Becoming Brilliant: Interview with Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D

Our interview today is with Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D, author of the book ​Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn--and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less about the new book she has written with Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us About Raising Successful Children. It's so inspiring to hear her vision for the future of education. Here's a sample: "I want to suggest that teacher's make a difference every day. I meet wonderful people who are out there giving of themselves to help every child get a chance and I think teachers are just the most remarkable people. I don't believe that any of us, including teachers, can do it all and sometimes society expects us to solve every problem, to make every cure, and I think that's an unfair burden. Trust yourself... learn what we know and use it. There's a lot of science of learning that's out there for the taking so we shouldn't just do what the book told us to do on Tuesdays because it's Tuesday. Learn a little bit about what goes behind the teaching. Not just what the response ought to be; what the processes are. I'll tell you why that's so important. One day I went to a school and a little girl raised her hand because they were asking about an animal, what animal was it, and the kid got it wrong, but the kid said "tiger" instead of "cat". There was an opportunity there because "tiger" wasn't as wrong as "bear" or "snake" or "bird". If you thought about the process you could say, "Actually, a tiger's related to the feline family!" That helps the kids make connections to have stronger vocabulary. So learn what's out there. Trust yourself. Learn what's out there. Help parents understand that you're their best advocate and amid all the constraints that are out there, and, gosh, I know there are many. Try, at least, beyond those constraints to add you. To add a love of learning, a little bit of playful learning, in that classroom."