Education Week – Kate Stoltzfus
“Christakis, whose career has focused on the well-being of children and their families, published The Importance of Being Little: What Young Children Really Need From Grownups last year. In the book, she argues for a rethinking of the purpose of preschool and proposes several changes to preschool curricula. According to Christakis, chief among early-childhood education’s current problems is that it neglects the role of play in learning. She recommends that preschools devote more time to cultivating children’s imaginations, instead of focusing on test preparation and the recall of numbers and letters. The Importance of Being Little also explains that educators and parents would do well to re-examine their mindsets on the teaching of young children by recognizing their preschoolers’ capacity for problem-solving, deeper learning, and forming relationships.”(more)