A neuropragmatist framework for childhood education

integrating pragmatism and neuroscience to actualize article 29 of the un child convention

Alireza Moula

Antony J. Puddephatt

Simin Mohseni

pp. 215-239

in: Tibor Solymosi, John Shook (eds), Neuroscience, neurophilosophy and pragmatism, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Abstract

A 9-year-old Swedish girl, Milla Martin, was watching TV with her mother when she saw a film about starving African children. She became very sad and angry and asked, "Why don't we do something to help these children?" Together with some other children, Milla and her mother decided to bake cakes and sell them in order to collect money to support the starving African children. Their responsible social action inspired other children and youth in Sweden who did the same thing. They succeeded in collecting hundreds of thousands of Swedish kroner for this human cause. As a result, Milla Martin was chosen as one of the few persons nominated as "Swedish heroes of the year." Consequently in 2011, on a popular nationwide TV program involving the Swedish prime minister, she received her prize: travelling with her family to Tanzania in a 'study-travel" to find out how her "cake-baking-movement" could help these less fortunate children.¹