Did you know in the first year of life, babies brains fire off a million synapses…every second? A million!

“How amazing is that?” says Rachel Robertson.

Rachel is our ultra-knowledgeable, super-enthusiastic VP of education and development – the leader in charge of all the learning that happens in our centers.

She’s dedicated her whole career to early education, and she calls all those neural connections the required energy for kids to “learn everything about everything.”

It’s the science behind how children learn, and a way for teachers to see how important their work is.

We asked Rachel about all of it; the research on early learning, how science translates to our program, and what it takes for a program to go from good – to great.

Lisa Oppenheimer:

Anyone who’s ever talked to you, or read your articles (or books!), or listened to one of your webinars or podcasts knows you are one of the biggest, most passionate advocates for early learning. Why are these early years so important?

Rachel Robertson:

So much important development happens in these first years. It’s when brains are the most plastic – moldable. We get less moldable as we get older. Nurture shapes nature in such lasting ways in the early years. So early learning is foundational to all other learning. If you want to build a house, you want it on a strong foundation. That’s what we’re building. The early years are the foundation. If we get that strong and right, that other stuff blooms and flourishes and is strong for a lifetime.

Lisa:

How has that shaped Bright Horizons’ philosophy?

Rachel:

Our program is rooted in research; built on the pioneering research of people like Montessori, Dewey, and Piaget, and attentive to contemporary findings in multiple disciplines. We also have an educational advisory council of esteemed academics and leaders in early childhood education across the country that gives us feedback and weighs in on our direction. So we know with confidence we’re not doing what simply seems like a good idea; we’re working based on what the science and research tells us children need. We’re updating all the time. It’s also why we’re so dedicated to paying for our teachers to earn their degrees. You want your educators to have a very respectful, science-informed experience so they can do their best work in the classroom. This is really important work: joyful, playful, important work.

Lisa:

What does the research say?

Rachel:

Children learn through discovery. We all do. Discovery drives learning. And children are driven to discover. That is the core of our philosophy and our belief system and how we have designed experiences in the classroom. We’ve had these principles in place for decades. What we’ve done most recently is we’ve elevated and organized them into a pedagogical framework called Discovery Driven Learning® based on what additional brain and developmental research has told us.

Lisa:

What does Discovery Driven Learning look like in practice?

Rachel:

A lot of people think learning is about finding the right answer. So we could say to the children, “Watch the teacher and then you do the same thing.” But that doesn’t have nearly the amount of problem-solving and joy as what we call “hands-on, minds-on” learning that supports discovery. So for example, if you ask a child to take five items and stack them up, they have to think about which items are heavier or lighter, and to adjust for size, shape, balance, or surface. Adults just know what the heaviest thing is – a young child doesn’t know. They have to experiment, repeat, freely make mistakes. That is fantastic learning. It’s what we call hands-on minds-on learning. Doing something on a worksheet will not have nearly the amount or processing or problem solving. Discovery, exploration, problem-solving, tinkering, creating…that’s where the learning happens, not in just memorizing a right answer. And, by the way, these are also the skills of the future that organizations like World Economic Forum are identifying.

Lisa:

What does that kind of learning mean for young children?

Rachel:

Discovery Driven Learning is a great way to support exploration and curiosity. Curiosity is so important for future careers – to try to figure something out, to be a problem solver, to be resourceful – that all stems from curiosity. We want them to feel really good about that. We love their questions. That’s how we shape learning in our classrooms.

Lisa:

What part do teachers play?

Rachel:

Teachers play such an important part. For children to thrive and overcome challenges – small or large – they need to feel physically and emotionally safe. For children taking chances on exploration, adults are like home base in a game of tag. Our teachers are guiding and providing the safe spaces for those challenges and discoveries. They don’t simply supply answers and direction, they are co-researchers facilitating all sorts of fantastic learning experiences.

Lisa:

How does all of this get children ready for school?

Rachel:

School is about learning, not simply knowing. In fact, we aren’t focusing just on having children know what is already known today; we also focus on the skills and drive to create knowledge of the future. Yes, we support the natural and individual growth of all skills and development to include traditional academic topics like reading, writing, and math. But we do more – we also weave that learning into authentic experiences like the math and engineering in the stacking example, or the literacy skills developed by taking field notes and making observations while on a neighborhood walk. Just as important, we support intellectual and cognitive skill development -- problem-solving, planning, working memory, decision-making, and so much more!

Lisa:

We hear so much about children’s mental health these days, where does that fit in?

Rachel:

We focus on the whole child, and early social-emotional skills are a top priority. The first cornerstone of Discovery Driven Learning is responsive and nurturing relationships. These are essential to all other aspects of development. Care and learning are intertwined, and that’s a good thing! We help children learn about themselves, each other, their feelings (and how to manage those feelings), plus how to help each other, share, take turns. Children have some big learning to do in this area as they figure out who they are and how they fit into this world. It’s all part of healthy development, and it’s critical for thriving throughout school and life.

Rachel says Discovery Driven Learning is the framework for the Bright Horizons program. But engaging children starts with leveraging their own interests. Rachel will be talking to educators about that on her upcoming webinar, “Joy, Play, and Curiosity: Three Keys to Quality” where newcomers and experienced educators can learn how to turn children’s interests and inquiries into projects and lesson plans.

View the webinar here.