Childhood Fascination with What Adults Consider Mundane

If you know kindergartners, you know that a thread on the carpet can become one of the most fascinating objects on the face of the earth. The child will pick it up and run her fingers the length of it, scrutinizing every centimeter of that thread. She might hold it up in the sunlight to get a better look and then lay it on her lap to continue the intense observation of the thread. Those who are sitting close to the thread scientist may notice this intriguing object and want in. So they�ll lean in closer and watch intently as their friend becomes overtaken by the thread as if on the verge of discovering a new cure the common cold. Before you know it five, maybe six, students have joined in the investigation of the thread. Now it�s a team of scientists for whom the thread is much more engaging than what is being taught.

While this kind of distraction can and does disrupt the class, it is actually a beautiful thing. Kindergartners experience wonder about things that adults find utterly unimpressive.

Notes:

Folksonomies: cognition learning

Taxonomies:
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/hobbies and interests/needlework (0.212040)
/business and industrial (0.150946)

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Entities:
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How hard is it to keep kindergartners focused on a class lesson? This hard.

Periodicals>Newspaper Article: Strauss, Valerie (August 24, 2016), How hard is it to keep kindergartners focused on a class lesson? This hard., Washington Post, Retrieved on 2016-09-09

Source Material [www.washingtonpost.com]

Folksonomies: education childhood learning