MERLOT Voices

Putting Educational Innovations into Practice.

How to make your child more interested in studies

Parenting can be a difficult task on its own. Children require a lot of patience and consistency to get them to develop a learning spirit. Different children have different personalities which make them respond differently in learning scenarios. Teachers and parents need to explore the different personalities to get through to kids to enable them to respond positively to ideas.

Learning is a never-ending activity that begins in childbirth and ends when a person dies. As people grow older, learning becomes simpler because the developed reasoning capacity enables one to understand the importance of the principles being taught. Older students can even go to the extent of looking for a research paper discussion-writing guide on the internet to tackle complex assignments that are issued by their tutors. In simple terms, as students grow older, they help their teachers to help them learn.

There following are simple tips that parents and teachers can use to motivate children to learn.

Create a learning atmosphere around the child

Arguably, almost all learning revolves around reading. Children that enjoy reading automatically develop the urge to learn. The vice versa is true, the students who do not enjoy reading, struggle with learning and are the same ones that end up saying take my full online class for accounting. On a basic level, reading, whatever it is, academic or not, develops richer vocabulary and helps students gain the skills and concepts of formal communication. Developing the art of formal communication is the basis of excelling in all other subjects, even technical subjects like science and math because the concepts taught are better understood when a student has in-depth language skills.

A parent can help the child develop a reading habit by reading to his or her child frequently from when the child is of tender age. Purchase and fill the house with magazines, books, newspapers and other content that a child can read.

Focus on the child’s interests

For education, it is paramount to put your child in the driver’s seat as much as possible. Parents and teachers should go as far as only to offer guidance and information on the concepts being taught but allow the students control over their learning process. Whether in the classroom or at home, it is important to provide students with the freedom to have direct input into their learning choices in the classroom and outside the classroom. A good example is to provide a student with the freedom to choose the topic to write about when assigning a writing project. A parent should let the student choose the subjects he or she wants to do or the majors that he or she wants to focus on when the student is in his or her later stages of education.

Introduce a variety of learning styles

Learning institutions offer different fundamental learning styles. According to the different personalities that children have, tutors can use visual, auditory, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary techniques to facilitate the learning process among students. For younger children, it is better to explore all different techniques I order to find out which technique works best for a particular student.

For older students, one can easily find the learning style that works best for any student. However, it is important to note that some learning techniques are vulnerable to distractions, e.g. visual education using the internet creates an avenue with many websites including social networking platforms that can be a distraction to students.

There isn’t a perfect learning style or a mix of learning styles, the important thing is to help a child discover his or her preferred learning style.

Share your enthusiasm for education

For new things, excitement and enthusiasm rub off. If you are a parent or a teacher, and your student sees that you are sincerely enthusiastic about teaching or learning a concept or a subject, the interest rubs off to them and they develop the interest to find out more on the principles being taught. Sharing your experiences and learning journey with your child or student exposes the to the joy and excitement of learning and discovering new things which in turns builds their interest to learn the concepts necessary.

Game-based learning

Game-based learning is a perfect strategy to use with younger children. There are many reasons game-based learning is helpful. It enhances the opportunity to evoke interest from the student and develops non-cognitive skills. A child is more likely to be enthusiastic about education if he or she associates the learning experience with fun.

Regardless of whether it is video-game based or just physical activities, when a teacher or a parent interlocks games and education, he or she stands a better chance of reaching out to the child. The children become better motivated hence opening themselves up to the tutors and parents enabling them to teach better.

Game-based learning also helps to develop interpersonal and intrapersonal skills of children by engaging the students in team-based games.

Recognize, celebrate and appreciate milestones and achievements

It does not matter how small the milestones are, whenever you show a child appreciation for small achievements, it motivates them and makes them anticipate for the next big steps. Constant positive reinforcement is a vital part of motivating a student to focus on his or her studies. One should be careful not to praise mediocrity but to offer encouragement and reassurance where necessary. One should also not focus on a child’s weaknesses because it may give discouragement but offer leadership on how to conquer the challenge faced by the student.

For advanced students, there are certain courses, assignments or projects that may be a challenge for the student. The best a teacher can do is to provide examples of people who faced the same challenge and conquered it. That would motivate the student to go the extra mile to tackle the challenge rather than depress the student into a state of giving up.

In Conclusion

Education and learning are a continuous process where the teacher and the parent need to play big roles in the student's development. The tips stated above are just but a few of how one can improve the motivation that a student may have in the learning process.

Views: 35

Comment

You need to be a member of MERLOT Voices to add comments!

Join MERLOT Voices

© 2024   Created by MERLOT.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service