? Before we know how to improve children's intelligence by using the principles of brain science, we must know that the brain is not interested in learning, but in survival.

Every skill that human beings have evolved to avoid extinction, learning ability is no exception. This is not the main business of the brain, but a by-product. We don't live to study, but study to survive.

If you want your child to receive a good education, you must create a safe environment for him. Only when the safety requirements are met can the brain have the remaining resources for part-time study.

After all, what is cleverness?

1, two basic elements of intelligence

By dissecting Einstein's genius brain and other research methods, scientists found that there are many kinds of human intelligence, but the genius super brain model does not exist.

Howard gardner, a psychologist at Harvard University, believes that intelligence is multifaceted and has multiple components, which cannot be fully described by a single written test tool (that is, ordinary intelligence test) in any case. Human intelligence is not a string of numbers on a table, but more like a pot of stewed meat with rich ingredients.

Intelligence also has two basic factors, which are closely related to the future survival needs of mankind-

One factor is the ability to record information, called "crystal intelligence", which can make various memory systems in the brain work together to create a database with rich structure;

Another element is the ability to adapt the information in the database to a specific situation, which requires improvisation, not only to recall the information in the database, but also to reorganize to adapt to the new situation. This ability to reason and solve problems is also called "fluid intelligence".

The combination of memory and improvisation gave human ancestors two adaptive behaviors to survive: learning from mistakes quickly and using these summarized experiences flexibly in the changing cruel environment.

From the perspective of evolution, "smart" only means doing better than others in these two aspects.

2. Five important abilities of intelligence

There are many other ingredients in the feast of human wisdom, including five important abilities, which constitute the so-called "intelligence":

Eager to explore:

Curiosity is a distinctive feature of great global leaders. Whether it is human ancestors living in the African prairie or modern people in today's fierce commercial war, the courage to explore is a very valuable survival strategy.

Self-control:

Compared with IQ, self-control ability is more reliable in predicting children's future academic performance, and the level of self-control ability determines whether children can filter out all kinds of interference. In a world full of sensory stimulation, this ability will make children focus on what is really important.

Creativity:

The core element of creativity is the ability to discover the connection between old and new things and create new things. Creative people can connect seemingly unrelated things and innovate. Because innovation and risk are inseparable, it is found that entrepreneurs who are brave in innovation have functional impulse and strong ability to deal with uncertainty.

Language communication:

Speech is an extremely complex cognitive function and plays an important role in human intelligence.

Newborn babies can recognize the pronunciation features of all languages in the world, but they no longer have this feature when they are 1 year old.

How to close the door of this language highway? Only one measure has proved to be effective: a living person communicates with his baby in a foreign language. Only in this way can neurons in the baby's brain record the language, vocabulary and grammar of a foreign language.

Understanding nonverbal communication signals:

It is found that children can only master complex vocabulary after improving their finger fine motor control ability, which reveals that "body language is the window of thinking process"

Learning body language can improve other cognitive skills.

External observation is an effective way to quickly understand other people's intentions.

Reading ability can help us predict each other's behavior more accurately.

Four nutrients in the brain

These abilities are basically undetectable by traditional IQ tests. They are inherited and more dependent on the influence of acquired education. How to cultivate smart children, the following nutrients are scientifically proven to make the seeds of wisdom sprout and thrive.

breast feeding

Breast milk contains important salts and vitamins, which can improve children's immunity and prevent their hearing system, respiratory system and stomach from being infected. Many studies have confirmed that breastfeeding can really make children smarter. In the United States, compared with children who eat milk powder, the IQ of breast-fed children is 8 points higher on average, and this difference still exists ten years after weaning; At the same time, these children have better academic performance, especially in reading and writing.

Why is this happening? Scientists believe that it may be because some nutrients in breast milk are very important for babies' development, but babies themselves can't synthesize these substances well, such as taurine, which is necessary for nerve development, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are very important for cognitive development.

Talk to children often.

Talk to children as much as possible, and its benefits have been confirmed by many studies. Some studies have found a connection between vocabulary and intelligence:

Investigators regularly visit some families and record the number, diversity, vocabulary growth rate, language communication frequency and emotional connotation of language in detail. After years of tracking and detailed analysis, two conclusions stand out:

1, the diversity and quantity of words are very important.

The more communication between parents and children, the better, which can enhance children's language ability and speed up the improvement of language level. The diversity of words (the types of words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and the length and complexity of phrases and sentences) is almost as important as the number of words.

Look at him, imitate his words, laughter and expression, and encourage him to speak with your high attention. Even if children don't respond, they always listen, which is good for the development of the brain.

Compared with children who communicate less with their parents, children who communicate with their parents frequently have at least twice the vocabulary of their parents. After school, these children are much better at reading, spelling and writing.

2. Dialogue can improve children's IQ.

In order to promote your child's brain development, you must have face-to-face interpersonal communication with him, so you should prepare it yourself, not the IPAD.

Don't think what you said is silly: "We're going to change your diaper now!" " ""Look at that beautiful tree! ""What is this? "However, there is no need to talk to children endlessly. You should always pay attention to whether the child is tired.

Mom and dad scream at the baby, which is called "parental language". It is characterized by high pitch and long vowels, like singing. This kind of tone not only makes the baby sound pleasant, but also helps them to learn, help them identify different words and classify different pronunciations. The high-pitched voice can facilitate children to simulate the characteristics of speech.

Open activities: free play

The so-called open activities are not just outdoor climbing trees and rolling! In fact, it can include all fun activities: including playing at home and playing educational toys, playing board games with small basin friends and so on. . .

From 198 1 to 1997, American children's free time has been reduced by a quarter, and many parents are a little too worried about their children's future.

In fact, for children's neurological development, open activities are as important as protein. Open activities are of great benefit to all aspects of children's intellectual development. Compared with the children in the control group, children who often engage in open activities have the following advantages:

More creative: They can come up with more unconventional usages for a specific object, and the number of usages they come up with is three times that of the control group.

Better language skills: These children speak more fluently, have a larger vocabulary and use more kinds of words.

Better at solving problems: the ability to solve problems belongs to fluid intelligence and is the basic component of intelligence.

Better at relieving stress: the communication level of these children is only half that of the control group.

Better memory: Open activities can improve memory. For example, you can imagine that children who shop in the supermarket remember twice as many items as the control group.

Not all open play is beneficial, but the real point is to control impulse and self-discipline, which is a concrete manifestation of executive function and an important part of intelligence.

For example, "play house":

Playing house is the most restricted activity that children can experience. Children who often play house are better at controlling impulses, such as:

If the baby wants to play the chef, then he must obey the rules of the chef;

If children want to make friends in the game, they should also follow the rules. They may bargain until they agree on the code of conduct and methods.

If the baby wants to play the chef, then he must obey the rules of the chef;

If children want to make friends in the game, they should also follow the rules. They may bargain until they agree on the code of conduct and methods.

This is how self-control ability is cultivated step by step. In a group situation, these tasks require high intelligence, even for adults.

Praise the child's efforts.

More and more parents understand that talent and intelligence cannot guarantee their children a good future. The secret of success in life is not IQ, but the degree of hard work (other things being equal).

How can we make children work hard? The key is how to praise children, which has been written several times before. The essence is: don't praise the child's talent, but praise his efforts for it.

Parents should be alert to bad influences.

Everyone's brain development process is very unique, and children will not advance all stages of brain development step by step and in a unified pace. A four-year-old math prodigy may not have superior abilities at the age of nine.

Individual differences in brain development are partly determined by genetic factors, but neurons are very sensitive to children's living environment, and they will form new connections or disconnect existing connections according to environmental changes.

This property is called "neuroplasticity".

Some parents regard their children's brain development as an Olympic competition, hoping that their babies can walk in front of others at every stage. This behavior is called "over-cultivation".

1, high expectations will suppress children's advanced thinking.

Children are very sensitive to their parents' expectations. If their parents' expectations are too high, it means they are cornered. This will make their brains reopen the "low-level" thinking mode, and let them deliberately do short-term benefits or even cheat in order to meet their parents' expectations.

For example, proud parents claim that their two-year-old son knows the multiplication table. The child doesn't understand the real principle of multiplication, but just recites it mechanically. Low-level thinking skills replaced high-level thinking.

2. Stress will kill curiosity.

Children are natural explorers, but if parents only make rigid demands on their children, they will lose interest in many things and have to blindly meet their parents' expectations. Because the exploration behavior was not rewarded, it soon disappeared.

Don't forget, the most important thing for the brain is survival. For a child, nothing is more important than the sense of security (that is, the approval of parents) given by the monitor.

3. Constant anger and disappointment will turn into stress.

Another disadvantage is that children become disappointed, sad and even angry because they can't meet the requirements. Losing control of the environment is harmful, which will lead to a mental state called "learned helplessness" and damage children's brains. Learned helplessness can also cause depression.

Children are no exception. We must always remember that the brain is not interested in learning, but in survival.