the nutshell: Make it meaningful, make it real.

The role (and the power) of the senses is to confirm the reality, the relevance, and the importance of learning. The chart is from Barbara Clark's book, Growing up Gifted and illustrates "how the effects of environmental stimulation strengthen the brain at the cellular level, leading to enhanced ability to learn and create."

Recent research tells us that the children from rich parents perform better in education. That should come as no surprise. Their lives are often more deeply infused with experiences that are designed by their parents to offer a sense of mastery over the world that surrounds them.

Education has traditionally had three purposes. One was to prepare the child for economic success. Another was to force the child into compliance with societal norms. The third was to prepare the child (and later the adult) to get along with others within communities: to grow as human beings in understanding of self. To focus on doing all three is a tall order, particularly if you've created a contrived system of learning virtually devoid of real, meaningful work.

Work is a great way to bring the senses (all of them) into school. It develops skills that can become a source of both amusement and economic employment. It helps the child to understand societal norms and the value of all that surrounds us, and it provides a collaborative framework in which we work together in learning about ourselves.

By making schooling artificial, it becomes trivial. By making it a means through which children may serve family and community through the crafting of useful beauty, it is by no means so trivial, artificial or abstract.

Make, fix, create, and assist others in learning likewise.