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| HOW MEMBERS LEARN? |
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There was a time, long past, that all children in a classroom were mostly taught in one standardized traditional manner, i.e. one size fits all. It is a proven fact validated by countless scientific studies that today’s learners are much more complex and individualized and cannot all be taught in
a box. Today’s learners must be constantly challenged and engaged in order to keep them excited about learning. Although those days of traditional teaching to the masses should be long gone, many schools still continue to attempt to teach in this outdated manner and thus is the root cause of many of the problems found in many educational systems and schools throughout the world! Before a teacher can successfully teach a child must first be reached. How can one teacher with one style teach a classroom of 30 learners with quite possibly 30 different styles of learning…it’s almost impossible! Teaching shouldn’t be rigid and subjective and but rather objective and reflective to be effective.
To achieve this critical objective, the emphasis must be placed more on the learner and their style of learning and not on the teacher; because each child is unique and each child is special.
But by the time a child is six, the adults in his world impose a formal structure on his learning that we call school, or our education system. There are dozens of theories about what is the best learning environment or educational structure for children at different ages, but in reality, without long-term observation and interaction with a child, it is almost impossible to pre-determine what is the best way for a child to learn or the best way or method to reach and teach them.
In a K-12 school setting, the earlier grades are the most important because it is at this time that a school can best determine the best way or method to reach and teach a child. A lot can be learned by watching and observing and testing and listening.
All young children learn naturally by playing, by observing, and by association. Having unstructured time to play alone never loses its importance for kids to learn through experiences. It is through these experiences themselves that formulates and determines how a child learns and what is the best way for them to be reached and taught.
The evolution of a child’s learning process or their “Learning Journey” comes in stages, and it’s at these stages that the foundation of learning is built for the rest of that child’s life!
Learning stages: In developing curriculum and learning resources, educators follow the basic progression of how all children learn.
From simple to complex: A child must understand the simpler idea of the number 2 standing for two objects before she can add 2 + 2.
From known to unknown; A child can take in new information if it connects to what she already knows. A child has to understand what a noun is before he can understand how adjectives modify nouns.
From self to other: Young children learn best about themselves and their own world. As a child matures, she can connect to what’s outside her world.
From whole to part: Children begin drawing figures that have little detail. As they mature, they add hands and feet and curly hair.
From inaccurate (approximation) to more accurate: A child learns to spell by writing letters that approximate the sounds of the words, then gradually becomes more aware of different spelling patterns for words.
From concrete to abstract: A child needs to understand how to cut an apple into two equal halves before she can understand the abstraction of dividing by 2.
From exploratory to goal-directed: A child begins learning about money by holding and playing with coins before he develops the goal of saving some of those coins to buy a treat.
From impulsive to self-controlled: A child learning to get along with others has to learn that she can’t be the only one to play with the blocks in the classroom; she gradually learns to be less impulsive or self-indulgent as a way of getting along with others. |
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