Child Learning 0-6 years: 6 Neuroscientific Keys for Parents

Is your child really learning optimally? Neuroscience today reveals 6 fundamental pillars that transform our understanding of childhood learning – discoveries that confirm what visionary educators had intuitively observed.

Let's first take a quick look at what we know today about the mechanisms at work in brain development and in our children's learning.

I. Specificities of the child's brain

The different areas and structures of the human brain are made up of neurons. These neurons are connected to each other by neural connections (or synaptic connections). It is through this vast network that circuits are built which help us represent the world around us, and which are strengthened through the experiences we live. 

From birth, the brain already has many connections and will create new ones during the first years of life, to the point that a 2-year-old child can have up to twice as many synaptic connections as an adult.

The process that allows the creation of new connections as well as the strengthening of those involved in neural circuits, or the elimination of those that are unnecessary, is called brain plasticity. It is active throughout life but is very strong during the first 25 years, including before birth. In a mature brain, brain plasticity occurs but to a much lesser extent and for specific functions.

Regardless of age, it is mainly triggered by 3 neurotransmitters: 

• Dopamine: which signals experiences more positive than anticipated,
• Acetylcholine: which marks events of interest and enhances synaptic plasticity,
• Serotonin: which is involved in memory and the reorganization of cortical circuits.

Since the different brain functions depend on each other, plasticity is not equally strong everywhere in the brain at the same time. These periods of strong plasticity, sensitive periods and critical periods, open and close more or less early depending on the brain areas.

Sensory functions, on which all other functions rely, have strong plasticity very early on and close very quickly (within the first years), whereas advanced cognitive functions begin to mature later and are the last to see their plasticity close around 25 years old.

II. The 6 keys to learning

Neuroscience research has revealed that the essential elements contributing to synaptic plasticity, and thus learning, are: attention, engagement, errors, repetition, sleep, and kindness.

1.  Attention

Attention, our ability to identify and process information of interest, is absolutely necessary for learning. 

In our brain, there are at least 3 attention systems:

• The state of alertness, which tells us when to be attentive. It releases dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine throughout the cortex and triggers the reorganization of cortical circuits. In the context of learning, this system is active when something is of interest to us, motivating us enough to pay attention.
• The orienting system, which allows us to focus our attention on a particular element of our environment, or on a thought, while ignoring everything else. The signals from the neural connections involved in this experience are amplified, while the signals from active connections outside these circuits in the brain are weakened.
• Executive control, which is located in the frontal lobe and orchestrates mental processes for tasks that require multiple steps to complete. It covers our ability to define an action plan, direct our attention to each step in an orderly manner without losing sight of our goal, make use of our working memory, etc.

2.  Active engagement

When learning, the brain make hypotheses, mental constructions, models of the world around them, thanks to higher functions. Then they tests these hypotheses in their environment that they validate or invalidate through the sensory signals they receive in return.

3. Errors - and feedback on errors

Error is essential for plasticity. Brain plasticity can only occur if the brain understands that an adjustment is necessary, which happens when it is surprised. 

This surprise corresponds to a prediction error: for every experience we live, our brain generates hypotheses, predictions about what is possible, probable, in the given circumstances, based on its existing knowledge. 

If during an experience the result does not match the prediction, the brain area that cannot explain the information signals an error to higher functions. 

This process also happens when the result matches the prediction, but the prediction was uncertain.

Error signals are present and spread throughout all areas of the brain, and occur constantly in the child.

4. Repetition

Repetition is essential for memorization. Repeating provides the opportunity to making new mistakes and invalidate our predictions or succeed and validate them, andadjust our neural circuits as a result.

Repetition will allowanchor learning by renewing experiences, practice, tests, as well as feedback and error correction accordingly, until being certain of having acquired the knowledge.

It also has the advantage ofautomate mental operations which require cognitive effort during learning.

5.  Sleep

Sleep is the time when the adjustment of neural circuits properly takes place, this is where learning is consolidated.

During sleep, the neural circuits that were activated during the day’s experiences are reactivated chronologically, in fast-forward, as if "relived" in a loop by the brain.

These events are then transferred from the hippocampus to a more efficient compartment of the brain, and the neuronal connections of the circuits activated during learning are strengthened through myelination - a process by which a membrane, myelin, wraps around axons to insulate them and speed up the rate at which information is transmitted between neurons.

6. Kindness

The adult's kindness is expressed through 3 fundamental elements for the child's well-being and learning.

II. The limits of traditional school

Taking these fundamental principles into account and observing the traditional school approach, we find that the rigidity of the curriculum, as well as the lack of time, freedom, and sometimes teacher training, create certain limits to the child's learning.

• A grade does not provide information to the child, it does not specify the cause of the errors made or how to correct them, only feedback will be useful for learning,
• The time between the grade and the moment of evaluation is too long, the child having most of the time forgotten the reasoning that led to their answer,

• The child who quickly acquires knowledge in a field and who is not offered progression adapted to their level, sufficient cognitive stimulation, will get bored and disengage from their learning because their metacognition will eventually suggest that they learn only marginally more than what they already know,
• The child who does not master certain knowledge, and who is not given time to acquire them while being asked to acquire new, more advanced ones, will end up feeling incapable in that area and discouraged.

The chapter-based program and its impact on the organization of tests pose two limits to learning:

• The possibility to test oneself again - Once the graded feedback is given to the child, they are not given the opportunity to act on their mistake by testing themselves again; they cannot improve this grade. They move on to a new chapter, and as a result, their chances to progress and gain confidence are limited.
• The absence of repetition - By not retesting the knowledge acquired during previous chapters of the program, long-term memorization of learning is not promoted. 

• That of passivity : during the teacher's explanations, the child is more likely to have their attention diverted, to get bored, because they are inactive, because the level of teaching presented is too advanced for them, or not enough, or because it is presented in a way that is too abstract or too theoretical.
• That of biasing the teacher's perception by the child, positioning them as a scholar who knows everything and systematically presents to the child all there is to know in a given field. The child then has no reason to look further or question the teacher's word, to be curious and ask questions.

III. What active pedagogies propose

All these pedagogies have discovered through observation some of the keys to learning, have taken into account the limits of what traditional education offered, and they are distinguished by some major common principles: learning follows the child's pace, it is done in a playful, autonomous, cooperative way, and art and crafts hold a prominent place.
Even though each pedagogy approaches it in its own way, each of these principles presents characteristics that favor learning.

Following the child's pace means that teaching is guided by their interests to maximize their involvement in their learning.

• The Reggio pedagogy offers the emergent curriculum, a mix between a curriculum and a pedagogical strategy based on the interests and knowledge level of all the children in the class to determine the approach to implement.
• At Montessori, observing the child is central, activities are presented to them whose relative difficulty is systematically taken into account on a case-by-case basis. Thus, if an activity is too advanced for them, an alternative is presented so that they do not scatter and progress according to their current abilities.
• For Freinet, education must take into account the abilities, pace, and interests of each child individually.

Following the child's pace helps to promote their attention, engagement, but also their metacognition, and provides flexibility that allows them to repeat as many times as necessary and take advantage of their sensitive periods, which Maria Montessori deduced exist in humans by observing children.

In these pedagogies, the child does it themselves, but the role of the teacher, and the relationship between the teacher and the child that results, contributes in different ways to their autonomous learning.

• In the Montessori method, the child is guided while being given the opportunity to lead their own learning. The teacher presents activities that the child applies independently, repeats when they wish, and as many times as they feel like.
• At Mason, before age 6, children are largely allowed to explore the outside freely, but their autonomy is supervised by adults, their study periods are short (no more than 15 minutes at a time) and guided by adults, and discipline and routine are pillars of Mason's pedagogy.
• School teachers Reggio take turns being guide, resource, and co-learner. They help the child find answers to their questions, they know but do not know everything, they also have things to learn and must also seek answers.

Autonomy gives children the opportunity to make mistakes, to repeat, it promotes their engagement and attention, and helps develop their self-confidence and critical thinking.

Playful activities, chosen by the child, take various forms depending on the pedagogies, whether accompanied by materials or simply a methodology.

• Decroly developed the concept of educational play, which is at the heart of his pedagogy, creating many games that are both playful and pedagogically interesting. He believed that play naturally led to serious activity, to work.
• Célestin Freinet considered that learning is work, through which children integrate into the adult world, that it must be motivated, and therefore be a choice on the child's part, and in this sense, it should not be opposed to play.
• Charlotte Mason suggested presenting certain learnings as games, whether it was calculating distances or learning to read by decoding words from their sounds, and increasing the difficulty when one senses the child is starting to get bored.

When the playful activity is adapted to the child's abilities and requires effort on their part, it is a factor of active engagement, helping them develop executive control, concentration, and contributes to their learning by making mistakes and repetition integral parts of the exercise.

Each pedagogy in its own way gives an important place to children's participation, whether the goal is to strengthen their self-confidence, social skills, or to educate the future citizens of our democracies. 

• The method of Roger Cousinet was based on children's group work. The teacher gets down to the students' level to guide their learning, correct their mistakes, observe them, and promote their autonomy, from forming their groups to carrying out their joint work.
• One of the pillars of pedagogy Reggio, projects involve active participation of all children. From start to finish, they collectively make all decisions, conduct research together, accompanied by educators, who also participate according to the needs of the group of children.
• At Freinet, children conduct research together, debate, present their personal work to other children to improve it, and exchanges are facilitated by the ability to move freely around the classroom.

Cooperation, through interactions, gives children a voice, allows them to gain confidence, be actively engaged, make mistakes, and calls upon their concentration.

Art and craft are considered true pillars in the child's learning, self-discovery, and understanding of the world around them.

• At Steiner, the child routinely engages in artistic and craft activities. They paint, sing, and learn very early to make real things by themselves by doing pottery, knitting, baking bread, etc. Some activities have a specific day dedicated to them each week.
• In pedagogy Reggio, these different activities are called the 100 languages. A symbolic number to represent their multitude. The child is invited to express themselves through these many artistic and craft disciplines, but they also provide an opportunity for the community outside the school to share passions and skills with the child.
• For Roger Cousinet Creative activities, along with knowledge activities, form the foundation of the study program. They provide the child the opportunity to work alone, completely freely, and to discuss with the teacher about their work, their initial intention, and to receive encouragement.

Art and craft are both facilitators of attention, engagement, mistakes, and repetition, but they also play an important role in the development of executive functions and self-confidence.

All these examples are not exhaustive, but demonstrate a variety of ways to approach learning differently. And even if their respective approaches do not have the limitations of traditional education and promote learning, that does not mean that either one is a universal solution to the crucial question of children's education.

IV. What we can do as parents

Neuroscience and active pedagogies offer us a scientific compass, but each family charts its own path. We have before us a multitude of approaches to implement these teachings, which we can organize around three fundamental questions: "What do our children do at school?", "What do our children do at home?", and "How do their activities in these two environments contribute to their optimal learning?"

The goal is not to oppose methods or turn your home into an alternative school, but to create an environment that naturally nurtures the 6 neuroscientific pillars we have explored: attention, engagement, constructive errors, kind repetition, restorative sleep, and a climate of trust.

Whatever your choices regarding your child's school, three spaces are available to you to apply these discoveries:

We have at our disposal a rich range of approaches from which we can draw inspiration. The tools we prioritize will always depend on our specific context: our child's unique personality, their natural interests, our family culture, our daily organization, our available spaces, and of course, our own educational values.

Each active pedagogy has aspects that may better suit our children depending on their temperament and our family goals. The Montessori approach will excel for a child who likes order and structured progression. Reggio Emilia will suit a little creative who thrives in collective projects. Freinet pedagogy will appeal to families who value free expression and cooperation.

These neuroscientific discoveries do not constitute a universal recipe, but a scientific framework to understand and optimize the natural learning of our children. They remind us that each child carries within them an extraordinary learning potential, which often just needs to be revealed rather than forced.

The ultimate goal remains the same as that of the visionary educators of the past century: to enable our children to become confident, curious, and fulfilled learners, capable of building their own relationship with knowledge and the world around them.