Summary Of The Suggestion By Gobnik

C1. The suggestion by Gobnik that children can learn best through “exploring cause and effect and doing experiments” (Gobnik, 2010, p.80) is intriguing. Upon personal observation of my own children, and other children I work with, it could be debated that while Western society generally does a good job at encouraging infant, toddler, and preschool age children to learn through play and exploration, a shift occurs for children entering their elementary school years. Seemingly, this form of tactile and experiential learning decreases, with an emergence of favouring auditory and visually directed instruction. Considering the rise of attention and behavioural challenges for many students in the public education system, it begs the question whether our society has prematurely removed the concept of discovering new ideas through experiments and kinesthetic moments, inhibiting developmental learning for many children.
In the film, it was inspirational to see children who face developmental and intellectual challenges pursue life with determination and grit. For example, through watching Michael’s story, learning about how after his surgery he faced an uphill recovery of having to relearn everyday tasks, while still being the same boy on the inside, a pondering moment unveiled itself about our human need for healthy attachment. His story seemingly provided reinforcement to the principle that a safe, supportive environment helps promote developmental healing within a child. Unfortunately, labels are regularly placed upon children in our society whose development may be dissimilar to that which is considered on target. Regardless, because of the plasticity of a child’s brain, alongside its impressive complexity, much can continue to be learned through heartwarming individuals like