Nurturing Learning Habit in Children (2)

Besides not nagging your child to do better, as outlined in the previous post Nurturing Learning Habit in Children (1), guiding them in creating self-learning habit is of vital importance too.

What can you do?

• Create a study schedule.

Guide your child through creating his own study schedule. You may want to start with creating examples for him, then gradually let him to create one that suits him best. In the schedule, include the time for study, play and relaxation. In general, the average concentration span is 20 minutes, hence, work the breaks around this period to increase his learning outcomes.

• Set goals.

Encourage your child to set goals that are achievable based on his age and ability. Never set a goal that is too high to achieve, instead, encourage him to take smaller steps to reach his goals. A goal set too high to achieve may only discourage him to do better.

• Proactive learning.

Encourage your child to ask questions and switch on the learning mind every moment. Be it playing, watching TV or just relaxing, there are opportunities to learn new knowledge and skills. Instil in him the passion of learning by being a learner yourself too. You may want to play games, such as treasure hunt or word search, with him to help stimulate his learning mind.

Nurturing Learning Habit in Children (1)

Generally, many parents feel the need to nag their children to do better. However, many did not realize that nagging will create negative effects on them instead. Children may feel de-motivated due to the constant nagging and this may affect their performance in school and social upbringing.

How to encourage children to do better without nagging?

• Never compare. Each child is unique in his own.

Never compare your child to their siblings, cousins, friends or anyone. Everyone has his own unique ability and early childhood is the time to see through this ability and nurture it.

• Don’t push your child.

Give encouragement instead of pushing your child to do better. With all the guide and support given, your child will eventually motivate himself to work harder and better.

• Allow your child to be himself.

Encourage your child to freely express his interests. Then, see what you can do to nurture his interests and guide him to build a strong foundation in the areas.

• Give recognition, not scolding.

Acknowledge your child’s effort by giving him recognition and encouragement. When your child did not do well, increase his level of confidence by being a guide, not by scolding.

More reading:

• NurturingLearning Habit in Children (2)

Eastern Culture and Western Culture in Learning

Jim Stigler, a professor of psychology at UCLA, sums up the difference in learning approach between the East and the West in this way:

“For the most part in American culture, intellectual struggle in schoolchildren is seen as an indicator of weakness, while in Eastern cultures it is not only tolerated but is often used to measure emotional strength.”

He witnessed how Japanese classroom was conducted, whereby the teacher called upon a weaker student to draw three-dimensional cubes on the board. The kid struggled in making it look right and in the end, he succeeded and received applause from his classmates. This is the opposite of the American classrooms whereby the best kid is usually given the opportunity to share in front of the whole class.

On the other hand, Jin Li, a professor at Brown University, had in the past decade studied the learning beliefs of Taiwanese and Americans. Here is what she has found:

Americans: “The idea of intelligence is believed in the West as a cause. She (the mother) is telling him (the son) that there is something in him, in his mind, that enables him to do what he does.”

Asians: “It resides in what they do, but not who they are, what they’re born with.”

Li shared a conversation between a mother and her son who had won first place in a piano competition, that it was his effort and the persistence he put into practicing the piano that led him to the achievement.

The West looks at struggle as a weakness while the East looks at it as a strength. By viewing it as a strength, we are more willing to put in effort and accept that it is a part of the challenges that we need to face in learning.

Read original article here

Spatial Creativity: What Is It?

A study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology revealed that “of those students in the top 1% of spatial talent, roughly 70% were not in the top 1% in either math or verbal talent – showing a large fraction of students having the high spatial but lower math/verbal profile”.

What’s more, a new study published in Psychological Science has found a solid link between early spatial talent and creativity in adult life.

What is spatial talent?

It is “the ability to generate, retain, retrieve, and transform well-structured visual images”.

In other words, it is the ability to imagine in the minds eye and mentally manipulate objects that leads to great invention. Think Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, all of whom had extraordinary spatial talent. This kind of talent is often found in most of the artists, engineers, architects and surgeons.

Unfortunately, as spatially talented students scored low in math or verbal assessments, they are often been neglected in the school systems. Their creative potential is then left unnoticed and under-developed as most of the standardized tests tend to focus more on math, verbal and writing skills, but not inclusive of a spatial measure.

How can we recognize this spatial talent in children then?

Being observant and giving the children the freedom of expression may help in developing their spatial talent. Isn’t it a great thing to do if we give them the space to let their imagination goes wild, instead of putting all the focus on achieving high scores in standardized tests?

As we often hear, everyone has his talent and call on Earth.

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For a deeper look into spatial creativity and related research, read the original article Why We Need to Value Students’ Spatial Creativity by Jonathan Wai, researcher at the Duke University Talent Identification Program and Case Western Reserve University and writer of “Finding the Next Einstein: Why Smart is Relative” for Psychology Today.

How Important Is Freedom of Expression in Children?

Does writing for being graded put a barrier to our freedom of expression and learning?

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Here’s a summary of what Katrina Schwartz shared in How Visual Thinking Improves Writing:

When teachers from Oak Knoll Elementary School in Menlo Park, Calif. asked their students to keep a notebook that combines words and drawings – taking inspiration from the popular children’s book series Amelia’s Notebook, - here is the insight they have found.

“They’re not used to being given permission to write about whatever they want,” Karen Clancy, a teacher from Oak Knoll Elementary School in Menlo Park, Calif. said.

Once her students knew that they were given the freedom of expression to write and draw without being graded, they have asked for more time to write.

Samples of Amelia’s Notebook

According to the author of Amelia’s Notebook, Marissa Moss, “writing without fear of consequences is key to developing a writer’s voice.” Moss also pointed out that developing a distinct voice in children is one of the hardest things to teach.

“If you’re perfect you are guaranteed to not write a thing. It’s like driving with one foot on the gas and one foot on the break,” Moss said, whose books combine the power of words and drawings to express Amelia’s ideas about the world.

Since this notebook project – Lifebook Journals – has been initiated, the teachers at Oak Knoll have seen a dramatic improvement in the students’ choice of word, voice and sentence fluency, and their motivation to write.

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Besides developing a voice in children, freedom of expression helps to develop critical thinking skills and a love for reading too.

On the other hand, cutting out the freedom of expression in children will hinder the development of their distinct voice. Over time, they may grow into a person with low confidence and fear, which is not a good thing for their social and soul development.

Hence, we ought to give our children the freedom of expression so as they will be able to experience a positive development of their body, mind, social and soul.

Inquiry-based Learning vs. Standardized Content

Which is more effective in aiding the learning process and preparing the young ones for their future? Inquiry-based learning? Or standardized content?

In recent years, there is much discussion among educators on the relevant of standardized content in today’s world, whether it still functions as well as during the old times and whether it encourages critical thinking skills.

Given the rise in the focus on grades instead of knowledge and skills gained, it makes one ponder whether the children are well-prepared to face the challenging world that requires critical and innovative thinking.

As standardized information and testings may put a barrier to innovative teaching and addressing students’ needs, how can we address this learning process? How can we make use of the inquiry-based process to the benefits of our children?

As Thom Markham (speaker, writer, psychologist, school redesign consultant, and the author of the Project Based Learning Design and Coaching Guide: Expert tools for inquiry and innovation for K-12 educators) suggests, a teacher can help to move the dialogue forward by focusing on project-based learning, which is the most effective learning method of inquiry-based learning at the moment.

Here is a diagram on inquiry-based learning created by educators in Australia.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/the-inquiry-process/

Based on the above graph, inquiry-based learning shows some resemblance to theme-based learning (thematic approach). Both the approaches – inquiry-based and thematic – can be integrated to assist in effective learning in children.