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

Does your child really learn in the most optimal way? Neuroscience is now revealing 6 fundamental pillars that are transforming our understanding of children's learning - discoveries that confirm what visionary educators had intuitively observed.

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

I. The specific features of the child's brain

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

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

The process that enables new connections to be created, those involved in neural circuits to be strengthened, and unnecessary ones to be eliminated is called brain plasticity. It operates throughout life but is very strong during the first 25 years, including before birth. In a mature brain, brain plasticity still occurs, but to a much lesser extent and for specific functions.

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

• Dopamine: which signals experiences that are more positive than anticipated,
• Acetylcholine: which marks events of interest and intensifies synaptic plasticity,
• Serotonin: which plays a role in memory and the reorganization of cortical circuits.

Because the brain's different functions rely on one another, plasticity is not equally strong everywhere in the brain at the same time. These periods of high plasticity, sensitive periods and critical periods, therefore open and close earlier or later depending on the areas of the brain.

Sensory functions, on which all other functions rely, therefore have strong plasticity very early on that closes very quickly (in the first years), whereas advanced cognitive functions begin to mature later and are the last for their plasticity to close, around age 25.

II. The 6 keys to learning

Neuroscience research has revealed that the essential factors contributing to synaptic plasticity, and therefore to 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 alerting statewhich tells us when to pay attention. It releases dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine throughout the cortex and triggers the reorganization of cortical circuits. In learning, this system is active when something interests us and motivates us enough to pay attention to it.
• The orienting systemwhich allows us to focus our attention on a particular element of our environment, or on a thought, while disregarding everything else. The signals from the neural connections involved in this experience are amplified, while the signals from connections active at the same time outside these circuits in the brain are weakened.
• Executive controlwhich is located in the frontal lobe and orchestrates mental processes for tasks whose completion requires several steps. It encompasses 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 forms hypotheses, mental constructions, models of the world around him, through higher functions. Then he tests these hypotheses in his environment, which he validates or invalidates through the sensory signals he receives in return.

3.  Errors - and feedback on errors

Error is essential to plasticity. Brain plasticity can occur only 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 have, our brain generates hypotheses and predictions about what is possible and probable under the given circumstances, based on its existing knowledge. 

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

This process also occurs when the outcome matches the prediction, but the prediction was uncertain.

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

4. Repetition

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

Repetition will make it possible toanchor learning by repeating the experiences, practice, tests, as well as the corresponding feedback and error correction, until being certain that the knowledge has been acquired.

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

5. Sleep

Sleep is the time when the neural circuits are properly adjusted, this is where learning is consolidated.

During sleep, the neural circuits that were activated during the day's experiences are reactivated chronologically, at accelerated speed, as if the brain were reliving them over and over.

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

6. Care

Adult care is reflected in 3 fundamental elements for the child's well-being and learning.

II. The limitations of traditional school

By taking these fundamental principles into account and observing the traditional school approach, we can see that the rigidity of the curriculum, as well as the lack of time, freedom, and sometimes teacher training, create certain limitations for the child's learning.

• A grade gives no 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 receiving the grade and the moment of assessment is too long, with the child having forgotten most of the reasoning that led to their answer,

• The child who rapidly acquires knowledge in a field and is not offered progression adapted to their level or sufficient cognitive stimulation will become bored and disengage from learning because their metacognition will eventually suggest that they are learning only marginally more than they already know,
• The child who has not mastered certain knowledge, and not given time to acquire them while being asked to acquire new, more advanced ones, will eventually feel incapable in that area and become discouraged.

The chapter-based curriculum and its impact on the organization of tests pose two limitations on learning:

• The possibility of testing oneself again - Once the child has been given their grade and feedback, they are not given the opportunity to act on their error by testing themselves again, so they cannot improve the grade. They move on to a new chapter, thereby limiting their chances of progressing and gaining self-confidence.
• The absence of repetition - By not retesting the knowledge acquired in previous chapters of the curriculum, it does not promote the long-term retention of learning. 

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

III. What active educational approaches offer

All these educational approaches discovered certain keys to learning through observation, took into account the limitations of traditional education, and are distinguished by several major principles they share: learning follows the child's pace, takes place playfully, independently, and cooperatively, and art and crafts occupy a prominent place in it.
Although each educational approach addresses it in its own way, each of these principles has characteristics that support learning.

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

• The Reggio approach proposes an emergent curriculum, a blend of curriculum and educational strategy based on the interests and knowledge level of all the children in the class to determine the approach to be implemented.
• With Montessoriobservation of the child is central; activities are presented with their relative difficulty systematically taken into account on a case-by-case basis. Thus, if an activity is too advanced for the child, an alternative is presented so that they do not become scattered and can progress according to their current abilities.
• For Freineteducation must take into account each child's abilities, pace, and interests individually.

Following the child's pace helps foster their attention, engagement, and metacognition, while also providing flexibility that allows them to repeat activities as many times as necessary and benefit from sensitive periods, whose existence in humans Maria Montessori had inferred by observing children.

In these educational approaches, children do things themselves, but the teacher's role, and the relationship between the teacher and child that results from it, contributes to their independent learning in different ways.

• In the Montessori method, children are guided while being given the opportunity to direct their own learning. The teacher presents activities that children carry out independently; they repeat them whenever they wish and as many times as they feel the need.
• With Masonbefore the age of 6, children are given plenty of freedom to explore the outdoors, but their autonomy is supervised by an adult; their study periods are short (no more than 15 minutes at a time) and guided by an adult, and discipline and routine are pillars of the Mason approach.
• School teachers Reggio take turns being guides, resources, and co-learners. They help children find answers to their questions; they know things but do not know everything, and they too have things to learn and must also search for answers.

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

Play activities, chosen by the child, take various forms depending on the educational approach, whether accompanied by materials or simply by a methodology.

• Decroly developed the concept of educational play, which is at the heart of his educational approach, creating many games that are both appealing as play and educationally valuable. He considered that play naturally led to serious activity, to work.
• Célestin Freinet considered learning to be work through which children integrate into the adult world, that it should be motivating and therefore be a choice made by the child, and that in this sense it should not be opposed to play.
• Charlotte Mason suggested presenting certain learning activities as games, whether calculating distances or learning to read by deciphering words from their sounds, and increasing the difficulty when it seems the child is beginning to get bored.

When play activities are suited to the child's abilities and require effort on their part, they promote active engagement, help develop executive control and concentration, and contribute to learning by making mistakes and repetition integral parts of the exercise.

Each educational approach gives children's participation an important place in its own way, whether the aim is to strengthen their self-confidence, their 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 works at the students' level to guide their learning, correct their mistakes, observe them, and foster their autonomy, from forming their groups to completing their work together.
• One of the pillars of the educational approach Reggio, projects involve the active participation of all the children. From beginning to end, they collectively make all the decisions, conduct research together, supported by the educators, who also participate according to the needs of the group of children.
• With Freinet, children conduct research in groups, debate, present their individual work to the other children in order to improve it, and exchanges are facilitated by the opportunity to move freely around the classroom.

Cooperation, through interaction, gives children a voice, enables them to build self-confidence, be actively engaged, make mistakes, and calls upon their concentration.

Art and crafts are regarded as true pillars in the child's learning, self-discovery, and discovery of the world around them.

• With Steiner, the child engages in artistic and craft activities as part of their routine. They paint, sing, and learn very early to make real things themselves by doing pottery, knitting, baking bread, and so on. Some activities have a specific day dedicated to them each week.
• In the pedagogy Reggio, these different activities are called the 100 languages. A symbolic number representing 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, together with knowledge-based activities, form the foundation of the curriculum. They give the child an opportunity to work alone, in complete freedom, and to discuss their work and original intention with the teacher, as well as receive encouragement.

Art and crafts both facilitate attention, engagement, mistakes, and repetition, but they also play an important role in developing their executive functions and self-confidence.

These examples are not exhaustive, but they demonstrate a variety of ways to approach learning differently. And although their respective approaches do not have the limitations of traditional education and help promote learning, that does not mean that one or the other is a universal solution to the crucial question of children's education.

IV. What We Can Do as Parents

Neuroscience and active learning approaches offer us a scientific compass, but each family charts its own course. We have a multitude of approaches for putting these lessons into practice, 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 pit methods against one another or turn your home into an alternative school, but to create an environment that naturally nurtures the 6 neuroscience-based pillars we have explored: attention, engagement, constructive mistakes, supportive repetition, restorative sleep, and a climate of trust.

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

We have a rich range of approaches available to draw inspiration from. The tools we choose will always depend on our specific context: our child's unique personality, their natural interests, our family's culture, our daily routine, the spaces available to us, and of course, our own educational values.

Each active educational approach has aspects that may suit our children better depending on their temperament and our family goals. The Montessori approach will excel for a child who enjoys order and structured progression. Reggio Emilia will be better suited to a creative child who thrives on group projects. Freinet education will appeal to families who value free expression and cooperation.

These neuroscience discoveries do not constitute a universal recipe, but a scientific framework for understanding and optimizing our children's natural learning. They remind us that every child carries extraordinary learning potential within them, which often only needs to be revealed rather than forced.

The ultimate goal remains the same as that of the visionary educators of the last 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.