Experience Learning

So, I was sitting on the couch this morning hungover as fuck. Head pounding, stomach in knots,. I have heartburn from steak and shake, on top of it.

I start reassessing my night. Thinking about what I could have done differently. How can I avoid feeling this way again? Less alcohol? Yep. No more steak and shake, I never get heartburn and I eat some crazy shit. That place is on my permanent do not eat list.

As I'm running through this, I started thinking about an article I read in a parenting magazine about Experience Learning. Researchers did a study with toddlers. 1,000 parents participated. The parents let the kids in the kitchen while cooking and turn the oven on. Half the parents scolded their children in any attempts to touch the oven. The other group let the toddler touch the oven and when the toddler jerked their hand back said, "Hot, that's hot."

The results were interesting. The toddlers that had been scolded for trying to touch the oven, continued to attempt to touch the oven. The parents engaged in daily battles to stop their child from doing it. The group that had never touched the oven, did not understand the difference between cold and hot when tested. Guess how the other group faired?

After touching the oven once they never tried again. Parents reported the talkers in the group said hot when seeing the oven. Upon testing they knew the difference between cold and hot.

The researchers were calling for a return to experience learning. It was proven in this study children learn by doing.