''How Children Learn'' is a nonfiction book by educator

John Caldwell Holt John Caldwell Holt (April 14, 1923 – September 14, 1985) was an American author and educator, a proponent of homeschooling (specifically the unschooling approach), and a pioneer in youth rights theory. After a six-year stint teaching element ...

, first published in 1967. A revised edition was released in 1983, with new chapters and commentaries. It is considered a prominent text in the

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...

advocacy movement. ''How Children Learn'' was Holt's second book and continues the argument of his earlier book '' How Children Fail'' in criticizing formal education. Like that book, it became a bestseller and, according to researcher Mel Allen, brought Holt considerable fame. ''How Children Learn'' focuses on Holt's interactions with young

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

. The book is divided into five parts: "Games and Experiments," "Talk," "Reading," "Sports," and "Art, Maths and Other Things," each of which contains his observations of children

learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and ...

. From them, he attempts to make sense of how and why children do the things they do. The central thesis of his work is that children learn most effectively by their own

motivation Motivation is an mental state, internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particul ...

and on their own terms. He writes that it encourages children to develop coping mechanisms and focus on getting out of tasks teachers want them to do, rather than encouraging them to learn.

References

American non-fiction books Books about education 1967 non-fiction books {{edu-book-stub