Do you know?
Recent brain/mind research and new theories of human intelligence point to 3 specific ways to maximize the development of each child. You can bring out your child’s full potential by:
1. Providing a conducive and fun environment to help stimulate learning
The optimal learning environment is one that is positive and relaxed, one where a child is encouraged to ask questions and look for solutions. By emphasizing the importance of the learning process, children discover for themselves that making mistakes is a natural progression in learning. This in turn helps to channel their focus away from achieving short-term goals such as merely doing well for an exam, to seeking more knowledge and acquiring new skills for learning’s sake. Children with such internal drive have been consistently shown by decades of research to be more successful when they are adults.
2. Developing strong support and relationships between caregivers, educators, and the child.
Young children experience their world as an environment of relationships, and these relationships affect virtually all aspects of their development – intellectual, social, emotional, physical, behavioural, and moral. Do you remember the days where your learning was affected by the extent you liked or dislike a teacher? Indeed, the quality and stability of a child’s human relationships with their teachers, peers and parents will lay the foundation for a wide range of developmental outcomes that will significantly impede or support a child pursuing their personal aspirations in life.
3. Matching teaching styles to the child’s natural interests, passion and learning style
It is no secret that we learn differently and are motivated by different things. Valuing each child as an individual capable of making progress and understanding the various ways that a child is inclined to learn is an essential component in how that child learns. Embracing learner diversity in a classroom is vital to maximise the potential of the child.
Keep and grow the spark of learning in your child
Parents play an essential role by being actively involved in the child’s learning. Getting active input from your child and his/her teacher can make a huge difference in the child’s developmental process. Furthermore, there are also systematic approaches in the form of assessments which can help identify your child’s interests, passion and learning style but make sure you choose tools which have been validated and backed by appropriate research and then always cross verify the results with both you and your child’s personal experiences and feedback!
*This article was first published at www.kiasuparents.com*
