(To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.)
Myth 1: Don't agree to having the TV or music playing while your child is doing his or her homework. It's nothing but distracting and teaches a habit that will be hard to break.
Truth 1: Research shows that many students think and remember best when studying with background music. Furthermore, 20% of an elementary population in a research study scored significantly higher when reading in a noisy environment.
Myth 2: Use folders, small boxes, manila folders or other types of stationery for storing school work, both past and present. This will teach a life long habit that makes achieving set goals so much easier.
Truth 2: Yes, being organised is a wonderful habit to have. However, a child whose information processing is global, will feel distressed or even threatened by a neat work area. Such children draw comfort from a less tidy and less structured homework environment and will find it impossible to function at an organised desk. And, speaking of desks....
Myth 3: Children learn best when sitting upright at a desk.
Truth 3: Sitting upright on a firm chair puts most of your weight on a very small part of your body. Many children (and adults) find it distracting to maintain such a body position for any length of time. Speaking from a learning style point of view, many learners need to sit in a less formal environment (floor, bed, sofa) in order to concentrate better, or concentrate at all. Which leads us to sitting....
Myth 4: Students who do not sit still are not ready to learn.
Truth 4: Many students need mobility when they learn because of their learning style requirements. An American study revealed that half of one school’s seven grade students needed extensive mobility while learning. When they were allowed to move from one instructional area to another while learning new information, they achieved statistically better than when they had to remain seated. Most students who are actively involved are likely to learn more, pay closer attention, and achieve higher test marks.
Myth 5: Students learn best in well-lit areas and damage their eyes when they read and work in low light.
Truth 5: Research shows that many students perform significantly better in low light environments, because bright light makes them restless, fidgety and hyperactive. Low light calms these youngsters down and helps them relax and think clearly. The younger children are, the less light they seem to need! They only need that amount of light for reading in which they feel comfortable, but their need for light seems to increase every five years.
(Does your child need bright light to do her homework? Find out here.)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Magic of Learning Styles
Maggie is a wonderful 10-year old girl. She is bright, good at sports (athletics and basketball), plays the trumpet in the school band and has a talent for creating little animals from play dough. Sadly, Maggie is unable to study in traditional academic ways.
No, there is nothing wrong with her: she’s not physically handicapped in any way. She is not dyslexic and she doesn’t have ADHD.
So what is it that’s preventing Maggie from achieving academic progress at school? In a word (make that two words) it’s her Learning Style. Her learning style is not compatible with the way her school (and most schools world-wide) teaches academic subjects.
In traditional schools, teachers make use of the blackboard (or the whiteboard). They talk and the children are supposed to sit up straight and listen. Which is a perfectly valid method of teaching and it works for all those who absorb information through their eyes and ears, and who concentrate best when sitting up straight.
But what about those who, like Maggie, absorb information through their hands and body actions, and who concentrate best in an informal setting? Well, such students become bored and frustrated. Although academically intelligent, they don’t perform well in academic subjects. Left without help, they get used to failure. Their confidence plummets and they start believing that they are “not good” at school work, or “not clever”.
Fortunately for Maggie, he teachers are aware of her learning style and they customise their lessons to accommodate her... as well as the 16 other pupils in Maggie’s class whose learning styles diverge from the traditional.
Do you know a child like Maggie?
(To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.)
No, there is nothing wrong with her: she’s not physically handicapped in any way. She is not dyslexic and she doesn’t have ADHD.
So what is it that’s preventing Maggie from achieving academic progress at school? In a word (make that two words) it’s her Learning Style. Her learning style is not compatible with the way her school (and most schools world-wide) teaches academic subjects.
In traditional schools, teachers make use of the blackboard (or the whiteboard). They talk and the children are supposed to sit up straight and listen. Which is a perfectly valid method of teaching and it works for all those who absorb information through their eyes and ears, and who concentrate best when sitting up straight.
But what about those who, like Maggie, absorb information through their hands and body actions, and who concentrate best in an informal setting? Well, such students become bored and frustrated. Although academically intelligent, they don’t perform well in academic subjects. Left without help, they get used to failure. Their confidence plummets and they start believing that they are “not good” at school work, or “not clever”.
Fortunately for Maggie, he teachers are aware of her learning style and they customise their lessons to accommodate her... as well as the 16 other pupils in Maggie’s class whose learning styles diverge from the traditional.
Do you know a child like Maggie?
(To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Learning Styles and Creative Learning Tools
The learning tools your child needs will depend on their individual Learning Style. If they are highly auditory, their favourite learning tool will probably be a tape recorder or iPod. A visual learner, on the other hand, will like to have lots of colourful pens, pictures and educational videos.
The learning tool described below is an invaluable aid for tactile learners in particular. It makes difficult content easy to remember. It is fun and easy to make, and we encourage you to try it out in order to enhance your child’s blended learning experience… unless your child a non-preference for visual/tactile learning.
Making a Wrap-Around
1. Using thick cardboard (about A4 size), cut out a rectangular shape and then cut an equal number of notches down the long sides. Pierce a hole on the top right side of the cardboard and cut a slit in the centre of the bottom side.
2. On the left side of the cardboard sheet, write down the questions. On the right, write the answers in random order. (See Fig.1)
3. Take a length of string. Thread it through the top hole and secure it with a knot.
4. Starting at the top left hand question, wrap the string to the correct answer on the right. Then wrap the string behind the cardboard to the second question on the left and continue until all the questions have been answered.
5. Secure the string in the slit at the bottom of the board. While the string is in place, mark its path on the reverse of the cardboard (see Fig.2).
6. Your tool is now ready to use.
The learning tool described below is an invaluable aid for tactile learners in particular. It makes difficult content easy to remember. It is fun and easy to make, and we encourage you to try it out in order to enhance your child’s blended learning experience… unless your child a non-preference for visual/tactile learning.
Making a Wrap-Around
1. Using thick cardboard (about A4 size), cut out a rectangular shape and then cut an equal number of notches down the long sides. Pierce a hole on the top right side of the cardboard and cut a slit in the centre of the bottom side.
2. On the left side of the cardboard sheet, write down the questions. On the right, write the answers in random order. (See Fig.1)
3. Take a length of string. Thread it through the top hole and secure it with a knot.
4. Starting at the top left hand question, wrap the string to the correct answer on the right. Then wrap the string behind the cardboard to the second question on the left and continue until all the questions have been answered.
5. Secure the string in the slit at the bottom of the board. While the string is in place, mark its path on the reverse of the cardboard (see Fig.2).
6. Your tool is now ready to use.
To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
How to deal with an exam that does not suit your learning style?
If your child has strong analytic preferences, how do you help her prepare for essay-type questions? Analytic children like facts and find it difficult to answer open-ended questions, particularly those that seek opinions and generalisations. Here are a few tips to help them cope:
· Read each question and identify which part or parts of the syllabus it can possibly refer to. For example, if they encounter a question like: “Do you think that a virus has good survival skills?”, teach them to ignore the potentially nonsensical notion of a virus having skills. Instead, ask them to concentrate on what the teacher actually wanted to know: something about rapid mutation, perhaps, or a hardy shell protecting the virus interior?
· When writing an essay-type answer, take a scrap sheet and jot down as many facts as you can remember. Now write a sentence for every one of those facts - that is your essay.
· If the question asks for your opinion, for example, was Hamlet really insane or was he just acting, again write down all the facts “for” and “against” the theory that he was insane. Can you make a decision? If you can, write your essay with that decision in mind. If you cannot, present a balanced argument and then end with something non-committal, like: “The jury is still out on that one”.
If your child has strong holistic preferences, she will not enjoy concentrating on details. Holistic children don’t like exam questions that ask to list facts, tabulate differences or fill in missing words. Some tips to help them cope:
· Learn the material by focussing on the big picture first, that way the facts will slot in more easily.
· Practice for the exam by identifying the facts and highlighting the important words (dates, names). Then cut out bits of cardboard to cover up the important words (you can stick them on with Prestik) and try to fill in the blanks.
· Remember that the purpose of the exam is to help you gain the knowledge you need.
To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.
· Read each question and identify which part or parts of the syllabus it can possibly refer to. For example, if they encounter a question like: “Do you think that a virus has good survival skills?”, teach them to ignore the potentially nonsensical notion of a virus having skills. Instead, ask them to concentrate on what the teacher actually wanted to know: something about rapid mutation, perhaps, or a hardy shell protecting the virus interior?
· When writing an essay-type answer, take a scrap sheet and jot down as many facts as you can remember. Now write a sentence for every one of those facts - that is your essay.
· If the question asks for your opinion, for example, was Hamlet really insane or was he just acting, again write down all the facts “for” and “against” the theory that he was insane. Can you make a decision? If you can, write your essay with that decision in mind. If you cannot, present a balanced argument and then end with something non-committal, like: “The jury is still out on that one”.
If your child has strong holistic preferences, she will not enjoy concentrating on details. Holistic children don’t like exam questions that ask to list facts, tabulate differences or fill in missing words. Some tips to help them cope:
· Learn the material by focussing on the big picture first, that way the facts will slot in more easily.
· Practice for the exam by identifying the facts and highlighting the important words (dates, names). Then cut out bits of cardboard to cover up the important words (you can stick them on with Prestik) and try to fill in the blanks.
· Remember that the purpose of the exam is to help you gain the knowledge you need.
To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Learning Styles and Tests
If you are familiar with the concept of learning styles, you will realise that your child’s learning style will have an impact on the type of classroom test that your child prefers.
· Analytic children generally prefer questions that require factual detailed answers, typically in the form of “True/False” or Fill-the-missing-word or List 5 differences between a snail and a frog.
· Holistic children may do better in essay-type tests and more open-ended questions.
· Impulsive children will like multiple-choice type tests.
· Visual children will enjoy tests with lots of pictures: label this diagram, draw a cross-section of a plant cell, etc.
Of course, your child’s very attitude to tests will also depend on her unique learning style. If she is a holistic learner, she will need to understand the purpose of the test. Tell her tests are important to monitor learning progress and to show how well the teacher is doing his job.
Holistic children may also get more stressed in test situations. Try to remove as much of the stress as possible: ask the teacher to let them take the test in their preferred environment (based on their LSA results). Give your child a test at home every day for a month and then the test it won’t feel “special”, so the stress factor will be reduced. Removing the time factor (i.e., not letting them feel that there is a strict deadline for finishing the test) may make them perform better as well.
What motivates your child: external recognition (i.e., doing well in the test) or the internal knowledge that she understands and knows the material?
To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.
.
· Analytic children generally prefer questions that require factual detailed answers, typically in the form of “True/False” or Fill-the-missing-word or List 5 differences between a snail and a frog.
· Holistic children may do better in essay-type tests and more open-ended questions.
· Impulsive children will like multiple-choice type tests.
· Visual children will enjoy tests with lots of pictures: label this diagram, draw a cross-section of a plant cell, etc.
Of course, your child’s very attitude to tests will also depend on her unique learning style. If she is a holistic learner, she will need to understand the purpose of the test. Tell her tests are important to monitor learning progress and to show how well the teacher is doing his job.
Holistic children may also get more stressed in test situations. Try to remove as much of the stress as possible: ask the teacher to let them take the test in their preferred environment (based on their LSA results). Give your child a test at home every day for a month and then the test it won’t feel “special”, so the stress factor will be reduced. Removing the time factor (i.e., not letting them feel that there is a strict deadline for finishing the test) may make them perform better as well.
What motivates your child: external recognition (i.e., doing well in the test) or the internal knowledge that she understands and knows the material?
To analyse your child’s learning style, have a look at this free online demo.
.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Beware of unverified personality tests on the Internet
Personality tests are fun. Who can resist discovering your perfect career match, or what your colour preference says about your temperament, or why your current Mr Right is really right for you?
Open (almost) any magazine or run an Internet search, and there you have them:
· Are you a workaholic?
· How do you handle stress?
· Are you a good boss?
· The bear and your attitude to everyday problems.
· What the contents of your fridge says about you...
The tests range from learning styles and handwriting to analysing the shape of your lipstick. They are fun. But are they accurate and should you follow their advice when it comes to choosing the right job or the right life partner?
Over the last week, I’ve taken thirteen free online personality tests, each time giving honest answers. This is what I discovered:
· I am a gregarious person who loves people.
· I’m a loner.
· I’m emotional.
· I think analytically.
· I am practical.
· I’m a dreamer.
· I am a happy settled person who knows what she wants.
· I should be a novelist, a graphic designer, a historian and a university professor.
· My Mr Right is a faceless somebody on Facebook. If I’m to believe his online profile, he lives on another continent, and is married with children.
Most of it was as amusing as it was entertaining. But the pedantic side of me flared up when I specifically said in one online quiz that I prefer working in a group and that I like to be in the centre of the action, and yet the results said: "You like to avoid attention at all costs. You tend to keep to yourself, and not interact much with the people around you."
That quiz was supposed to help me choose the career most suited to my personality, and yet it contained a glaring error. I sincerely hope that nobody makes a wrong choice based on advice received from that specific test.
(For a list of questions to consider before you choose a learning style analysis or a career guidance test, please click here.)
Open (almost) any magazine or run an Internet search, and there you have them:
· Are you a workaholic?
· How do you handle stress?
· Are you a good boss?
· The bear and your attitude to everyday problems.
· What the contents of your fridge says about you...
The tests range from learning styles and handwriting to analysing the shape of your lipstick. They are fun. But are they accurate and should you follow their advice when it comes to choosing the right job or the right life partner?
Over the last week, I’ve taken thirteen free online personality tests, each time giving honest answers. This is what I discovered:
· I am a gregarious person who loves people.
· I’m a loner.
· I’m emotional.
· I think analytically.
· I am practical.
· I’m a dreamer.
· I am a happy settled person who knows what she wants.
· I should be a novelist, a graphic designer, a historian and a university professor.
· My Mr Right is a faceless somebody on Facebook. If I’m to believe his online profile, he lives on another continent, and is married with children.
Most of it was as amusing as it was entertaining. But the pedantic side of me flared up when I specifically said in one online quiz that I prefer working in a group and that I like to be in the centre of the action, and yet the results said: "You like to avoid attention at all costs. You tend to keep to yourself, and not interact much with the people around you."
That quiz was supposed to help me choose the career most suited to my personality, and yet it contained a glaring error. I sincerely hope that nobody makes a wrong choice based on advice received from that specific test.
(For a list of questions to consider before you choose a learning style analysis or a career guidance test, please click here.)
Friday, February 08, 2008
Learning Styles and Information Processing
"Impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs" - does that sound like anybody you know?
University College London recently conducted a study into how people process information. The study focussed on those born after the arrival of the Internet, and it concluded that “the Google generation”, although skilled at finding information on the Internet, doesn’t know how to process the results.
On the plus side, they seem to be able to handle more inputs of information at once than the older generation. They can type an email while watching a movie and conducting three online chats. But is that true multitasking, or has the Google generation learnt how to tune out?
Your learning style is the way
in which you understand and remember new concepts.
If your learning style is that of a simultaneous multi-processor of information, you will have no trouble multitasking in our highly multitask-oriented society. If you think sequentially, however, today’s multitasking work environment will most likely make you stressed and ultimately burnt out.
Whether the Internet will make you more productive, or whether you will lose your focus and simply surf for hours without a goal, also depends on your learning style.
(To analyse your learning style, have a look at this free online demo.)
One thing is certain, however: today’s regular availability of information will have an impact on the amount of information people get exposed to and ultimately retain. And at least using the Internet is less passive than watching TV.
University College London recently conducted a study into how people process information. The study focussed on those born after the arrival of the Internet, and it concluded that “the Google generation”, although skilled at finding information on the Internet, doesn’t know how to process the results.
On the plus side, they seem to be able to handle more inputs of information at once than the older generation. They can type an email while watching a movie and conducting three online chats. But is that true multitasking, or has the Google generation learnt how to tune out?
Your learning style is the way
in which you understand and remember new concepts.
If your learning style is that of a simultaneous multi-processor of information, you will have no trouble multitasking in our highly multitask-oriented society. If you think sequentially, however, today’s multitasking work environment will most likely make you stressed and ultimately burnt out.
Whether the Internet will make you more productive, or whether you will lose your focus and simply surf for hours without a goal, also depends on your learning style.
(To analyse your learning style, have a look at this free online demo.)
One thing is certain, however: today’s regular availability of information will have an impact on the amount of information people get exposed to and ultimately retain. And at least using the Internet is less passive than watching TV.
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