The Wonder Approach

'This book is a must-read for parents and educators who want to refocus children's attention to one of the greatest secrets to long-term happiness - discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary' - Jessica Joelle Alexander, co-author of The Danish Way of Parenting Children of the last twenty years have grown up in an increasingly frenzied and demanding environment so that, on one hand, education has been rendered more complicated, and on the other, the essentials have been lost to view. In order to ensure their future success, parents often feel that they must fill their children's schedules with endless activities that cause leisure, spontaneous activity, and the experience of nature, beauty and silence, to fade out of their lives. This veritable race toward adulthood distances children more and more from the natural laws of childhood. A constant stream of loud and flashy stimuli disturbs the only true and sustainable learning that exists in them: that of calmly and quietly discovering the world for themselves and at their own pace, with a sense of wonder that goes beyond mere curiosity for the unknown or interest in novelty. In a world such as this, it can be a daunting task for a parent or educator of young children to discern how to best raise their children. Catherine L'Ecuyer offers clarity, drawing attention to the findings of many studies of the last few decades on the effects of screen use, overstimulation and mechanistic approaches to education on young children, and suggests time exploring the real world, more silence and the 'Wonder Approach' as remedies. Learning should be a wondrous journey guided by a deep reflection on what the natural laws of childhood require: respect for children's pace and rhythms, innocence, sense of mystery and thirst for beauty.

Catherine L'Ecuyer, PhD, LL.B., MBA, MRes, is a Doctor in Educational Sciences and Psychology. Catherine is Canadian, now living in Barcelona with four children. She holds a law degree from Laval University, has an MBA from IESE Business School, and an Official European Master of Research. In Canada, she worked as Senior Counsel for a telecommunications company and in Spain she has taught university classes and worked as a consultant. The Swiss journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published her article "The Wonder Approach to Learning," which converted her thesis into a new hypothesis/theory of learning. In 2015, she received the Pajarita Award from the Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers for "promoting a culture of play in the media," and was invited to speak to the Education Commission of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. She has served as a consultant to the Spanish government regarding the use of digital technology by minors and to the government of the state of Puebla in Mexico concerning preschool reform. Her first book, The Wonder Approach (23 editions in Spain), has been published in eight languages and is available in more than fifteen countries. She has also published Educar en la realidad (7 editions in Spain), on the use of digital media in childhood and adolescence. A recent video interview she did as part of Aprendemos Juntos (BBVA-El País) received over 10 million views in the course of a few weeks and the video has won the YouTube Ads Leaderboard award - given by Google in most European countries - for being the third most creative video on YouTube. She currently collaborates with the Mind-Brain Group of the University of Navarra and is a columnist for El País, one of the most-read newspapers in Spain.