Question

When it comes to preschool education, there are two lines of thought. One says that preschoolers need to be taught early academic skills in order to get a leg up on future school achievement. Another says the focus should be on social and emotional development. But, new research from Penn State University says a high quality preschool program should do both.

Karen Bierman, Penn State Professor of Psychology, and her team studied 350 preschoolers. Half were taught the traditional curriculum(課程）. The other half were given the basic curriculum as well as social and emotional teaching.

The results show that the half students taught with a curriculum that includes social lesson, such as sharing, listening and self-control, score higher in both the social and academic areas of school readiness than the other half students.

The other finding is that when you work on both academic and social-emotional skills, you get stronger gains in both areas. “You get the combined power when you put both together, so neither area is weakened.” she says.

Clearly, knowing how to share, develop healthy friendships, and learn side-by-side with others is important to a child’s academic achievement in the classroom. But, Bierman says the importance of social and emotional education goes beyond that. Preschool is prime time for the development of self-regulation, which not only tells a child not to hit another child, but also tells a child how to set personal goals and focus himself enough to follow through with those goals. And the ability to regulate behavior is what helps children get motivated at school. “When they get upset, bored, or frustrated, it doesn’t defeat them.” she says.

Goal-oriented (面向目標(biāo)的) and motivated learning is best taught in preschool, Biernam says, when the prefrontal part of the brain, which controls decision-making, is at the height of development. “First grade teachers can teach letter names, but preschool is when that behavior is peaking and language is just beginning to develop,” she says.

1.Karen Bierman and her team carried out the research by ________.

A. tracking 350 preschoolers for years

B. separating children into two equal groups

C. working out a high quality preschool program

D. analyzing the importance of social and emotional teaching

2.The underlined words “prime time” in the text probably refer to ________.

A．the best timeB．the only time

C．the earliest timeD．the suitable time

3.According to the text, self-regulation can help children ________.

A．be willing to studyB．become emotionless

C．memorize letter namesD．learn language quickly

4.What’s the best title for the text?

A. Preschool learning: more than ABCs and 123s

B. Karen Bierman: freeing kids from boring learning.

C. Learning self-regulation in preschool: why it matters?

D. Academic and social-emotional skills: which is more important?

Answer 1