tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/childhood-learning-21587/articlesChildhood learning – The Conversation2020-04-01T19:08:55Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305352020-04-01T19:08:55Z2020-04-01T19:08:55ZBaby steps: this ancient skull is helping us trace the path that led to modern childhood<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324205/original/file-20200331-65495-1u437rv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C39%2C3265%2C2356&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The original Dikika child skull (left), a 3D model produced with synchrotron scanning (middle), and a model corrected for distortion during fossilisation (right).</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gunz et al. (2020) / Science Advances. </span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within our extended primate family consisting of lemurs, monkeys, and apes, humans have the largest brains. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, weigh about two-thirds as much as us, yet our brains are about 3.5 times larger.</p>
<p>Ours are also organised differently, and take longer to grow and mature. This extended period of development leads to a particularly long childhood for humans – one that requires extra parental care and protection. </p>
<p>Brains consume a large amount of energy. For a species that has a small brain at birth and a large one in adulthood, growth must either occur rapidly, or over a long time, or through a combination of both.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smart-were-our-ancestors-turns-out-the-answer-isnt-in-brain-size-but-blood-flow-130387">How smart were our ancestors? Turns out the answer isn't in brain size, but blood flow</a>
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<p>Researchers first observed exceptionally large brains in the human fossil record from about 300,000 years ago. However, the slower rate of brain development, which is now unique to humans, began more than three million years ago in the australopithecine lineage. These two-footed hominins from Africa are thought to be ancestral to our genus, <em>Homo</em>. </p>
<p>What triggered the evolutionary brain expansion in hominins, and how this relates to human behaviour, remain hotly debated topics among palaeoanthropologists.</p>
<h2>The Dikika child</h2>
<p>In 2000, an Ethiopian team uncovered an astonishing find in the country’s Dikika region: the skeleton of an ancient baby with a nearly complete skull. </p>
<p>Dated to about 3.3 million years ago, this youngster belonged to the same genus and species as the iconic australopithecine adult female <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus)">Lucy</a> – <em>Australopithecus afarensis</em>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Australopithecine skeleton (left) and reconstructions of australopithecines Lucy and the Dikika child.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Institute of Human Origins & Zeray Alemseged</span></span>
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<p>In a <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/14/eaaz4729">new paper</a> published in Science Advances, we reveal that Lucy’s species shows surprising similarities and differences with both chimpanzees <em>and</em> humans. But in order to make these comparisons, we first needed to work out two critical details: </p>
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<li>exactly how old was the Dikika child when it died? </li>
<li>how did its brain size compare to adult members of its species, such as Lucy?</li>
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<h2>X-rays to the rescue</h2>
<p>Brains do not fossilise, but as they grow and expand during childhood, the tissues surrounding them leave their mark inside the skull. </p>
<p>Using three-dimensional virtual models, researchers can measure the space within the brain case as a proxy for brain size. This is accomplished through computed tomography (CT), or synchrotron X-ray imaging. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This 3D animation shows the skull of the Dikika child.</span></figcaption>
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<p>A <a href="https://www.esrf.eu/about/synchrotron-science/synchrotron">synchrotron</a> is a machine that accelerates electrons close to the speed of light and directs them around a large ring. By forcing electrons to travel in a circular direction with magnetic fields, extremely bright light is produced that can be filtered and adjusted for research purposes. </p>
<p>A benefit of this approach is that permanent impressions of brain folds on the bone can provide clues about key aspects of the brain’s organisation. Synchrotron imaging can also provide powerful insights into dental development.</p>
<h2>The truth is in the tooth</h2>
<p>A seldom recognised fact about humans and other primates is that our milk (baby) teeth and first molars are marked with a <a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/birth-certificate-neonatal-lines/">line formed at birth</a>. Similar to the growth rings of a tree, cross sections of teeth also reveal daily growth lines reflecting the body’s internal rhythms during childhood. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-lengthy-childhood-of-endangered-orangutans-is-written-in-their-teeth-77564">The lengthy childhood of endangered orangutans is written in their teeth</a>
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<p>Having access to precise records of the Dikika child’s teeth, we were able to determine how old the child was when it died. Our team’s dental experts calculated an age of 861 days, about 2.4 years. </p>
<p>This means the infant grew its molar teeth rapidly – similar to chimpanzees, and faster than humans. Surprisingly, however, its rate of brain development seemed to have shifted from the fast lane to the slow lane.</p>
<h2>Extending brain growth</h2>
<p>Virtual models of australopithecine brain cases reveal members of Lucy’s species had a chimpanzee-like brain organisation, but grew for a longer period of time.</p>
<p>Our estimates suggest that by 2.4 years old, australopithecine children had brains that were only about 70% as big as adults, while average chimpanzees of the same age would have completed more than 85% of their brain growth. Thus, this species may bridge the gap between the long childhoods humans enjoy today, and the shorter ones of our ape-like ancestors.</p>
<p>Among primates in general, different rates of growth and maturation are associated with varied strategies of caring for infants. Slowing brain development is a way to spread the energetic needs of highly dependent offspring over many years. And this can be linked to a long reliance on caregivers. </p>
<p>Lengthening the period of brain growth also stretches out a species’ highly impressionable learning period. Extended brain growth in Lucy’s species may have provided a basis for the subsequent evolution of the brain and social behaviour in our ancestors. </p>
<p>These baby steps would have been critical for the long childhood that is now often regarded as a keystone of human uniqueness.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-teeth-can-tell-about-the-lives-and-environments-of-ancient-humans-and-neanderthals-104923">What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya M. Smith receives funding from the Australian Academy of Science and the US National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philipp Gunz receives funding from the Max Planck Society (Germany).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zeray Alemseged receives funding from University of Chicago. </span></em></p>Our findings reveal the slowing down of brain development in our ape-like ancestors began more than three million years ago.Tanya M. Smith, Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversityPhilipp Gunz, Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyZeray Alemseged, Professor, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116132019-05-03T04:13:16Z2019-05-03T04:13:16ZCurious Kids: how do babies learn to talk?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263346/original/file-20190312-86710-tlaxjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2500%2C1250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The experience that babies get from eavesdropping on their mother’s conversations in utero helps their brain tune into the language that they will learn to speak once they are born.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Emily Nunnell/The Conversation CC-BY-ND</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
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<p><strong>How do babies learn to talk? – Ella, age 9, Melbourne.</strong></p>
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<p>What a great question, Ella! </p>
<p>Babies are born ready to learn and although they don’t “talk” in the first weeks of life, they know how to communicate what they are feeling. They do this by crying. And it is something they do a lot before they produce words.</p>
<p>Babies begin to learn the rules of language as soon as the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1527336908001347">little bones inside their ears</a> and connections to their brain have grown. They can hear the rhythm and melody of their mother’s voice for three months before they are born and this changes the way their brain develops. </p>
<p>The experience that babies get from eavesdropping on their mother’s conversations in utero helps their brain tune into the language that they will learn to speak once they are born. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-can-chimpanzees-turn-into-people-91839">Curious Kids: Can chimpanzees turn into people?</a>
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<h2>Infant-directed speech</h2>
<p>Have you ever heard someone talking to a baby with a funny voice that sounds almost like they are singing? People often use a higher pitch, speak slower and repeat what they say when they talk to babies.</p>
<p>Research from <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/babylab/research/research_focus">baby labs</a> all over the world shows that adults help babies work out the sounds of language by using this special style of speech. Researchers call it infant-directed speech. </p>
<p>Scientists have developed different methods to test what babies like to listen to. We know that in the first year of life, babies turn their heads towards a speaker using infant-directed speech. Or they may suck on a dummy that will play recordings of someone who is using <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2245748">infant-directed speech</a> instead of the flatter style of speech adults use to talk to each other. </p>
<p>This shows that babies prefer infant-directed speech to adult-directed speech. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260941/original/file-20190226-150688-1uvw1jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Have you ever heard someone talking to a baby with a funny voice that sounds almost like they are singing? Research suggests babies prefer it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/affectionate-young-man-holds-his-baby-746802370">AJP/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Using a sing song voice helps babies tell the difference between words like “mummy” or “daddy” because: </p>
<p>1) the higher pitch draws the baby’s attention to speech</p>
<p>2) speech sounds like “ma” and “da” are exaggerated, simplified or repeated. That gives babies a better chance at hearing the difference between them.</p>
<p>3) the affectionate tone of voice encourages infants to play with caregivers who draw attention to different words by speaking more loudly or slowing down their speech. </p>
<h2>Learning a language</h2>
<p>When babies listen to lots of speech, the connections in their brains are more sensitive to speech that is spoken in the environment around them. </p>
<p>So a baby who hears lots of Cantonese or Mandarin, for example, will learn that the difference in the tone of the speaker’s voice is important and can change the meaning of a word.</p>
<p>A baby learning English, on the other hand, will learn that the tone of a speaker’s voice does not necessarily have the same effect on meaning.</p>
<h2>Did you know?</h2>
<p>Parents who respond to their baby’s happy babbling sounds by imitating them or talking about the sounds they were making might be onto a good idea. <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140827122632.htm">Researchers</a> found that this was linked to the baby making more complex sounds and developing language skills sooner. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260937/original/file-20190226-150698-cbe4c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Infants can understand many words before they can say them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheerful-mother-teaching-her-male-toddler-297400199">Olena Yakobchuk/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Infants can understand many words before they can say them. By nine months of age, babies can usually understand words like “bye-bye” and wave when somebody says it.</p>
<p>As infants get older, they <a href="https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/01/">babble</a> more and their babble begins to sounds more like words than non-speech sounds. </p>
<p>By the time babies reach their first birthday, most infants have started to produce their first words. At one year of age, babies can usually understand as many as 50 words, and can say one or two words like “mama” or “dada”.</p>
<p>The story of how babies learn to talk is a fascinating one, Ella. It is amazing to think that you and I, and even your own parents were once little babies learning how to use language to communicate.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260936/original/file-20190226-150702-1itip2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ahhh-boo!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-birds-sing-98381">Curious Kids: Why do birds sing?</a>
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<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em></p>
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<p><em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christa Lam-Cassettari has received funding from the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation in Sweden, ARC Centre of Excellence Dynamics of Language, the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, the South West Sydney Research Grant and the Career Interruption Grant from Western Sydney University.</span></em></p>Using a sing song voice helps babies tell the difference between words like ‘mummy’ or ‘daddy’.Christa Lam-Cassettari, Interim Leader MARCS Institute BabyLab, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/490832015-10-14T16:31:20Z2015-10-14T16:31:20ZWhy disciplining kids can be so tricky for parents and teachers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98298/original/image-20151013-31119-dxvzgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When does disciplining kids work?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/modenadude/5384988017/in/photolist-9cRtjZ-cNWYaL-4C7no1-aUaDMF-jjhH5-48S5CY-4zsZqV-hJoGE-dYkLef-8TMGay-7Mo3Ez-dYkLSq-6X1rwV-9GSk8L-boSgDK-8TMG35-6bPtvZ-cyu9nE-5c847w-boSgbD-bNpPYR-5sS2Z4-zSbu8-96GHS2-xSeguE-6emZ5Y-8M3ziJ-6mi1Hz-rFrJsx-otiEUP-38Bp1A-4kby2a-7WTauH-8qv14b-89YXVM-cL2Ng7-fbK2y-2Ygx3M-h8muEj-atRxbW-d9ZcB5-xUxPhi-7fcNh1-5DPUzA-fbJXt-9iNLTs-5zXMRk-f92Jb-nkPxsw-7CaUj5">Asim Bharwani</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disciplining works if it is not over the top and children understand the point of it.</p>
<p>Highlights magazine’s annual <a href="https://store.highlights.com/sotk15">State of Kids survey</a> found that a majority of children appreciated being disciplined and believed that it helped them behave better. </p>
<p>What children disagreed with were the strategies that were used by their parents – the most common ones being time-outs and taking away electronics. The report suggests that disciplining strategies work better when they open up communication and strengthen relationships among friends or siblings or between kids and adults.</p>
<p>However, my own work as an education professor and researcher who works with schools and families shows that <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2012/08/06/locked-away-students-say-seclusion-doesnt-help/">disciplining is becoming a major issue at schools too</a>, taking up more and more of the school day. So, why are schools imposing severe disciplinary measures?</p>
<h2>What’s going on in schools?</h2>
<p>Let’s first look at what disciplining looks like in schools.</p>
<p>Many schools now have lines on the floor that students must walk on to get anywhere. Some schools even have tape on the ground to show where students should walk in the classroom. Hallways have stop signs at each corner and schools enforce zero noise zones. </p>
<p>Children are told to hold air in cheeks like a bubble when walking in the hallways or when they are supposed to be listening to instructions or storytime. They are told to walk straight, not touch anyone, keep their hands to themselves, sit on an X mark on the floor, raise a hand before speaking, keep eyes on the teacher, use only one piece of paper, follow directions and be quiet. </p>
<p>Over the past 10 years, strange discipline measures such as red, yellow and green lights, where green means well-done and red means bad behavior, have become commonplace. Children can get their <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/nixing-recess-the-silly-alarmingly-popular-way-to-punish-kids/280631/">recess</a> taken away or be put into an isolation room. Or, increasingly, even the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/what-school-prison-pipeline?redirect=racial-justice/what-school-prison-pipeline">police</a> can be called.</p>
<p>Discipline is not only constant but also public. Just last week, I was in a class where a child’s name was on the board. Children at my table pointed it out to me and explained that the kid gets in trouble a lot. They told me that the teacher writes his name on the board and then when he is good, he gets one letter erased. When they are all erased, he can have free time.</p>
<p>So why are there such heavy amounts of discipline at school?</p>
<p>The unfortunate fact is that there is an extraordinary amount of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10901027.2012.732665">content</a> that teachers are supposed to cover during a school year. Usually, school districts give teachers eight-week plans that tell them what to cover and when. </p>
<p>This means that children, whether they like it or not, need to learn with the speed, level and topic choices determined by adults who don’t know them. Children have to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/12/03/a-therapist-goes-to-middle-school-and-tries-to-sit-still-and-focus-she-cant-neither-can-the-kids/">sit still</a> and focus for extraordinary lengths of time. </p>
<p>Given the <a href="http://neatoday.org/2014/11/02/nea-survey-nearly-half-of-teachers-consider-leaving-profession-due-to-standardized-testing-2/">pressure on teachers</a>, discipline becomes a larger and larger part of the school day, just to get kids to get through what is required by the state or Common Core guidelines.</p>
<p>So, instead of encouraging children to engage with content, lessons or materials, teachers find themselves having to discipline them into it.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most troubling part of discipline at schools is how unfairly it is given out.</p>
<h2>Who gets the most disciplined?</h2>
<p>This emphasis on obedience over learning is <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/impact-discrimination-early-schooling-experiences-children-immigrant-families">more likely</a> to be found in classrooms with a majority of children from marginalized communities. </p>
<p>Not only is heavy discipline starting younger and younger, it is also <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/39/1/59.short">worse</a> for children of color.</p>
<p>In fact, suspensions now begin in <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/21/292456211/black-preschoolers-far-more-likely-to-be-suspended">prekindergarten</a> And almost <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-early-learning-snapshot.pdf">50%</a> of those suspended are African-American kids. </p>
<p>As educational psychologist <a href="http://www.edb.utexas.edu/education/departments/edp/about/faculty/cokley/">Kevin Cokley</a> has pointed out, “<a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20150914-kevin-cokley-lets-end-racial-disparity-in-school-discipline.ece">There is a conspiracy against black children in our schools</a>.” Curiously, girls of color are suspended <a href="http://www.naacpldf.org/files/publications/Unlocking%20Opportunity%20for%20African%20American%20Girls_0.pdf">six times</a> more often than white girls. They are even disciplined <a href="https://www.academia.edu/7871609/The_SCHOOL-TO-_PRISON_PIPELINE_EXPANDING_OUR_DISCUSSION_TO_INCLUDE_BLACK_GIRLS">more</a> than white boys starting in the early grades. </p>
<p>This is not because children of color, in particular African-American children, are somehow more disobedient or rebellious than white children. It is because often, even when teachers don’t mean to, children’s behavior is <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/april/discipline-black-students-041515.html">interpreted differently</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98413/original/image-20151014-15131-1e3rbk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prioritizing learning over disciplining can lead to better results.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hocolibrary/8622419560/in/photolist-e8W9Wd-e8W9AG-e8QvJg-e8W7Ty-e8Qszi-e8Qwwv-e8QsHe-e8Qsue-e8QrAT-e8Qtrk-e8QtnB-e8W6KA-e8W76o-e8QvyH-e8W721-e8QuCg-e8QugD-e8QwbR-e8QvCF-e8W84A-e8QvmV-e8W9YW-e8QwhX-e8QvWX-e8WcLo-e8WbN1-e8WaAG-e8W9bd-e8W8Bq-e8QuqZ-e8WakG-e8Qwe8-e8W8a9-e8QrXr-e8WcB1-e8Wcuh-e8QwFX-e8W8Qy-e8W95y-e8WcxC-e8WaC1-e8QwK2-e8Wb7J-e8Qwni-e8Qwfg-e8Qxh6-e8Qx68-e8W7qU-e8Wcmd-e8Wcfs">Howard County Library System</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>White teachers notice black children first and often adopt society’s portrayals of communities of color as problematic or out of control. Over <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013314.pdf">80%</a> of teachers are white in public schools. </p>
<p>And there is <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/263249994_Trouble_on_my_mind_toward_a_framework_of_humanizing_critical_sociocultural_knowledge_for_teaching_and_teacher_education">little preparation</a> for teachers to be positive, culturally engaged and anti-racist in classrooms. </p>
<h2>How discipline gets in the way of learning</h2>
<p>If most of what children hear are teachers trying to get everyone to sit still, be quiet and listen to directions, what does this teach them about learning and being a learner?</p>
<p>In my work on how young children use their agency (the ability to make decisions at school), I find that most children describe learning as following directions. As one child explained, “Learning is quiet.” </p>
<p>Children often see obedience as the point of school. In fact, teachers and students both tell me that they can tell children are learning when their “eyes are on the teacher.”</p>
<p>Of course, just because a child is obedient doesn’t mean they are learning.</p>
<p>If a classroom has a ton of rules and a narrow range of acceptable behavior (kids cannot get materials for themselves, help out classmates without permission, etc) then there are only a few behaviors that will not get someone in trouble. In such a scenario, there is much more likelihood for disobedience and more discipline. </p>
<p>The creation of such narrow spaces make it <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/impact-discrimination-early-schooling-experiences-children-immigrant-families">difficult</a> for children to show a variety of skills, demonstrate capabilities or use a variety of coping skills when they are frustrated. </p>
<p>Just as the State of Kids survey pointed out, conversation is critical to discipline. Some schools are trading suspensions for dialogue. And it has resulted in much <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/new-approach-discipline-school/">success</a>.
Instead of jumping to discipline, these administrators and teachers are encouraging their students to problem solve and participate in making the situation better as part of the school community. </p>
<h2>What parents, teachers can do</h2>
<p>Classrooms need to be spaces where children can participate in fixing issues and taking <a href="http://hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-84-number-2/herarticle/agency-and-expanding-capabilities-in-early-grade-c">initiative</a>. Children need not be punished and taken away from the classroom. </p>
<p>Similar lessons can be applied at home. Parents can stress on discipline that focuses on hard work and not taking a break. Engaging kids through conversations, projects and helping out will emphasize learning more than discipline. </p>
<p>And the results will be well worth it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Keys Adair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What happens when kids are put through harsh disciplinary measures?Jennifer Keys Adair, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.