“It doesn’t matter how slowly a child learns, as far as we encourage them not to stop “
~ Robert John Meehan (Academician & Author)
In conventional forms of schooling, the teachers provide instructions and then explain them, which the students listen to from their desks and then later take assignments and tests to reflect on how much the students, learned. We tend to believe this is the best form of education that utilizes and explores all the faculties of a child. Let’s delve deep.
So, in the current educational landscape, emphasis is on reading (a skill that helps the child comprehend the world they are in), writing (a skill that teaches them to communicate well in multiple ways, be it persuading or debating) & mathematics (an ability that allows them to get a perspective of their physical world through measurable attributes).
Years of research and studies globally by experts in the field of experiential learning has shown that the current education system is not comprehensive and only 20% to 50% utilization of the ability a child would possess, is currently explored; depending on how much aligned the learning orientation of the child could be, with the teaching style or teacher centered instruction method that is used within each school.
So, if a child learns slowly or shows disinterest towards different disciplines, it could be because of numerous reasons that set them on a back foot, and to observe that in our children, we need to understand a few factors that strongly affect a child’s learning ability: –
- The beliefs influencing a child’s learning orientation
- The child’s cognitive development milestones
- How a child internalizes knowledge
- And the importance of the right Learning space
Beliefs Formed in Early Years:
Development of a child from infancy to adulthood is through multiple dimensions of experience and concepts, which get ingrained through reflection and action; this means a child’s development is based on the interaction between the child and the ecosystem they are exposed to. The beliefs that they develop during childhood work like sources of truth to them as their brain waves are way slower, helping it work better for absorbing more information and helping them see highly creative dreams. As they grow up, their brainwave matures and transition from a slower, relaxed wave to a much faster and defined one that helps analyze information better.
The analytical capability mostly starts developing around 7 years, and that means a child would absorb most of the information he/she is exposed to during their early age, based on only how they feel within and not necessarily reasoning it correctly. Most of this information could influence their belief system, which indirectly could brainwash their minds and thus influence their behaviour and approach to life or learning.
Cognitive Development in Children:
There are many studies and models explored by child psychologists worldwide to understand the cognitive milestones in children.
Among many studies, psychologist Piaget’s age-wise 4-stage framework gives us a better understanding of the learning and cognitive development in children. Also, since we know that psychologists Piaget’s growth framework is a more linear one and in the field of experiential learning, we would need a more integrated development model for children; I have also included such learnings & understandings across the world, which would enable parents and teachers facilitate a more transformational faculty development in children.
First stage (Approx. 0 to 2 years):– This is the sensory motor stage where the child learns as much from their environment through touch and feel. In this stage, the ecosystem plays a major role in helping the child form as many ideas and experiences, without any inhibitions. The kids’ brain as infant produces delta waves, which reflect on their sleep state and also their learning ability.
Highlights: –
Delta waves enable deep sleep in the child and also enhance the ability for necessary neural development that would facilitate the integration of the body and brain, by creating somatosensory patterns that are necessary for better engagement with the world.
By around 2 years, the kids’ focus on any activity would improve and should normally be able to remain focused without losing attention, roughly for around 4 to 6 minutes, which is very important to improve their learning ability.
The second stage of Cognitive growth is (2 – 6 years):- when the child develops a reflective orientation beyond just experiences and also develops an accommodative approach to new experiences. This is the phase where the child would begin to interact with their environment, and thus their brain waves slowly change to theta from delta.
“May we raise children
who love the unloved things –
the dandelion, the worms & spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn
& run into rain-swept days
The same way they
Turn towards sun.. “~Nicolette Sowder (Poet & Creator of Wild Schooling)
Thus, till around 6 years, the child’s subconscious mind is more active as a result of their brain wave patterns. So, all of their attention will be on their feelings produced by the experiences they are put through. The feelings or emotions they get from these events, be it pleasant or otherwise, are stored as memory. Thus, the child would store or collect images about the world from their perspective through representations that triggered their emotions. So, this phase of growth in a child is also known as the representational stage.
Highlights: –
Aesthetic experiences during this phase of growth have far-reaching implications, creating neural networks that could create value in later parts of their life. Also, we need to remember that aesthetics is very powerful in making one imagine new possibilities, and thus it’s the first stage to building a creative mind. The synaptic plasticity developed in this stage adds value from the child’s level of exposure to a subject. Remember, your brain loves a metaphor and thus helps learn or grasp a new concept faster with a representational image. Thus, the visual or sensory experiences a child gains during this phase help them learn something faster in the next growth phase of the child.
Third stage (7 to 11 years):– This stage is when the child uses relative learning or relies on concepts and theories to learn or grasp an experience. Thus, the child is very assimilative in their learning style. Capacities like planning, reasoning, language proficiency, and social skills are faculties that get developed during this stage, and the kids would love to equate events to one or the other realistic way, which would help explain the situation to the child. Fine motor skills like writing, drawing develop during this period. Their analytical brain starts developing, and thus, a barrier between the conscious and subconscious mind slowly forms.
Brainwaves of the child shift from theta to alpha, showcasing more cognitive ability; thus, the EQ or emotional intelligence of the child gets refined, as they start interpreting the events in their environment better.
“So often, children are punished for being human. Children are not allowed to have grumpy moods, bad days, disrespectful tones, or bad attitudes, yet we adults have them all the time”
~ Rebecca Eanes (Author of Positive Parenting)
Children at this age not only develop the ability to manage their emotions better they also build more self-control & social skills, and the ability to empathize with the feelings of others. They also develop an ability to be more independent if we train them to be more responsible or take up responsibilities at home.
Highlights: –
As distracted and energetic as they are during this age, it’s important to observe and understand their interests by measuring the degree of salience a child would showcase when they respond to an event or situation. Salience is a term used for that state when our brain filters out all other distractions and focuses on one particular item.
Those areas with increased saliency induce the release of neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine that would increase synaptic plasticity or neural connections. Which means the child had a very intense or salient experience that wired and fired their synapses or neural circuits in their brain, allowing them to store the experience as a memory. This is very important for the child, as this could drop a clue about the unique interests or areas of interest of the child, which, if rightly groomed, could unfold a genius in the child. And a profound interest could build the self-esteem of the child, making them a more confident learner.
Fourth Stage (12-15):– This is the stage a child would use the power of representation or symbolism, which means the child is in a more active orientation now and would love to experiment with what they have learned or know in theories and concepts over the years. During this stage, the child generally showcases a convergent approach to learning, but depending on the ecosystem, they could also be accommodative to learning new things or adapting to new experiences. The concepts that represent a particular association, as the child would have learned during this age, could be used to develop or frame new ideas and feelings about the world. Poets, explorers, musicians, and engineers are all born in their minds during this age. They sense their creative energy flow and would like to transform that into a career.
Now that we understand the various stages of mind development in children, it’s important to start relating it to the ability of the child to learn and understand slowness in learning. Even though I’ve mentioned it in an earlier blog, let’s try to understand closely the process of learning or what the factors are that would help a child quickly internalize information.
(Will discuss more on how kids process or internalize knowledge and how it could vary when it comes to quickness in learning in the second part of this blog)