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Posts Tagged ‘education’

My three year old son, insists that my younger brother must me older than I because he is taller. Young children, especially preschooler, tend  to confuse age with height. This is one  of te perceptions of children between ages 2-8 years old, also known a the “preoperative” stage.

The preoperative child sees things differently from an adult. A classic book which illustrates this thought process is Exupery’s Little Prince, where flowers talks and drawing include a hat, which is after all a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant

The most common characteristics of young children is their “egocentric” wy of thinking. Children see things from their own  perspective and are not concerned with logical justifications or other points of view. They cannot imagine, for example, that other people live the way they do. And this is when they start asking ” why” questions.

Yong children think that everything they see is theirs which is why we often see young children quarreling over the same toy and shouting ” This is mine!” at the top of their lungs. With  time and some coaxing, they will learn to share with others.

A second characteristics of this stage is “animism”. very young children think that anything that moves must be alive, have feelings and have reactions. Have you ever wondered why your little girl clung to you when she saw the life sized mannequin in the department store?

The moon holds the wonders for the young at heart-many fairy tales and stories are woven around its shining beauty. Children often think someone is moving the moon around and they ask why the moon is following them.

Children are often anxious about unfamiliar places and things but this fear and anxiety disappear in time, as the child discovers the physical properties od such objects the mannequin made of plaster and the moon  which moves around the earth on its axis.

Young children also think that when two events occur in succession, the first one causes the second. Putting on his pajamas makes it night time. Putting on pajamas midday makes him ask, ” Is it night time already?” they later understand that two things occurring together may not be casually related.

All true scholars, honor students and effective students read much more than their textbooks and other prescribed materials. They are wide readers. They love to read because they love to learn. Not only curious readers but hungry readers. You must be a curious and hungry reader too if you have to be a class topnotch. You cannot depend only on your teacher and your textbook in supplying you with information or knowledge. This is the age of explosive automated knowledge and you re all alone in filling yourself up with knowledge that is exploding and now universally available, most of it for free.

A high IQ usually or largely comes from reading a wide variety of literature. A successful or effective student has a high IQ which everybody envies in class. Reading a lot alone increases your knowledge and IQ a great deal. This is why habitual reading is greatly encouraged among students and expected form those with a desire to rise to the top like you.

Students today are far luckier because they are far more equipped with much information, sophisticated technology and super-efficient learning methods than those in the past. In these times when overwhelming information is almost universally accessible through the various forms of media, especially the computer, ignorance should be nearly extinct. This explosion of knowledge in the world attests to the universal objective to further hasten human development, enhance his welfare and assure longevity and the full enjoyment of life. This objective is focused specifically on those who want to learn the most and get to the top of the learning environment. The current situation is, as the forthcoming situations are likely to stay, in your favor.

A poor memory is at the bottom of most failures. This is why the student who can easily memorize is considered bright. While that is not necessarily true, a sharp memory is certainly a big help to any learner.

Are you one of them? You cannot aspire fo top honors with less than a sharp and quick memory. You cannot afford lapses, either. Here are some tips from leading educators who were themselves very effective students during their time:

• preview the main ideas of a book or another material before reading the details;
• connect the ideas to something in your daily life that has meaning to you and let the impression solidify in your mind:
• as you study, try to involve a many parts of your body and as many of your senses as possible. For example, touch something in the study room that pertains to the subject of your study. Or if it is music, listen to the radio or your player. If it is something in nature, go out and look for a plant, fruit , or an animal which explain the information you are studying:
• relax. It is at the time of relaxing that the information processed is actually stored. Relaxing does not mean stopping but the very opposite. Make sure yu relax at regular intervals.

On two separate occasions, I asked  questionnaires to parents of preschoolers, to find out the extent of their discussion on current events with their your children. Most parents felt that their preschoolers could not as yet fully understand such terms as injustice. However, many parents wanted to find out how current events can be discussed with their young children. For our children of today do observe and ask “why”, and we adults must know how to respond to their queries.

First of all, we must understand that children do not think the way we adults think.

The thinking o children from3-7 of age is egocentric in nature. They see the world as revolving around themselves. Therefore, the child’s fear of death is likely to focus on his immediate environment and how he will be affected. When a child of a policeman asks why more policemen are getting shot, he is not interested in the details of the situations( why, how, when) that an adult would normally appreciate. He is more interested in knowing whether his father, a policemen, will be killed too.

When we understand how children think and try to help them cope with the events that happen in the world around them, we are preparing our children for a better future- ina  world they will understand and one they can master.