Nurturing Empathy

The capacity for empathy seems to be innate, but parents can encourage it in children by teaching them to relate positively to others and by modeling it themselves.

Playing to Learn

Here is a great piece that speaks volumes to what we're doing at IA:

In our theoretical classroom, children would also spend a short period of time each day practicing computation — adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Once children are proficient in those basics they would be free to turn to other activities that are equally essential for math and science: devising original experiments, observing the natural world and counting things, whether they be words, events or people. These are all activities children naturally love, if given a chance to do them in a genuine way.

What they shouldn’t do is spend tedious hours learning isolated mathematical formulas or memorizing sheets of science facts that are unlikely to matter much in the long run. Scientists know that children learn best by putting experiences together in new ways. They construct knowledge; they don’t swallow it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/opinion/02engel.html