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The Resource Free to learn : why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, Peter Gray

Free to learn : why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, Peter Gray

Creator
Summary
  • Both inside and outside of school, children today seldom play and explore without adult supervision, and are afforded few opportunities to control their own lives. The result: anxious, unfocused children who see schooling-- and life-- as a series of hoops to struggle through. Gray argues that we are squelching our children's' natural instincts to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education
  • "In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that our children, if free to pursue their own interests through play, will not only learn all they need to know, but will do so with energy and passion. Children come into this world burning to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education. Yet we have squelched such instincts in a school model originally developed to indoctrinate, not to promote intellectual growth. To foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, Gray demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. This capacity to learn through play evolved long ago, in hunter-gatherer bands where children acquired the skills of the culture through their own initiatives. And these instincts still operate remarkably well today, as studies at alternative, democratically administered schools show. When children are in charge of their own education, they learn better--and at lower cost than the traditional model of coercive schooling."--Publisher's description
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xii, 274 pages
Contents
  • Prologue
  • What have we done to childhood?
  • The play-filled lives of hunter-gatherer children
  • Why schools are what they are : a brief history of education
  • Seven sins of our system of forced education
  • Lessons from sudbury valley : mother nature can prevail in modern times
  • The human educative instincts
  • The playful state of mind
  • The role of play in social and emotional development
  • Free age mixing : a key ingredient for children's capacity for self-education
  • Trustful parenting in our modern world
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Isbn
9780465025992
Instance
Label
Free to learn : why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life
Title
Free to learn
Title remainder
why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life
Statement of responsibility
Peter Gray
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
  • Both inside and outside of school, children today seldom play and explore without adult supervision, and are afforded few opportunities to control their own lives. The result: anxious, unfocused children who see schooling-- and life-- as a series of hoops to struggle through. Gray argues that we are squelching our children's' natural instincts to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education
  • "In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that our children, if free to pursue their own interests through play, will not only learn all they need to know, but will do so with energy and passion. Children come into this world burning to learn, equipped with the curiosity, playfulness, and sociability to direct their own education. Yet we have squelched such instincts in a school model originally developed to indoctrinate, not to promote intellectual growth. To foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development. Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, Gray demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. This capacity to learn through play evolved long ago, in hunter-gatherer bands where children acquired the skills of the culture through their own initiatives. And these instincts still operate remarkably well today, as studies at alternative, democratically administered schools show. When children are in charge of their own education, they learn better--and at lower cost than the traditional model of coercive schooling."--Publisher's description
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Gray, Peter
Index
index present
LC call number
BF717
LC item number
.G73 2013
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Play
  • Developmental psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Play
  • Entwicklungspsychologie
  • Spiel
Label
Free to learn : why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, Peter Gray
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [249]-264) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Prologue -- What have we done to childhood? -- The play-filled lives of hunter-gatherer children -- Why schools are what they are : a brief history of education -- Seven sins of our system of forced education -- Lessons from sudbury valley : mother nature can prevail in modern times -- The human educative instincts -- The playful state of mind -- The role of play in social and emotional development -- Free age mixing : a key ingredient for children's capacity for self-education -- Trustful parenting in our modern world -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 274 pages
Isbn
9780465025992
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012040660
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other control number
40022115065
System control number
  • (OCoLC)815835659
  • (OCoLC)ocn815835659
Label
Free to learn : why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life, Peter Gray
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages [249]-264) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Prologue -- What have we done to childhood? -- The play-filled lives of hunter-gatherer children -- Why schools are what they are : a brief history of education -- Seven sins of our system of forced education -- Lessons from sudbury valley : mother nature can prevail in modern times -- The human educative instincts -- The playful state of mind -- The role of play in social and emotional development -- Free age mixing : a key ingredient for children's capacity for self-education -- Trustful parenting in our modern world -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Dimensions
25 cm
Extent
xii, 274 pages
Isbn
9780465025992
Isbn Type
(hbk. : alk. paper)
Lccn
2012040660
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
Other control number
40022115065
System control number
  • (OCoLC)815835659
  • (OCoLC)ocn815835659

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