by Jen Rosenstein, Pedagogical Director
Dear Families,
The return to in-person learning has been a welcome respite from the daily use of screens for the teachers as well as for the children in a multitude of ways. Being together has helped us shift back to using our bodies and all our senses in the learning process. Yet, there are many families still struggling to put the genie back into the bottle and to realign with the understanding that less is more when it comes to screens. On the one hand, without screens and the internet, we would not have been able to continue to hold classes and connection with each other this year, but on the other, it has pushed open the doors and trampled the boundaries that we in Waldorf schools feel are necessary when it comes to screen time. We’ve all seen, first hand, how intrusive and addictive the screen can be for all humans regardless of age. For young children, it’s like magic. For adolescents, it’s become their social world. Many parents have asked me for guidance as they begin to shift back to the before-times when screen use was cautioned and the rules seemed certain. As we round the bend towards the end of this very difficult school year, we thought we would share with you all some food for thought as your children spend their summer days at play and rest. The hope is to realign, reset, and regenerate our bodies and our minds.
When the students come to school each day, the screens go away since the devices are not permitted in school. Although, as Kim John Payne mentioned in a recent talk at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School, we most certainly deal with the “spillage” that too much screen time leaves behind for us teachers to work through. The children arrive to us each morning with a day ahead of them that provides a refuge from the kind of sensory input that is akin to junk food. The nourishment that they receive in school comes from engaging, meaningful, and challenging group activities shared with peers and caring adults. Simply put: we get to see your children interact without the disruption of screens, and we observe how they thrive.
Yet at the same time it has become increasingly more evident to the teachers this year just what kind of inner disruption screen time creates in the children, even when the screens are out of sight. Again, this varies across the age spectrum, but we most certainly deal with the impact of screen time on individual and collective levels. For example, teachers have reported many times that on a walk or similar activity this year, the children can often be distracted and taken out of the present moment while they chat about a video game or a movie – never paying mind to the new buds on the trees right in front of them or animals chittering about. For the older children, the social aspect of often unbridled texting or chatting has led to sleep deprivation and social strife. These are just two small but meaningful examples.
As teachers, this leaves us with the sensation of swimming upstream. Here we are on a picturesque campus, presenting dynamic lessons with clarity so that children will be engaged and excited by this experiential learning. The multi-sensory approach that we bring in a Waldorf classroom is what engages children and helps with healthy brain development. Yet when faced with the residual effects of screen time, we encounter issues with attention span, vision, hearing, social upheaval, and more.
As teachers, this leaves us with the sensation of swimming upstream. Here we are on a picturesque campus, presenting dynamic lessons with clarity so that children will be engaged and excited by this experiential learning. The multi-sensory approach that we bring in a Waldorf classroom is what engages children and helps with healthy brain development. Yet when faced with the residual effects of screen time, we encounter issues with attention span, vision, hearing, social upheaval, and more.
A validating study of the healthy impact of multi-sensory learning compared to screen learning came out of Vanderbilt University in 2010. In that 8-week study, children were given a series of sensory input alongside the introduction of the letters of the alphabet (these were non-readers). The presentation of a letter on a screen without additional sensory input produced such little brain activity that it was unrecognized on the brain scan. However, with each sensory experience that was added to the activity (such as adding a movement or audio component to the visual component), there was an increase in blood flow to the brain. In short, the study revealed that the multi-sensory approach was exponentially more effective in producing brain activity (a flat letter put on a screen vs. a letter presented with an audio tool and/or a movement activity) that showed on MRI.
Teachers don’t need an MRI to see what is happening: children learn better in an environment that is stress free, yet includes age-appropriate multi-sensory work.
Again, this science proves to us teachers what we see in front of us throughout a given day with the children. Teachers don’t need an MRI to see what is happening: children learn better in an environment that is stress free, yet includes age-appropriate multi-sensory work. The best way to get those young neural pathways connecting is to create lessons and situations for the classroom that engage the children on a whole-body level. What the above-mentioned study additionally shows is that the more nourishing sensory input that we can provide for the children, the more brain activity increases. In other words, your children are not just getting smarter by what they learn each day in our school – their bodies are working all day to create the kind of brain (literally shaping the brain as neuro plasticity) that will allow for creative, dynamic, and profound thinking in the years to come. In his talk, Kim John Payne likened that to entrepreneurial thinking, the kind of dynamic creativity that we wish to foster.
With an eye toward later-years thinking, we start early with multi-sensory learning in the Waldorf Kindergarten. Modern neuro science shows that in the early years, healthy brain development starts and is fostered by meaningful sensory experiences. The young children that work the dough of the bread each morning, that hear the sounds of the birds and the geese, that smell the fresh hay – all while participating in morning circle work – those are the meaningful, hands-on moments that help to build a healthy brain. Alternately, the process of “neural pruning” also begins at a young age. Research of the past 20 years shows that the young brain actually begins to shed unused parts when they are not properly stimulated by valuable or nourishing experiences. The brain actually sheds the unused portions! How to avoid that “neural pruning?” A wide variety of multi-sensory input, and using the body, mind, and heart to create, build, and work.
The above-mentioned studies support what we do in Waldorf education. Every day, we seek to provide the children with deep, meaningful experiences that are steeped in the Greek ethos of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. We are daily on a quest to help each child come into balance within themselves, we want to help foster healthy social connections, and we hope to send children off into the world with a sense of true freedom. With that in mind, I leave you with some bullet points, to inspire and encourage you all back to a life that is rich, full, and satisfying:
- Freedom (of thought, emotional life, and body) is not possible when a child (or an adult!) is under the magical draw of a screen
- Screens can provide beauty and connection, indeed – but nothing can replace an in-person, real and tangible experience (watching a cow on TV is OK, but real brain and emotional health comes from petting the cow in person!)
- Advertising geared toward children is alluring and burdensome. As adults, we have a responsibility toward the children to help navigate that manipulative realm of screen use
- World over, it’s been a hard year. We have come to rely on screens in a way that we might not have without a global pandemic. Go easy on yourself, and approach family screen time with consciousness and a sense of what your own family values are
- As teachers of your beloved children, we always want to help you and them. Our intention is not to judge your family values or your choices, but that we offer our insight in full disclosure and armed with the knowledge presented through modern brain science
- The golden rule of “do as I say and not as I do” won’t work when it comes to screen use Have a basket for cell phones and devices in place for everyone in the family during specific times of the day and evening. Protect your precious and quickly passing time together. At the very least, try to make meals device-free
- Get some jigsaw puzzles and games and devote time to being together as a family
“All that glitters is not gold.” – Shakespeare