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    The Desire To Learn

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    nejla
    There is a fundamental human urge to learn that exists from a very early age. Babies will learn skills and achieve competencies even without external rewards like food or comfort, driven only by the internal reward of gaining mastery over their environment. Experiments by Hanus Papoušek showed that babies enjoyed moving their heads to activate lights, not for the lights themselves but because it allowed them to solve problems and gain control. This suggests there is an innate drive in human babies to make sense of the world from the start.

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    The Desire To Learn

    Uploaded by

    nejla
    47 views5 pages
    There is a fundamental human urge to learn that exists from a very early age. Babies will learn skills and achieve competencies even without external rewards like food or comfort, driven only by the internal reward of gaining mastery over their environment. Experiments by Hanus Papoušek showed that babies enjoyed moving their heads to activate lights, not for the lights themselves but because it allowed them to solve problems and gain control. This suggests there is an innate drive in human babies to make sense of the world from the start.

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    Engleski

    Original Title

    THE DESIRE TO LEARN

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    There is a fundamental human urge to learn that exists from a very early age. Babies will learn skills and achieve competencies even without external rewards like food or comfort, driven only by the internal reward of gaining mastery over their environment. Experiments by Hanus Papoušek showed that babies enjoyed moving their heads to activate lights, not for the lights themselves but because it allowed them to solve problems and gain control. This suggests there is an innate drive in human babies to make sense of the world from the start.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    47 views5 pages

    The Desire To Learn

    Uploaded by

    nejla
    There is a fundamental human urge to learn that exists from a very early age. Babies will learn skills and achieve competencies even without external rewards like food or comfort, driven only by the internal reward of gaining mastery over their environment. Experiments by Hanus Papoušek showed that babies enjoyed moving their heads to activate lights, not for the lights themselves but because it allowed them to solve problems and gain control. This suggests there is an innate drive in human babies to make sense of the world from the start.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    THE DESIRE TO LEARN

    For some time past it was believed that babies learn to do things because they receive
    'rewards'. There is no reason to doubt that this is true. However, most people believed that in the
    early stages of development a baby would learn if he got food or drink or some sort of physical
    comfort as a reward and not for any other reason.

    It is now clear that this is not so. Babies will learn with no reward except the successful
    outcome. At a very early age, human babies show a will to master the environment. They are limited
    in what they can do by their slow physical development. Therefore, it is even more interesting to see
    that this will to master the environment is already present at this time of helplessness. This urge
    seems to depend on only one reward, that of achieving competence and control of the environment.

    There are some interesting experiments done by Hanus Papoušek.

    In the first experiment Papoušek wanted to teach babies to turn the head to one side or the
    other. As a reward, he gave them milk. Then he noticed that a baby who had had enough milk to
    drink would go on making the learned responses with pleasure. So he began to study situations when
    no milk was given.

    He constructed a series of electric lights which were switched on when the babies moved their
    heads. They would smile and babble when they saw the lights, but it was not only the lights which
    pleased them. They were happy because they solved a problem. They succeeded in mastering a skill.
    If Papoušek is right in this we can say that there exists a fundamental human urge to make sense of
    the world and bring it under control.

    Children's Minds

    by Margaret Donaldson, 1978


    Terminology

    reward /rɪˈwɔːd/ - nagrada

    stages of development /'steidʒiz ǝv di'velǝpment/ - stupnjevi /stadiji razvoja

    master the environment /in'vaiǝrnmǝnt/ - ovladati okolinom

    urge /ǝ: dʒ/ - snažna pobuda / potreba

    competence /'kompitǝns/ - kompetencija / sposobnost

    achieving /ǝ'tʃi:viŋ/ of competence – postizanje kompetencije

    response /ri'spons/ - odgovor, reakcija

    learned responses – naučeni odgovori

    master a skill – ovladati vještinom

    exist /ig'zist/ - postojati

    fundamental human urge /ˌfʌn.dəˈmen.tǝl hjumǝn ǝ: dʒ / - fundamentalna (osnovna) ljudska

    potreba

    Phrases:

    solve a problem – find the answer to a problem

    make sense of – understand

    bring (something) under control – master / dominate (something)


    EXERCISES:

    I – Analysis of the ideas and relationships: Circle the letter next to the best answer.

    1. I would say that the main idea in this text is that:


    a) human babies do not need rewards in order to learn
    b) Papoušek proved that babies like to move their heads to the right and left
    c) there is a strong desire to learn in human babies
    2. Explain what the word 'this' in line 2 and in line 5 refers to.
    3. Circle the letter next to the best answer.
    In line 9 the word 'that' refers to:
    a) the urge
    b) the reward
    c) the control

    In the last line 'it' refers to:

    a) human urge
    b) sense
    c) world
    4. Can this text be divided into two parts? If you think it can, where does the first part end and
    the second begin? Give your own subtitles for them.
    5. TRUE or FALSE:
    a) A baby cannot solve a problem.
    b) Babies show a will to master the environment.
    c) Papoušek carried out 3 experiments.
    d) Some people believed that babies wanted food or drink or some sort of physical comfort
    as a reward and nothing else.
    6. Try to get some information: Imagine you were talking to Hanus Papoušek. What questions
    would you ask him about his experiments?
    7. Try to give some information: Describe papoušek's experiments in a simple way.
    8. SUMMARY:
    For some time it was ___________ that babies would ___________ if they got ____________
    or ______________ or some sort of physical ____________ as a reward. However, babies
    show a __________ to master the environment. There is a fundamental ____________ urge
    to understand the world and bring it __________ control.

    II – WORD STUDY:

    A - Write the correct word form to complete each sentence. If you are not sure about your
    choice, use your dictionary.

    development, develop, developmental

    Dr Doland is trying to _____________ a new method.


    There are always new ______________ in scientific experiments.
    In teacher-training colleges students learn _____________ psychology.
    movement, move, movable

    Let's buy a doll with ___________ eyes for Georgina.


    The babies' __________ made the lights turn on.
    The child ___________ in her/his sleep.

    achievement, achieve, achievable

    To ___________ results, we must study.


    His latest book was his greatest ____________.
    Many goals in life are ______________.

    response, respond, responsive

    A stimulus will make a __________.


    Most people ____________ with a laugh to children's sayings.
    Some children have a very ____________ nature and soon become fond of their teachers.

    existence, existentialism, exist, existant

    The child asked: 'Do fairies _________?'


    Human ____________ depends on air and water.
    _______________ is a 20th century philosophy.
    This is the only ______________ portrait of William Shakespeare.

    Now read again the above examples and make a list of suffixes to form (a) nouns and (b)
    adjectives:
    a. ____________________________________________
    b. ____________________________________________

    B – Can you notice something special about the word series in the following two
    sentences?

    There is a new TV series starting this week.

    The last two series were very good.

    Make two sentences on your own.

    C – SENTENCE:

    It is (not) ... It was (not) ... which / that / who ...


    It was not only the lights which pleased the babies.

    The structure is used for emphasis. Compare the sentences:

    'It is a wise father who knows his son', said Shakespeare.

    It is 'Cinderella' that I like best of all fairy tales.

    It was Charles Dickens who demanded education for poor children.

    A wise father knows his son.

    I like 'Cinderella' best of all fairy tales.

    Charles Dickens demanded education for poor children.

    Restate these sentences by giving them emphasis:

    Dr Margaret Donaldson is a Reader in psychology at the University of Edinburgh.

    Piaget's research institute is in Geneva.

    Jerome Briner is famous for his work in education.

    The knowledge of foreign languages helps people to communicate.

    The body language is not the same in all the cultures.

    Make two sentences of your own.

    A study of children learning must start with the baby, because this is
    where all learning begins.

    Alice Yardley

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