In the world of early childhood education, there seems to be two different sides:
First, there is the world of Play based, Hands on learning.
This is the approach I learnt in college. Children learn through play, active exploration, and should have the freedom to choose their own learning activities. They do not advocate worksheets & flashcards.
Then, there is the flashcard/right brain way of learning (Glenn Doman, Shichida, TweedleWink).
In a nutshell,
Glenn Doman first worked with children with brain damage. Then, he applied the same methods to normal children. His approach uses flashcards to teach babies reading, foreign languages, maths spots, doing complicated equations, swimming, encyclopedic knowledge etc.
Shichida is a professor from Japan. He believes that the right brain has its own 5 senses: telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, tactility & precognition.
The right brain also has abilities that the left brain does not:
- high speed mass memorization (photographic memory, speed reading)
- resonance (able to receive waves)
- high speed automatic process function (able to do complicated math calculations automatically)
- image visualization function (able to visualize and make what they visualize happen)
TweedleWink is in a way a combination of Glenn Doman, Montessori and a bit of Shichida, too. It is a gentle, loving approach with the motto Relationships before Results. In the class, they go through 8 different learning areas: Vision, Vocabulary, World, Music, Reading, Math, Science & Art. It is an exposure of general knowledge and topics range from learning about Ethiopia to horse breeds to conifer seed cycle.
What I wonder is, why not have the best of both worlds?
What I know for certain is that early childhood is the best time to start educating your child. Children have sensitive periods for learning and they learn faster and easier when they are younger.
My guideline is: as long as the children enjoy it. I'm not encouraging parents to teach by making them sit at the desk without moving and just listen and do homework. Sadly, many think that teaching young children is torturing them and they make comments like "sad, nowadays children got no childhood.. Every time go for classes, start learning so young. Last time when I was young no such thing and I turned out OK." Well, just because you "turned out alright" doesn't mean you couldn't have turned out better.
Children actually enjoy learning!! YES REALLY! It's the education system of drilling and meaningless memorization which makes us grow to dislike learning. That's sadder.
I believe a holistic learning program will incorporate all the various methods, not just look at one side. Yes, children need lots of play where they can explore, run, jump, pretend, discover, imagine. Yes, children need hands on learning. Yes, children also learn from flashcards. They can learn reading, maths, expand their knowledge and the best part is, with flashcards, it only takes 5 - 10 minutes a day. If the children enjoy it and can learn. Why not?
Oh and a very important belief of mine: I believe that at the end of the day, character building is still much more important than cognitive development. What is the point if your child is super smart & bright, but is arrogant. Think of the long run. What is the purpose of education: to get good grades? Or to learn & love learning?
The even sadder part is that in Malaysia, most preschools and kindergartens are not using either approach. Not play based, not flashcards. They make 25 children sit for most parts of 4 hours or more a day and listen to the teacher without moving and do worksheets. Way to squash creativity! Go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment