"On what’s wrong with the way we teach." Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley.

"While learning from a teacher may help children get to a specific answer more quickly, it also makes them less likely to discover new information about a problem and to create a new and unexpected solution."

"...unstructured play turns out to be one of the most important aspects of Pre-K education."

"Counterintuitive outcomes...challenge and eventually lead to refinement of theories concerning fundamental principles of brain plasticity and learning." from Neuron.

“I think this boils down to a philosophical question, rather than a psychological one,” says Gilovich. “Should you value moment-to-moment happiness more than retrospective evaluations of your life?” from New York Magazine.

A new analysis reveals that top-selling fragrance products contain a dozen or more secret chemicals not listed on labels, multiple chemicals that can trigger allergic reactions or disrupt hormones, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety by the beauty industry’s self-policing review panels.

"So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success." from The Atlantic.

Are you a sound parent? from Psychology Today.

from GeekDad.

The museum of science, art and human perception. Housed within the walls of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, the Exploratorium is a collage of hundreds of science, art, and human perception exhibits. The Exploratorium is a leader in the movement to promote museums as informal education centers.

The Tinkering School offers an exploratory curriculum designed to help kids – ages 8 to 17 – learn how to build things. By providing a collaborative environment in which to explore basic and advanced building techniques and principles, we strive to create a school where we all learn by fooling around. All activities are hands-on, supervised, and at least partly improvisational.

The capacity to listen, and other crucial human attributes, are being diminished by relentless technological expansion. from The Guardian.

Natural items for play and daily living.

"We are leading a movement that educates parents, supports protective policies, and engages communities to make responsible decisions, simple everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements to create healthy environments where children and families can flourish."

Waldorf education is a pedagogy based upon the educational philosophy of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Learning is interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements. The Waldorf approach emphasizes the role of the imagination, developing thinking that includes a creative as well as an analytic component. from wikipedia.

An educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education based on the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided curriculum. from wikipedia.

A new survey of 2,000 elementary school teachers in Germany finds that your children’s names may also affect how teachers perceive them. from nyt freakonomics blog

from Eco Child’s Play.

from NYT.

The Whole Child Center, a revolutionary pediatric practice, provides children and families with high-quality, state-of-the-art integrative and ecologically sustainable healthcare.

Play is the hallmark of the paradoxically useful uselessness of extended immaturity.

from zen habits.

new experiments in developmental psychology. from seed.