On: Book Review: Raise a Genius (2017)

[dchuk]

So along these lines:

I have a 14 month old son, and am really interested in just generally understanding the cognitive development of kids and how they learn about the world over time.

Are there any good books on the subject?

[inetsee → dchuk]

You could check out Jean Piaget. Wikipedia article here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget

He is a big name in Psychology circles on the cognitive development of the child. From the Wikipedia article: "Piaget was second only to B. F. Skinner as the most cited psychologist of that era."

[mennis16 → inetsee]

I think a lot of Piaget's work has either been built on or pushed back on in more recent research, so while it definitely could be a good place to start I would make sure you also look into some more modern work. The other benefit of that is you can also reach out with questions, at least I've generally had good luck with getting responses from PIs. Laura Schulz is a super nice person who may have work of interest to you GP.

[joshvm → dchuk]

There is a somewhat lighthearted book (and a sequel) on this:

https://www.experimentingwithbabies.com/experiments/

which covers a lot of simple experiments (that should be harmless), the theory behind them and what result you can expect to see. Children develop quite fast, so you've already missed the first half of the book! But book 1 covers up to 2 years, and you can look at the sequel for beyond.

It includes things like the spot/mirror test, seeing what toys kids are interested in based on what adults look at, etc.

(I feel I should point out I don't have kids, but I would definitely want to try this out if I did. As far as I can tell none of these experiments should cause any ethical concerns, but you should be the judge of that since your child can't give consent!)

[cja → dchuk]

Brain Rules For Baby is very good. It was recommended here a while ago. Wish I'd read it before having children.

https://amzn.eu/6oAgLWv

[splintercell → dchuk]

Before you take any recommendations make sure you have the meta framework to understand what different schools of learning are. BF Skinner and his group of psychologist belong to the behaviorist school of psychology & learning, which believe that creating the right environment inculcates learning. The other school is constructivist school which believes that knowledge adds on to what is already in the mind.

[rajlego → dchuk]

Problem of schooling by Piotr Wozniak: https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Problem_of_Schooling

Of course main subject is criticism of school but it also has a lot on learning and how child brains work (and how they don’t)

[tomgp → dchuk]

Alison gopnik’s ‘the philosophical baby’ is excellent

[MacSystem → dchuk]

I didn't have kids yet but I like to know too.