EDFD Smart Babies Reaction Paper
Almelyn R. Labay
2014-02936
October 7, 2014
Teacher Maria Vanessa P. Lusung-Oyzon
College of Education; B Secondary Education
TTh 10:00 – 11:30 AM
“Smart Babies: Is there a need for Hothousing?”
Keywords: Hothousing, Spiral Curriculum, Long Term Memory, Environment
I am sure that every parent wishes to have smart babies. These parents want their babies – their children whose ages range from 0 to 6, be ahead of other children in terms of knowledge and skills. This demand is actually becoming a trend. In relation to that, the documentary, “Smart Babies”, points out some ways to make babies smart, and at the same time, evaluates if those ways are effective or if everything is just a misconception. The three main points were namely, synapses, enriched environment and hothousing. Among these three topics, “Hothousing ” caught my attention, making me think if this kind of approach really helps or it just worsens the situation.
What is hothousing? Hothousing is a form of teaching which involves intense study of a certain topic to somehow stimulate babies’ minds. It is teaching advanced lessons to babies. In the video, I’ve seen mothers teaching facts about aircrafts, gems and math using flashcards. They made their babies familiar, and soon, memorize those facts. There’s nothing wrong with teaching complex lessons to children, even in babies. This concept is actually supported by Jerome Bruner in his theory of development. In his contentions on “Childs Readiness for Learning”, he pointed out that “a child is always ready to learn a concept at some level of sophistication”. According to him, “any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development”. Basically, a child can learn anything. The complex lessons just need to be demystified and simplified to be fully understood by the child.
Hothousing can be an advantage to the child. If the child was able to acquire a specific lesson, that thing is indeed an
2014-02936
October 7, 2014
Teacher Maria Vanessa P. Lusung-Oyzon
College of Education; B Secondary Education
TTh 10:00 – 11:30 AM
“Smart Babies: Is there a need for Hothousing?”
Keywords: Hothousing, Spiral Curriculum, Long Term Memory, Environment
I am sure that every parent wishes to have smart babies. These parents want their babies – their children whose ages range from 0 to 6, be ahead of other children in terms of knowledge and skills. This demand is actually becoming a trend. In relation to that, the documentary, “Smart Babies”, points out some ways to make babies smart, and at the same time, evaluates if those ways are effective or if everything is just a misconception. The three main points were namely, synapses, enriched environment and hothousing. Among these three topics, “Hothousing ” caught my attention, making me think if this kind of approach really helps or it just worsens the situation.
What is hothousing? Hothousing is a form of teaching which involves intense study of a certain topic to somehow stimulate babies’ minds. It is teaching advanced lessons to babies. In the video, I’ve seen mothers teaching facts about aircrafts, gems and math using flashcards. They made their babies familiar, and soon, memorize those facts. There’s nothing wrong with teaching complex lessons to children, even in babies. This concept is actually supported by Jerome Bruner in his theory of development. In his contentions on “Childs Readiness for Learning”, he pointed out that “a child is always ready to learn a concept at some level of sophistication”. According to him, “any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development”. Basically, a child can learn anything. The complex lessons just need to be demystified and simplified to be fully understood by the child.
Hothousing can be an advantage to the child. If the child was able to acquire a specific lesson, that thing is indeed an