As babies, children have an innate curiosity. They’re eager to explore the world around them, soaking up new information and skills like sponges.
But somewhere along the way, this natural love of learning is often lost. Many children grow to dislike and even dread school and learning new things.
Fortunately, the love of learning can be developed and cultivated using a few simple strategies.
1. Help Children Discover Interests and Passions Naturally, one way to spark a love of learning is to help children discover and explore topics that interest them. Talk to your child about what he is doing, reading, watching, and learning. Expose him to different experiences like museums, theatres, zoos, etc. Help him check out books on a variety of topics from the local library. All of these activities can help you find and spark your child’s interests.
2. Provide Hands-On Experiences Again and again, research has shown that hands-on learning is the most effective for kids. When students move, touch, and experience, they learn better.
For instance, students who act out a mathematical word problem are more likely to answer correctly than students who don’t. Not only does hands-on learning help children process information, but it’s also a more enjoyable way to learn. Most children simply don’t enjoy reading from a textbook, copying notes, or “learning” through rote memorisation. Experiences and hands-on activities, however, will spark a child’s interest and imagination.
3. Make Learning Fun Even seemingly dry subjects can become more fun through songs, academic games, treasure hunts, or creative activities. You can easily create academic bingo, crossword puzzles, or word searches. You can also incorporate art projects, music, or creative writing into just about any academic subject. Create a song about the water cycle, or write a story from the perspective of a tadpole as he transforms into a frog. Build a model of the solar system using materials you find around the house or classroom.
4. Demonstrate Your Own Passion Be a great role model for your child by enthusiastically exploring your own interests and passions. Show that YOU are passionate about learning. Talk to your child about what you’re learning: the challenges, the excitement, how you’re applying what you’ve learned to your own life, and so on.
Even if you can’t take a class, you can read books or watch videos to learn more about a topic that interests you. It sounds simple, but demonstrating your own enthusiasm for learning helps instil this same passion in your child.
5. Be Supportive and Encouraging One reason many children lose their love of learning is that they begin to associate learning with anxiety and pressure. They’re worried about getting a bad score, answering a question wrong, or failing the test.
When learning is only about outcomes, it’s no longer fun. Make learning more about the process and the effort that your child puts into his work.
It’s important to teach children that success is not the result of innate abilities like “intelligence.” Instead, success comes from persistence, practice, hard work, and many failures.
Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck found that when students are praised for their effort instead of their ability, they actually score higher on intelligence tests. This is because children who associate struggle or failure with a lack of intelligence are likely to avoid difficult tasks or give up when they encounter them. On the other hand, children who view challenges as learning opportunities are more likely to persist, strategise, and keep working until they find a solution.
Have reasonable expectations for your child, and be supportive and encouraging when your child struggles or fails.
Educational MOT 