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Dr. Spencer Kagan

Raising Smarter Children - Creating an Enriched Learning Environment

Dr. Spencer Kagan & Miguel Kagan

To cite this article: Kagan, S. & Kagan, M. Raising Smarter Children – Creating an Enriched Learning Environment. San Clemente, CA: Kagan Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Winter 2005. www.KaganOnline.com

There are many ways to be smart. And there are many ways to enrich your home to develop your child's multiple intelligences. In this brief article, one in a series of articles on Raising Smarter Children for Kagan Online Magazine, we will focus on how to boost your child's intelligence by creating a home environment conducive to learning. Think of it as Feng Shui for the brain — just more interactive.

Eight Ways to Be Smart
Dr. Howard Gardner, a Harvard cognitive psychologist, is the originator of the most widely known theory of Multiple Intelligences. Intelligence is not one thing, claims Dr. Gardner. Intelligence is multi-faceted. Dr. Gardner identified eight types of intelligence:

Intelligence Common Name Associated Skills
Verbal/Linguistic Word Smart Written, Oral Communication Skills
Logical/Mathematical Logic Smart Analytic, Quantitative Skills
Visual/Spatial Picture Smart Design, Color, Spatial Skills
Musical/Rhythmic Music Smart Musical and Rhythmic Skills
Bodily/Kinesthetic Body Smart Physical, Movement, Non-verbal Expressive Skills
Naturalist Nature Smart Understand, Appreciate all Forms of Nature
Interpersonal People Smart Understand others, Leadership skills
Intrapersonal Self Smart Understand own Feelings, Values, Goals

A brain-friendly household is an enriched environment — an environment that engages your child's many ways of learning and understanding.

Enrichment and Brain Development
In classic studies, brain scientists have raised rats in different types of environments. The enriched environments were filled with toys and other rats. The impoverished environments were solitary, with no toys. Can you guess which rats were smarter? You guessed it. The rats that were raised in enrichment environments. They could figure out the twists and turns of a maze faster and better than the deprived rats. Perhaps even more important was what happened to their brains. Scientists found a number of changes to the structure of their brains. The brains of rats raised in the enriched environments were much more fully developed and actually weighed more!

Recent brain research on primates and humans confirms the principle of neural plasticity. That is, following enriching experiences, our brains become more fully developed. What this means is that we can actually grow better brains in our children by providing them with enriching experiences!

Having a well-stocked bookshelf is a step forward to creating a more "Word Smart" child. Reading to your child regularly is a leap.

Enriching Your Home Environment
Because there are many different ways to be smart, there are many ways to enrich home learning environments to raise smarter kids. We can create a home environment for our children that encourages their multi-faceted intellectual growth.

The following are suggestions to make your home environment conducive to the development of the full spectrum of intelligences. The suggestions are categorized by the eight intelligences. The best part of enriching your home environment is that your child already has the most valuable, most sophisticated educational toy available —you!

As a parent, you are the engineer of many of your child's learning experiences. Intelligence is constructed as your children interact with their toys, you, and each other. No matter how colorful and enriching the learning environment is, it doesn't matter if your child does not interact with it. Taking the time to play and learn with your child is much more important than what is in your learning environment. The following suggestions are offered as ideas to provide a well-balanced approach to engage your child's many ways to be smart.

Eight Ways to Enrich Your Household

Reviewing the list of resources you might think, "I already have a lot of this stuff." If that's the case, great! Your child's living and learning environment is already well-equipped. If you are missing some resources in the key categories of intellectual development, you may want to take this imbalance into consideration as you select your next gift or plan your next investment in your child's education and brain development. Many of the suggested resources are available at little, and some even at no cost.

Remember: the most important element in raising a smarter child is altering his or her experiences within his or her environment, not merely altering the environment itself. It's what your kids do and what you do with them, not what they have.