Catherine L'Ecuyer

The Wonder Approach Catherine L'Ecuyer

Children of the last twenty years have grown up in an increasingly frenzied and demanding environment, so that on one hand education has been rendered more complicated and on the other, the essentials have been lost from view. In order to ensure their future success, we feel that we must fill our children's schedules with endless activities that cause leisure, spontaneous activity, and the experience of nature, beauty and silence, to fade out of their lives. Childhood has often become a veritable race toward adulthood, which distances children more and more from the natural laws of childhood. A constant stream of loud and flashy stimuli disturbs the only true and sustainable learning that exists in them: that of calmly and quietly discovering the world for themselves and at their own pace, with a sense of wonder that goes beyond mere curiosity for the unknown or interest in novelty. According to the Wonder Approach, learning is a wondrous journey guided by a deep reflection on what the natural laws of childhood require: respect for children's innocence, their pace and rhythms, their sense of mystery, and their thirst for beauty."The Wonder Approach to Learning is a most informed and intelligent article on learning." Psychology TodayAbout the author: Catherine L'Ecuyer has a doctorate in education and psychology, and is a researcher, consultant and much-respected authority on children's education. The Swiss journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published her article "The Wonder Approach to Learning", which converted her thesis into a new hypothesis / theory of learning. In 2015, she received the Pajarita Award from the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers for "promoting a culture of play in the media," and was invited to speak to the Education Commission of the Congress of Deputies of Spain and at the European Commission. She has served as a consultant to the Spanish government regarding the use of digital technology by minors and to the government of the state of Puebla in Mexico concerning preschool reform. The Wonder Approach has been published in eight languages and is available in more than fifteen countries. She is also the author of It looks better in 3D on the use of digital media in childhood and adolescence. A sought-after international speaker, she currently collaborates with the Mind-Brain Group of the University of Navarra.