested in wildlife. It may also provide kids with opportunities to practice scientific reasoning, spatial skills, and symbolic thought.
STEM books for kids? Math and science games? Resources to get kids thinking, coding, building? Recommendations from Parenting Science.
There are many ways to play with blocks. One approach — structured block play — may be especially helpful for promoting STEM achievement.
These preschool math games have helped young children develop an intuitive understanding of numbers. Here’s how to make them, and how to play.
© 2009 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved These preschool and kindergarten science activities build on what most young children are already interested in — animals! And in addition to teaching lessons about biology, they also offer kids opportunities to practice analytical, spatial, and symbolic reasoning skills. Where to begin: Free exploration with Read More »
These social skills activities can help kids forge positive relationships — and better understand what other people are feeling and thinking. How can we help children develop social competence — the ability to read emotions, cooperate, make friends, and negotiate conflicts? Kids learn when we act as good role models, and they benefit we create environments that Read More »
Yes, newborns spend most of their time sleeping and eating. But babies are more than mere survival machines. At birth, they are primed and ready for social input, and our loving care has profound effects on their development. Generations ago, learning theorists tended to underestimate newborns. They assumed that young infants were empty-headed, passive lumps. Read More »
© 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Some teens study lots of math. Others avoid it. Does it make a difference? Yes, and not only to career prospects. New research suggests it might also affect brain chemistry, and the way that students learn. How many years of math should you take in high school? Read More »
© 2008 – 2021 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved A preschool science experiment is an opportunity to introduce children to the concepts of observation, prediction, and testing (Gelman and Brenneman 2004). Exciting? Yes. But it’s also tricky. On the one hand, research suggests that young children don’t think as creatively or as critically when Read More »
Studies report a link between TV and language development in young children. The more time kids spend watching television, the more slowly they learn to talk. What’s going on? Some people conclude that the effects of television on children are direct and negative. According to this view, television is noxious, like cigarette smoke. Cigarettes damage Read More »