Library Index

Videos

Interest and Understanding

Geoffrey Waldon on Interest & Understanding

"Interest is a function of understanding; so on the whole it’s not usual for children to deliberately not do something that they understand well. Adults think it is and I’m constantly being told about this, but I find that as soon as I drop the level [of demand] it disappears. Which suggests very strongly to me that what is really happening is that the child in fact isn't nearly as well established [in that thing] as one might think.

The more the child's fundamental understanding is very well developed the more rapidly the child can move onwards."