Teaching and learning are a lifelong process, but the way you teach someone, depends on their age and the reason for the lesson. For instance, the way you explain what a computer is to a primary school child, a high schooler and a graduate student would be very different although the computer in essence is the same. Similarly, the reason behind teaching anything determines how the lesson is planned and delivered.
In pre-schoolers, the motivation behind the class is to inculcate an interest in learning, to develop the ability to listen and focus attention, to prepare them for school with a strong base and to give them the ability to reason, to ask and to learn. These children are taught through activities involving things that they are interested in and exposed to. Colours, shapes, animals, games are all tools that hold the attention and an opportunity to teach a lot of things to your child. The concept of marks and competition is not something these children can comprehend, nor are they being gauged by their ability to perform in a test, because of which this practice should be avoided.
Primary and middle school children have the ability to focus and understand but are in the early stages of character development. They are able toempathse and judge situations and actions. They are slowly taught accountability, responsibility and cause-effect relationships. Their education also involves the understanding of society, acceptable social behaviour along with slightly advanced language and conceptual education. The aim of education at this stage would be to answer “What” questions, so that they understand what is happening. When they have been through a good pre-schooling, these children can focus and absorb knowledge, which makes teaching more new concepts possible.
High school is a stage where the children are going through puberty and maturing into young adults. This is a stage where friendships are forged and strengthened. These children understand classroom teaching much faster and their education revolves mainly around “Why”. The education is investigative in nature and helps them better understand cause-effect relationships which help them innovate based on experience and conceptual understanding. Teaching at this stage involves preparation for competitive exams and the culture of classroom competition is slowly introduced. The children will have a lot going on psychologically and hormonally as they undertake the journey of self-discovery and should be treated accordingly.
Education is an art that needs to be refined based on the audience. There is no ‘one size fits all strategy that can work. Explore more about how education is personalized at Envision High!