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There is a focus in the article in playing outside which is good and fine. But another important aspect missing today is age mixing. This is crucial because it
by jostylr 11y ago
There is a focus in the article in playing outside which is good and fine.
But another important aspect missing today is age mixing. This is crucial because it is an informal mentoring process, in effect. 4 year olds learn best from being around 6 year olds who learn best from 8 year olds, etc. up the chain. There is also reflection from being a mentor to the younger ones. All of this is absent increasingly today.
It is not just lack of recess or whatever, but a lack of neighborhood, of community. The young ones learn how to share, how to regulate emotions, etc., in part by witnessing the older ones being that way.
- r0h1n 11y agoSome schools practice the concept of "mixed age groups" where each class is composed of 3 different ages in equal proportion. For instance my 5-yo son has 3-yo's and 4-yo's in his class. Thing is, it's a constant battle for the school with parents who always want their kids to with same-age kids or older-ones, never smaller ones. Everyone thinks their kid's development will be "held back" because of the younger children in the class. Telling them about how older kids also learn from playing or working with younger kids is a hard sell, when all parents think today is academic progress.
- hobs 11y agoUnfortunately what they do not understand is that teaching someone else is one of the best learning opportunities you can get, even if you think its not. It both expands and cements your knowledge of a subject, and highlights the areas that you are unsure of. I spent years training various technical topics, and the reason I was so fluent in them is because I was expected to be able to teach anyone around me on a dime.
- lotharbot 11y agothe mixed-age classroom phenomenon is very common in Montessori schools. My son has gone from being the classroom baby (he started just after his third birthday, mid-year, due to the way special ed services are handled) to being the big kid (5 years old, with an extra half-year of school experience compared to others his age) who knows everything. Montessori schools also really emphasize kids teaching each other. Since my son is kind of a math whiz [0] he gets to spend a lot of time showing other kids math concepts, while some of the more socially adept kids guide him through social situations. There are some kids who don't do well in that environment, but it's great for a lot of young kids. [0] he can coherently explain Graham's Number, knows pi to 206 places last I checked, and has started exploring limits
- username3 11y agoAmish teach grades 1-8 in one classroom.