Note: Click here to purchase The Scientist in the crib by Alison Gopnik from Amazon.com.

I recently became a grandfather for the fifth time. My daughter gave birth to her first, a little girl, on May 25. So, suddenly, my attention has been directed toward books about babies. "The Scientist in the Crib" came within my focus.

The book authored by Alison Gopnik, et.al., is a book on how babies learn. Dr. Gopnik is a professor of Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley. This is a book that will interest my readers who have pre-school children or grandchildren.

The book takes issue with previously supposed wisdom, namely that babies come here as a blank tablet and that the baby is dependent upon its scribes for what it knows. It challenges "previous wisdom" that babies cannot recognize individuals and presents scientific evidence to the contrary. 

I love it when intuitive knowledge is affirmed by scientific research. Have you heard someone say, "I could swear that she recognizes her mother, but of course we all know that is impossible?" According to Gopnik, infants can and do recognize familiar care-givers. 

It seems that what we naturally do with babies (make funny faces at and speak in an octave higher voice to infants) is exactly the kinds of stimulants that the baby needs to aid in his learning. When you speak "motherese" to a baby, it turns out that this is precisely what is needed to help a baby figure out the sound system of a language - an incredibly hard task for anyone to accomplish.

Dr. Gopnik says that what is happening in a baby's crib is most closely analogous to what is going on in a scientific laboratory. The scientist makes a hypothesis or guess about the meaning of whatever phenomena he/she is studying and then tests the conjecture to see if it is true. If it is not true, he/she makes adjustments to the hypothesis and tests the new assumption.

According to Dr. Gopnik's research, a baby is constantly making assumptions about its environment and testing the presuppositions.

"If everybody is giggling," Dr. Gopnik affirms, "that is a sign with babies that a lot of learning is taking place." When everyone, including the baby, is involved for the five millionth time in the game of peek-a-boo, learning at a really profound level is taking place with babies and children.

And what is the most important thing a parent can do to promote learning with a preschooler? Dr. Gopnik says it is, "pay attention." Babies are very good at giving you signals about that they are interested in and what they are learning from. When babies and small children are really engaged in doing something, that is a sign that they are learning from it. Parents who are attentive can talk to babies and young children about what they are learning.

When parents are attentive to what is engaging to their child, they can join the child in what they are already learning rather than imposing their agenda on the child. Babies are ever bit as good at teaching parents as parents are at teaching babies.

If you would like to order a copy of "The Scientist in the Crib" at the discounted price of $10 plus $1 shipping, consult my web site for details, or call me at 903-938-0262.