... From the UNESCO report on How Children Learn
Getting children interested in learning is a challenge most parents share. How many times have you heard children declare "It's boring!" when it comes to school work? The 2002 UNESCO report on How Children Learn offered twelve key psychologically based principles that underpin child learning. The first principle is Active Involvement. Learning requires children to pay attention; to observe; to memorize; to understand; to set goals and to assume responsibility for their own learning. These cognitive activities are not possible without the active involvement and engagement of the child.
According to the UNESCO report, teachers [and parents] should encourage children to become active and goal orientated in their pursuit of learning by building on their natural curiosity, their desire to explore, to understand new things and master them. The more engaged the children are, and the better the learning experience matches their natural curiosity, the more they learn. And learning begets more learning in a positive cycle that builds a thirst for knowledge. At Little Wriggler we believe the earlier you start the better you can tap into the innate curiosity and thirst for learning we are all born with. Early learning sets the scene for self motivated learning in later life, but according to UNESCO this must be done using the right psychological triggers to be durable.
Action:
Identify things that your children are interested in finding out, leverage their curiosity about the world and desire to grow up and be part of the social group. Find ways to deliver learning opportunities that excite, stimulate and motivate children to want to learn. Mix it up with different tools and mechanisms. It should not be a chore, rather it should be a fun activity they look forward to and initiate themselves without prompting.
How do you create interesting and challenging learning environments that encourage the active involvement of children?:
Avoid long periods of passive listening to instruction. Children prefer to do. “I do it! I do it!” is something our son often shrieks when we try to get too involved. They want to do for themselves so let them even if they can’t and encourage them when they fail, maybe with a little gentle nudge help.
Use hands-on activities such as experiments, observations and projects. This also promotes fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Encourage discussion. Engaged children love to discuss what they are watching or doing or imagining and receive signals back that they are part of the social group and are understanding the world correctly. And talking is good, it develops children’s communication skills as well as social interaction and allows you the chance to adjust or correct any misconceptions early.
Visits to museums and parks or even local amenities such as post offices etc can be a learning experience about the world and relate the things they do and see at home and in school to the real world. What does a “real” Postman Pat look like and do?
Allow children to take some control over their own learning. Taking control over one’s learning means allowing children to make some decisions about what to learn, how and when.
Help children set goals for learning.
Technology such as YouTube educational video channels can aide active involvement by acting as a window to the world, showing children real life examples of words and concepts they are learning and giving them access to experiences they may not have readily available locally. The child gains some control over what they watch and how often they repeat a video as they learn to use the device interfaces. The parent or teacher should be on hand to discuss things with the child, and to monitor activity but need not micro manage the child’s interaction with the device. You will be amazed how quickly children pick up this essential skill. While screen time must be controlled and mixed with other activities the use of both interactive and push video technology to augment child learning is not only valuable for active involvement but also to learn how IT works. At Little Wriggler we also offer printable hard copies of workbooks for learning activities that involve writing so children can follow along with the video.
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