Key points

Sensory experiences and learning are complementary, not opposites.

Hands-on work creates tangible products that kids can reflect on.

Physical approaches reduce cognitive load by freeing up mental energy.

When I sat to help my 8-year-old son with his homework, I noticed something surprising. Typically, he's been pretty good at math, if not exactly patient. With his paper-and-pencil homework, he might get frustrated, but he can generally push through. With his online homework, which was much more game-like, he either clicked the right answer if he knew it immediately or clicked a random answer if he didn't. "Oh, I guess that one was wrong," he said, each time a red button clicked, showing he had made an incorrect choice. And then—without further ado—he moved on.

As someone wh

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