Learning Principles

We believe that people learn best when:
What they learn:

  • Is personally meaningful
  • Is connected to real life
  • Is appropriate to their developmental level
  • Challenges them to reach their next level of understanding or personal goal
  • Promotes exploration of new ideas

How they learn:

  • Involves the freedom to make choices
  • Bridges the gap from the known to the new
  • Incorporates a variety of approaches, such as music, movement, modeling, visuals, and hands-on activities
  • Encourages creative problem solving
  • Promotes risk-taking, reflection, revision, and redoing
  • Includes opportunities for social interaction
  • Provides opportunities to practice new skills and revisit old ones

The setting in which they learn:

  • Provides a positive emotional climate that fosters respect
  • Promotes enthusiasm and good humor
  • Supports the intended learning
  • Celebrates accomplishments
  • Is clean, comfortable and safe
  • Extends beyond the classroom to include the home and community