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NEW! Evolutionary Tidbit of the Month
In seemingly unrelated languages from every corner of the globe, the word corresponding to "mother" contains a sound like /ma/, as in "amma," "mama," or "ima." Father words tend to have the /pa/ or /ba/ sound, like "appa," "abba," "baba," or "papa." A discarded hypothesis held that the words for "mother" and "father" had remained largely unchanged from a proto-language from which all modern languages evolved.
The currently favored explanation is that these are the first sounds infants are able to make, with /m/ being slightly easier (and thus developing sooner) than /p/ or /b/, explaining why the primary caretaker (usually the mother) tends to be referred to by words which sound like "mama" in languages all the world over.
On the importance of mixed-age learning and how to make the most of it in an EvoS program
Mixed-age learning is something that came naturally to our ancestors but must be rediscovered in modern education. Even though children from all cultures have much to learn, formal schooling didn’t exist until recently. Moreover, there is often little adult instruction … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution in the Classroom
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