{"id":5847,"date":"2009-11-04T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=5847"},"modified":"2023-11-12T19:37:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T00:37:27","slug":"researchers-new-book-encourages-parents-to-foster-love-of-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2009\/11\/researchers-new-book-encourages-parents-to-foster-love-of-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"New Book Encourages Parents to Foster Love of Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Neag<\/a>
Neag School of Education professors Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis. Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cParents have been sold a bill of goods on test scores,\u201d say two professors in the Neag School of Education<\/a>, Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis. \u201cWe want to help them do more to promote a love of learning in their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renzulli and Reis, a husband and wife team from UConn\u2019s National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented<\/a>, have written a book called Light Up Your Child\u2019s Mind: Finding a Unique Pathway to Happiness and Success <\/em>(Little, Brown and Co., 2009).<\/p>\n

It is intended for parents, offering them practical advice on how to play a more meaningful role in a child\u2019s education both in and outside the classroom.<\/p>\n

The idea for the book came about when Reis and Renzulli were contacted by an agent who had seen an article about their work in Psychology Today. <\/em>That led to the search for a collaborator, someone who, Reis says, \u201ccould take the heart of our academic research and make it interesting and accessible for parents.\u201d They found that person in Andrea Thompson, a New York-based freelance writer who has worked on several books dealing with parenting and psychology.<\/p>\n

While the book includes research and interviews with parents and children, for Reis and Renzulli it is also a very personal story. They freely discuss the problems their own children faced as students: a son was, they say, \u201ca classic underachiever,\u201d while a daughter was found to be gifted but learning disabled, what Reis and Renzulli call \u201ctwice exceptional.\u201d Now young adults, both have successful college and graduate school records and professional careers, and had no objection to being part of their parents\u2019 book.<\/p>\n

Each child also illustrates the book\u2019s different approaches to parental involvement. With their son, Reis and Renzulli say, there was little they could do to prod him through his adolescent school years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was difficult personally, but we also felt that, professionally, this was something we should fix,\u201d says Reis, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology. \u201cUltimately, we realized that this was going to have to be his decision, not ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their daughter, says Renzulli, the Raymond and Lynn Neag Chair for Gifted Education and Talent Development, he and Reis were her \u201cbest advocates,\u201d helping her teachers understand both her strengths and her weaknesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers are receptive,\u201d says Reis, \u201cto parents who say \u2018I\u2019m looking for a way to help my child be more engaged at school, and this is what I know about him or her that might be helpful to you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the book, Reis and Renzulli reinforce the message to parents that can be found in its earliest pages: \u201cWe urge a different focus,\u201d they write in the Introduction, \u201cone having less to do with good grades and the \u2018right\u2019 colleges and more to do with early experiences in creative thinking and productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

While not wanting to diminish the importance of grades and scores, Reis and Renzulli say they dislike seeing bookstore shelves crammed with standardized test preparation study guides that parents have been led to believe are the keys to success.<\/p>\n

Equally \u2013 if not more \u2013 important, they argue in Light Up Your Child\u2019s Mind<\/em>, is nurturing passions, interests, and talents outside the classroom, not unlike the effort parents undertake when a child plays soccer or basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s as much to be gained,\u201d Renzulli says, \u201cfrom taking a child on a museum visit, or on a bird-watching hike, or on a local archaeological dig. All of it helps promote a love of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for school itself, enjoyment and engagement go a long way toward stimulating academic achievement.<\/p>\n

But if it sounds as though Renzulli and Reis want to replace an \u201ceat your vegetables\u201d approach to education with one that favors \u201ceat more ice cream,\u201d nothing could be further from the truth, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re advocating a buffet,\u201d Reis says. \u201cSchool should be a selection of introductions to big ideas, to names, events, and people, coupled with choices made by the student in the areas he or she is interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renzulli, who was recently awarded the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education<\/a> for his contributions to learning in the U.S., says years of experience have taught him that engagement works: \u201cI can get more out of anybody, diapers to doctorate, if I start with something in which they have an interest. We all do better and work more effectively at something that we\u2019re turned on to and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two gifted education experts urge parents to pay less attention to test scores and place greater emphasis on nurturing a child’s interests outside the classroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2428,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-5847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-psychology","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 15:08:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5847"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206885,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5847\/revisions\/206885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5847"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=5847"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}