Play to learn.... how to???

LEARNING through play opens the child’s mind to what is in the environment. They discover how things are done and develop the understanding of right and wrong from playing.

Children thrive on simple yet meaningful play experiences.


Balls – Babies like holding soft balls while toddlers enjoy the rubbery ones that they can hold with both hands and throw. Preschoolers love playing ball-catching with their friends. As they grow and develop more skills, they start playing ball games with rules.

Blocks – They come in all sizes, shapes and colours. I still love the wooden ones that children can stack them up in a tall tower when they are just babies or toddlers. When they become preschoolers, they build bridges and houses of all types.

Cardboard boxes and containers – Babies like to repeatedly put objects into a container and then tip them out. Older children will explore ways to play with containers of all sizes and shapes.

Sand and water play – This is a self-directed and engaged learning for young children. Add fun things like food colouring, turkey baster, funnel, cups and plastic toys. Young children will be busy for a long time.

A walk – Children need outdoor play. They need to run and jump freely. They can discover interesting living organisms in their natural surroundings. This experience will truly spur them to greater heights of creativity and learning.

Scarves and bedsheets – They can throw the scarves up in the air and watch them float down to touch their faces. They can wave them around and do their special dances. My then preschool-age daughters would use a bedsheet as a parachute or pretend that it is a popcorn popper with balloons. As they grew older, they used bedsheets to create tents for their special hide-outs.

Mirror, mirror on the wall – Babies and toddlers like looking at mirrors to discover themselves and others. Preschoolers love making different or funny faces in front of the mirror. Put two mirrors in front and at the back of an object for your child to view. He can see the object from both sides. To add to your child’s learning fun, make a triangular box of mirrors for your child to put different objects in it (make sure you seal off the sharp sides).

Painting – Children like messy play. Finger-painting is a great start to working creatively with colours for young children. Use large pieces of paper and non-toxic paints.

Singing – Singing simple nursery rhymes with children can expand their imagination and help them develop phonemic awareness. They will also exercise their auditory memory skills.

Puzzles – Home-made or store-bought puzzles are educational and fun for children from late infancy to preschool age. Start with two pieces to pair up, working towards more pieces for the child to put together. The younger the child is, the larger the pieces.

Parents as children’s first play-partners provide both educational and entertaining fun.

There is no greater fun for a child than having his parents get down on the floor and spend some time, say about 15 minutes, to play with him without giving any suggestions or directions. Children who take the lead in play will gain much as they get to practise their skills and experiment safely with their new ideas. They feel confident when the adults let them plan and direct their play session together.

Tackle children to think.....

One of the simplest and easiest ways to develop kids' thinking skills is by wording questions in the right way. When teachers and parents learn to ask questions that stimulate kids' thought processes, learning can be fun for children of all ages.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, different types of questions require us to use different kinds or levels of thinking. According to Bloom's Taxonomy, a widely recognized classification system, human thinking skills can be broken down into six categories based on Bloom's Taxonomy.

Knowledge, comprehension, and application are more concrete thinking skills. Analysis, synthesis, and evaluation require more abstraction and are known as critical thinking skills.

Knowledge
Knowledge involves remembering or recalling appropriate, previously learned information to draw out factual (usually right or wrong) answers.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words and phrases such as: how many, when, where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., to draw out factual answers and test your child's recall and recognition skills.

Sample questions:
How many eggs in a dozen?
When was Abraham Lincoln president?

Comprehension
Comprehension involves grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, differentiate, etc., to encourage your child to translate, interpret, and extrapolate.

Sample questions:
Explain how an egg becomes a chicken.
What important events occurred during the years Lincoln was president?

Application Application involves applying previously learned information (or knowledge) to new and unfamiliar situations.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words such as: demonstrate, apply, illustrate, show, solve, examine, classify, experiment, etc., to encourage your child to apply knowledge to situations that are new and unfamiliar.

Sample questions:
What do an egg and the shape of the globe have in common? Can an egg grow into a cow?
How did Abe Lincoln's personal views on slavery fit with the events of the time?

Analysis
Analysis involves breaking down information into parts, or examining (and trying to understand the organizational structure of) information.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words and phrases such as: what are the differences, analyze, explain, compare, separate, classify, arrange, etc., to encourage your child to break information down into parts.

Sample questions:
What is one difference between eggs laid by a frog and a chicken?
Compare and contrast some significant contributions made by presidents during the 1800s.

Synthesis
Synthesis involves applying prior knowledge and skills to combine elements into a pattern not clearly there before.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words and phrases such as: combine, rearrange, substitute, create, design, invent, what if?, etc., to encourage your child to combine elements into a pattern that's new.

Sample questions:
What might happen if a cow laid eggs? Knowing what you know about egg-laying animals, what could you say about animals that don't lay eggs?
What if Abe Lincoln lived today? What problem might he solve?

Evaluation
Evaluation involves judging or deciding according to some set of criteria, without real right or wrong answers.

Asking the Right Questions:
Use words such as: assess, decide, measure, select, explain, conclude, compare, summarize, etc., to encourage your child to make judgements according to a set of criteria.

Sample questions:
What do egg-laying animals have in common?
What might have happened if Abe Lincoln never lived? What are some ways that history might be different?

The use of critical thinking is one of the most valuable skills we can pass on to our children. Gifted children, especially, tend to take mental leaps and you might notice that they use synthesis and evaluation without teaching or prompting. Supporting and nurturing these skills is crucial to the development of strong academic and lifelong problem-solving skills.

Remember, the most important thing is to have fun with these skills. When kids enjoy discussions with their parents and teachers, they'll love to learn.

Learning???

I want to talk about learning. But not the lifeless, sterile, futile, quickly forgotten stuff that is crammed in to the mind of the poor helpless individual tied into his seat by ironclad bonds of conformity! I am talking about LEARNING - the insatiable curiosity that drives the adolescent boy to absorb everything he can see or hear or read about gasoline engines in order to improve the efficiency and speed of his 'cruiser'. I am talking about the student who says, "I am discovering, drawing in from the outside, and making that which is drawn in a real part of me." I am talking about any learning in which the experience of the learner progresses along this line: "No, no, that's not what I want"; "Wait! This is closer to what I am interested in, what I need"; "Ah, here it is! Now I'm grasping and comprehending what I need and what I want to know!" Carl Rogers 1983: 18-19

Learning as a product

Pick up a standard psychology textbook - especially from the 1960s and 1970s and you will probably find learning defined as a change in behaviour. In other words, learning is approached as an outcome - the end product of some process. It can be recognized or seen. This approach has the virtue of highlighting a crucial aspect of learning - change. It's apparent clarity may also make some sense when conducting experiments. However, it is rather a blunt instrument. For example:

• Does a person need to perform in order for learning to have happened?

• Are there other factors that may cause behaviour to change?

• Can the change involved include the potential for change? (Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 124)

Learning as a process - task-conscious or acquisition learning and learning-conscious or formalized learning

In the five categories that Säljö identified we can see learning appearing as a process - there is a concern with what happens when the learning takes place. In this way, learning could be thought of as 'a process by which behaviour changes as a result of experience' (Maples and Webster 1980 quoted in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 124). One of the significant questions that arises is the extent to which people are conscious of what is going on. Are they aware that they are engaged in learning - and what significance does it have if they are? Such questions have appeared in various guises over the years - and have surfaced, for example, in debates around the rather confusing notion of 'informal learning'.

One particularly helpful way of approaching the area has been formulated by Alan Rogers (2003). Drawing especially on the work of those who study the learning of language (for example, Krashen 1982), Rogers sets out two contrasting approaches: task-conscious or acquisition learning and learning-conscious or formalized learning.

Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligence

Howard Gardner initially formulated a list of seven intelligences. His listing was provisional. The first two have been typically valued in schools; the next three are usually associated with the arts; and the final two are what Howard Gardner called 'personal intelligences' (Gardner 1999: 41-43).

Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information. Writers, poets, lawyers and speakers are among those that Howard Gardner sees as having high linguistic intelligence.

Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner's words, it entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related.

Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counsellors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

What is thinking skill?

• When cognitive skills are strong, academic learning is fast, easy, efficient, and even fun.
• When cognitive skills are weak, academic learning will be, at best, a struggle.
• Cognitive skills are, therefore, the essential tools for learning.

It will help immensely if you keep these points foremost in your mind as we examine mental skills more closely.

Mental or cognitive skills may seem a bit mysterious because they are not easy to see or recognize by themselves. But, without the underlying cognitive skills, you and I could not process the information received from every possible source -- sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell.

ASSURE Model: The best way to organize the lesson plan.

Analyze learners
State objectives
Select instructional methods, media, and materials
Utilize media and materials
Require learner participation
Evaluate and revise

The ASSURE model is one of the way for teacher to design and develop the most appropriate learning environment for their students. You can use this process in writing your lesson plans and in improving teaching and learning.

• Analyze learner- teacher must know the standard of the students like age, sex, socioeconomic level and etc. Teacher also must know the level of the students cognitive skill. Beside that the way of how the student love to learn must be analyze.

• State objective- Objectives are the learning outcomes, that is, what will the student get out of the lesson?

• Select instructional methods, media and materials- The selection of the methods, media (video, audio, computer, etc.) and materials must be appropriate withe the students and the lesson to meet the objective stated.

• Utilize media and materials- test the media and make sure all of them working. Make sure the media and materials can be use in the classroom.

• Require learner participation - try to make the student take part in the teaching and learning session. Try to avoid lecturing. Listen to your students and allow them to become aware of the content. Allow them to learn as opposed to trying to "teach" them.

• Evaluate and revise - Evaluate the teaching and learning session whether achieve the objective or not. Try to state the weaknesses and the ways to overcome it in the next session.

Play: Fun in the classroom.

Play activities are essential to healthy development for children and adolescents. Research shows that 75% of brain development occurs after birth. The activities engaged in by children both stimulate and influence the pattern of the connections made between the nerve cells.This process influences the development of fine and gross motor skills, language, socialization, personal awareness, emotional well-being, creativity, problem solving and learning ability. The most important role that play can have is to help children to be active, make choices and practice actions to mastery. They should have experience with a wide variety of content (art, music, language, science, math, social relations) because each is important for the development of a complex and integrated brain. Play that links sensori-motor, cognitive, and social-emotional experiences provides an ideal setting from brain development. So, a teacher must implement the fun in the classromm by create some games that pupils can learn from it.