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- Written by: Yasmin Anwar
Preschoolers can be smarter than college students at figuring out how unusual toys and gadgets work because they’re more flexible and less biased than adults in their ideas about cause and effect, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Edinburgh.
The findings suggest that technology and innovation can benefit from the exploratory learning and probabilistic reasoning skills that come naturally to young children, many of whom are learning to use smartphones even before they can tie their shoelaces.
The findings also build upon the researchers’ efforts to use children’s cognitive smarts to teach machines to learn in more human ways.
“As far as we know, this is the first study examining whether children can learn abstract cause and effect relationships, abstract principles about the logical form of causal relationships, and comparing them to adults,” said UC Berkeley developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, senior author of the paper published online in the journal, Cognition.
Using a game they call “Blickets,” the researchers looked at how more than 106 preschoolers (aged 4 and 5) and 170 college undergrads figured out a gizmo that works in an unusual way.
They did this by placing clay shapes (cubes, pyramids, cylinders, balls, etc), on a red-topped box to see which shapes – individually or in combination – could light up the box and play music. The shapes that activated the machine were called “blickets”
What separated the young players from the adult players was their response to changing evidence in the blicket demonstrations. For example, unusual combinations could make the machine go, and children caught on to that rule, while the adults tended to focus on which individual blocks activated the machine even in the face of changing evidence.
“The kids got it. They figured out that the machine might work in this unusual way and so that you should put both blocks on together. But the best and brightest students acted as if the machine would always follow the common and obvious rule, even when we showed them that it might work differently,” wrote Gopnik in her forthcoming column in The Wall Street Journal.
Overall, the youngsters were more likely to entertain unlikely possibilities to figure out “blicketness.” This confirmed the researchers’ hypothesis that preschoolers and kindergartners instinctively follow Bayesian logic, a statistical model that draws inferences by calculating the probability of possible outcomes.
"One big question, looking forward, is what makes children more flexible learners – are they just free from the preconceptions that adults have, or are they fundamentally more flexible or exploratory in how they see the world?” said Christopher Lucas, lead author of the paper and a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. “Regardless, children have a lot to teach us about learning."
Other co-authors of the study are Thomas Griffiths and Sophie Bridgers of the UC Berkeley Department of Psychology.
Yasmin Anwar writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The school food service directors of Lake County have been making leaps and bounds in making the meals they serve to children healthy and locally sourced.
They use the program Farm to School to connect with local farmers and get their products into your child’s meals.
The Kids Cook Off was designed in order to actively involve students in the kitchen by requiring them to develop recipes that met USDA guidelines for the National School Lunch Program.
Kelseyville Unified School District, Konocti Unified School District and Lakeport Unified School District participated in the event on Feb. 26 at Lower Lake High School.
They battled for an hour over hot stoves and cutting boards to create a healthy pasta dish. An expert panel of judges evaluated each dish and determined Kelseyville Unified School District’s team of sixth to eighth graders to be the winner with their spaghetti confetti recipe.
This recipe is currently featured at TJ’s Bar and Grill in Lakeport for the month of March as well as Aroma’s Restaurant on March 12 and 13.
The food service directors congratulate the schools of Lake County in all of their success.
The Kids Cook Off was created by Lindsey Danner and Olivia Kosten, Golden Gate Dietetic Interns, as part of a collaborative project with the Health Leadership Network to reduce chronic disease by increasing access to nutritious foods, increasing physical activity, reducing smoking and promoting emotional well-being.
It is funded by a grant by the Centers for Disease Control awarded to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Christian Center Preschool will hold a chili cookoff fundraiser on Friday, March 28.
The cookoff will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the school, 455 S. Forbes St.
All funds go to help with preschool upgrades, including new toys and bookshelves.
Adult tickets are $8, children under 12 are $5 and a discounted rate for family of four is $20.
For more information call the preschool at 707-262-5520.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Students gathered at Mendocino College's Lake Center campus in Lakeport on Saturday, Feb. 22, to explore their future as part of the “My Future, My Way” workshop.
More than 90 students from Lake and Mendocino counties attended the free workshop that was made possible by a partnership between Mendocino College and the Lake County Office of Education with additional funds provided by a grant from the Air Force Association.
Students in grades seventh through 12th from both counties were invited to attend a variety of workshops that included career exploration, financial literacy and employment, among others.
Career sessions were taught by college and county instructors including criminal justice by Rod Mitchell, chemistry by Jordan Anderson, music technology by Rodney Grisanti, business by Steve Hixenbaugh, culinary by Nicholas Petti and health occupations by Diedra Lagle.
In each career session students learned about the industry, career and educational opportunities and participated in hands on activities.
Some activities include a lesson in gastronomy as culinary students created soda pop caviar and the making of “graphite” from sugar.
In addition to the career sessions, students rotated through a variety of other workshops.
Jamey Gill and Kim Bradley from the Mendo Lake Credit Union presented on financial literacy and scholarship opportunities.
Sherry Daly and Jessica Calvillo-Solis from WorkforceLake shared tips on how to look for employment and interview etiquette.
Previous high school graduates now college students, participated in a panel discussion and shared their experiences.
Students included community college students Laura Pankratz, Kevin Leal and Waverly Cooke; California State University students Falin Cheng and Anna Duran; as well as UC Berkley student Jacob Gill.
Each student also rotated through a session called “Health Body, Healthy Mind.”
Selections from this session included military fitness with the Marines lead by Sgt Atkinson, yoga with Nancy Rhoades and Zumba with Bonny Parrott.
The physical activity component was implemented for several reasons. Among those reasons were to encourage students to think about their future health for a productive future as well as to support the Move More 2014 outreach.
Community health educator Jessica Windrem shared information on the Move More 2014 with students at lunch.
Students also received information on the availability of concurrent enrollment, which informed them that once a student passes the eighth grade they are eligible to start taking community college classes and that the units are free of charge.
Sharon Maher of Marymount California University came at lunch to share her information regarding the four-year college opportunity coming to Lake County.
The day-long activity ended with a raffle prize drawing including a variety of college spirit items and gift cards.
For more information on this workshop or other career and college exploration workshops, please contact Tammy Serpa with the Lake County Office of Education Career and College Readiness Department at