The Gravity of Joy
Presenter
Andrew Lerner, Ph.D., ECC psychologist and learning specialist
Session / Time
- Breakout Session I
- Friday, April 27, 10:45 a.m. - noon
- Glenwood Room
Description
This interactive and playful workshop will propose that children are drawn to experiences and materials which enable the mastery of gravity; further, that these encounters can be traced to the existence of an orbital pathway of definite power and certain motion.
Intention
- To introduce the concept of gravity as a dominate guiding force for actualizing the developing child’s physical, cognitive, social, emotional and linguistic competencies and capacities.
- To generate educator interest in recognizing the mastery of gravity as a challenge central to the child’s self-trust and enjoyment.
- To place at the center of our educational formulations the construct of “center” as a reference point of continuously increasing value for the child’s understanding of self and world.
- To distinguish the value of understanding gravity as an essential tool and guiding frame of reference for early childhood classroom design and practice.
- To stimulate the use of a common working vocabulary amongst educators that links the concrete and abstract with practices that encourage joint attention and constructive collaboration with children and parents.
Goals / Content / Intentionality
- To clarify the link and causal relationship between physical development and the development of cognitive, social, emotional and linguistic skills.
- To encourage educator attunement to how classroom design, materials and activities can encourage freedom/ease of motion, self awareness and perceptual-motor organization and skill—for both child and teacher.
- To encourage cultivation of educators’ understanding that working from the ground up-on the floor of the classroom-provides the ideal frame of reference for guiding teacher engagement, encouragement of play and experiencing with the child the challenges and joys of learning, self-expression and mastery.
- To encourage reflection upon our attitudes towards risk-taking, making mistakes and falling as a central factor impacting the choices we make and encourage.
Andrew Lerner, Ph.D., ECC psychologist and learning specialist
Presenter Bio
Andrew Lerner, Ph.D., ECC psychologist and learning specialist
As a school psychologist, it is my intention to encourage learning and offer support for all of the children, parents, and teachers of the Brooklyn College ECC community. I have spent many years working as a school psychologist, inclusive of time working for the NYC Department of Education with children with hearing and/or vision loss, autism, and learning disabilities. I have also taught courses in learning theory, cognition, and psycholinguistics at numerous institutions of higher learning within the region and am currently teaching a course in the value of play for the Early Childhood/Art Education Department at Brooklyn College. In spring 2018 I will be teaching a seminar course at NYU in designing an early childhood learning environment, and it is my hope to continue working in the field of early childhood, as I believe it to be the best and most important way of making the world a better place for all.
