In young kids concentration should not be sought as the first step in learning; concentration is pouring over loot that has been brought back to the lair of a child’s mind by that artful, eager scavenger, imagination. Consider this scenario:
Ed look out the window in his second grade classroom as the lesson drags on, idly watching a network of swaying branches, fascinated by the movement, not knowing why, dreaming vaguely of big things as he wonders how the tree can grow so tall and the squirrel so high up there can leap across branches so unafraid. A flurry of seed carried by the wind falls to the ground. Birds perch, fly, land, peck at the seeds. The lesson goes on as children raise their hands and are called on. Ed watches through the window, feels excited, worries about the squirrel losing balance and falling, does not understand so much, dreams about becoming great as a tree. And then the teacher calls him by name and brings him reluctantly back.
Where attention is, there the doors of learning open and the child rushes through to find what he is looking for. Intelligence can be expanded when a child’s physical energy and imagination are used as mechanisms for learning. Reach imagination and the child’s own energy will motivate the desire and ability to learn. And once the process begins it perpetuates itself like so many other remarkable achievements of nature. See more here
