Student Well-Being

It’s OK for Kids to be Bored, Researcher Says

By Anthony Rebora — March 27, 2013 1 min read
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Cross-posted from Teaching Now.

British education researcher Teresa Belton has interviewed a number of authors, artists, and scientists on the role that boredom played in their development. Her takeaway, according to BBC News, is that it’s a grievous mistake to think that children need to be “constantly occupied and constantly stimulated.”

Creativity, Belton says, “involves being able to develop internal stimulus"—something she contends is increasingly difficult at a time when kids have instant access to electronic devices and an endless array of media content.

"[C]hildren need to have stand-and-stare time imagining and pursuing their own thinking processes or assimilating their experiences through play or just observing the world around them,” she advises.

Try telling that to your principal, right?

(H/T: Kottke.)

A version of this news article first appeared in the Rules for Engagement blog.