It’s my observation that kids can learn very well for being kids, if that makes any sense. Why is it that kids seem to be so good at chess (just as an example), on a world-class level and on an everyday level as well? That’s my observation as well.
Is there some sort of super-learning phenomenon out there that children are able to possess? I mean, their brain is in learning mode because they are in the learning stage of life, being a psychological sponge. (Seems that an adult brain is more squeezing out the sponge, rather than soaking up) Can they really learn more than us, in proportion to their current intellect?
If so, is there any conceivable way we can tap into this “young brain” and keep it going into adulthood? Maybe if we were in the process of learning at the very end of the “young brain” stage, but never let up, never gave the brain a chance to “degenerate” to the adult brain, we could keep it forever, while possibly reaping the benefits of the new idea-producing adult brain…
Kids are good at chess on a world level? Other then the odd boy genius, Ive only heard of older people becoming chess champions and competing at high levels.
And if one competed at a world chess level, one would assume they could also compete on a lower level.
Going back to my high school English teacher, he kept trying to impress on us that there’s some sort of change that occurs in your brain at 25 that hampers your ability/willingness to learn something new (that is, something in a radically new field, like learning to play the violin or starting martial arts, or a new language). He yapped about it for years, so maybe he was just delusional.
www.winwegner.com has all sorts of great things about Creative Problem solving and socratic learning. Somewhere, buried in his in-need-of-an-editor up-with-people prose, he had some ideas that children have less of a “conceptual framework” (don’t think that’s his term though) when they’re learning something new: i.e. they’re able to accept the mindset that’s required for the task than someone who has ingrained and preconcieved notions of what they can and can’t do and what the task requires as it relates to their skills.
That’s some pretty vague theory, don’t know if it helps.
Another thing is, learning is a full-time job for kids. They spend 8 hrs day, 5 days a week excercising their ability to learn. When they turn their attention to non-academic pursuits, they dive right in with the right skills to learn it: observing, trying, failing, repeating.
Adults who try to learn a new skill are often hampered by impatience, unwillingness to fail or admit error, unwillingness to listen to an instructor who is younger/lower socio-economic class, etc.
The physical brain structure of a child also makes a difference. In early childhood, the brain overproduces synapses, and then removes the ones that conflict with the observations the child has made. This process is faster than adding new synapses as we learn new things, and thus, children are able to learn faster. This process ends within a couple years for more basic functions (sight, hearing, etc.) and can go on until the child is 10 for other portions of the brain.