Young children are curious about everything. Initially they investigate with their senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight, discovering what their bodies can do. As they grow they develop their verbal skills, but the drive for sensory activity remains. At the K-3 level, they "learn by doing." This kind of learning provides more cues for retention.
Young children lack knowledge and experience, but not reasoning ability. They typically display a predisposition to learning rapidly and eagerly. This readily occurs in the privileged domains of physical and biological concepts, causality, numbers, and language (Carey & Gelman, 1991). When required to learn about nonprivileged domains they need to develop strategies of intentional learning. In order to develop strategic competence in learning, children need to understand what it means to learn, who they are as learners, and how to go about planning, monitoring, revising, and reflecting upon their learning and that of others.
Active learning is different for preadolescent children. They are "in a state of flux, beyond elementary school practices, not quite ready for high school practices" (Wormelli, 2003, p. 8).
Research shows that the brain continues to grow at a phenomenal rate until about age 15.
The adolescent brain goes through a biological remodeling as critical to human development as that which takes place during the first two years of life - a discovery with profound implications for educators, behavioral scientists, pediatric health professionals, and, with luck, bewildered and desperate parents."
(Strauch, 2004)