Month: November 2020

Science is often best learned via hands-on experiments. The primary science curriculum includes exploration of concepts through simulations and real demonstrations, such as watching the process of germination through growing beans and observing how we inherit traits from our parents. Why is there so much of a focus on experiments, and what does hands-on learning do for students?

Inspire Inquisitiveness

Experiments prompt students to consider the different possibilities and outcomes of a scientific hypothesis. It is one thing to learn about the experiments that have been conducted, but another thing to actually carry out the experiment and witness the results. Students can even get more involved in the experiment by making a hypothesis – predicting what they think the outcome will be. This can be a good test for them to see if they have mastered the concepts well enough by making an accurate prediction.

By building on a child’s curiosity, they may even become interested enough in the pursuit of science to come up with their own hypotheses and design their own experiments to test them.

Learn Through Experience

One of the major benefits of hands-on learning is that it allows students to observe for themselves the scientific concepts they learn about. For instance, teaching students that plants transport water through the xylem and food through the phloem is just another fact that they have to memorise. However, if the students are given the chance to observe the process of food and water transportation by placing a celery stick in a bowl of colored water, they can then see how the color travels through the plant and even cut up a cross-section of the stalk to see which parts of the plant became stained with color.

Learning by experiencing a scenario often helps students to retain information better, as they have a clear memory of the experiment conducted, its conditions, and its outcome. If such an experiment is described in their PSLE science paper, they can then recall it and answer the question with ease. Students often learn even more effectively if they make mistakes in their hypothesis when conducting the experiments and realise where they went wrong. After all, it is much better to make mistakes during learning than during the examination.

Cater to Kinaesthetic Learners

According to the three primary styles of learning, there are visual learners, auditory learners, and kinaesthetic learners. Most people are attuned to one or two of these learning styles, which means that they absorb information and learn skills better when they are taught in a way that fits their learning style. Auditory learners learn best by listening, visual learners learn best by seeing, and kinesthetic learners learn best by doing. Unfortunately, many classroom-based teaching methods used in schools today are not enough to fulfill the needs of kinaesthetic learners. While textbook learning, watching videos, or listening to lectures may be helpful for some percentage of students, the best way to involve all students in the learning process is to cater to kinaesthetic learners as well – those who learn most effectively by physically doing the task. In this way, those who are auditory or visual are still able to apply their learning skills through observing or listening to the teacher, while kinaesthetic learners also get the opportunity to shine by practicing the experiment themselves.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” This statement may hold true not only for kinaesthetic learners but also for those with learning difficulties. Some children with special needs may find it difficult to concentrate in a classroom setting, effectively learning better when they are directly involved in hands-on techniques. Incorporating science experiments into the primary science curriculum create an opportunity for different types of students to learn and levels the playing field across students of all capabilities.

Promote Groupwork

Not all experiments can be conducted alone. Some require a team to work together, especially for larger undertakings. Teamwork and interpersonal skills are highly valued soft skills in the working world these days, which can only be learned through experience. By working on hands-on tasks in a team, students can pick up the valuable skills of working in a team and cooperating with each other. They can also get a chance to appreciate the greater heights that combined efforts can achieve. Additionally, students can take turns leading their own groups to hone their leadership and communication skills. In this way, the students are introduced to group activities as early as primary school, building the foundation for the teamwork that higher education and the working world will require.

Conclusion

As we have seen, there are numerous benefits to hands-on learning for primary school science. In addition to promoting teamwork and cooperation with one’s peers, hands-on learning in the form of science experiments is also a great way to involve all types of students in the lesson. Most students will be able to absorb and retain science concepts much better if they get to experience it themselves in an experiment, and even more, if they are able to make hypotheses and predictions, and draw conclusions from the results of each experiment.

One of the best ways for children to pick up primary maths easily is to show them how maths is used in the world around them. For instance, one can teach a child to count money by taking them along on grocery shopping trips. However, with the pandemic these days, people are staying home more often than usual and not all classes are back to normal, severely limiting the opportunities you may have to teach your child primary maths. Even so, this does not mean that your child has to lose out on valuable avenues to learn while awaiting normal life to resume. There are numerous ways through which one can still teach their child math in a fun and engaging way while at home.

Playing Board Games

It may be obvious that board games involving play money can be a great way to boost children’s addition, subtraction, and mental summing skills. Is your child bored of doing repetitive textbook exercises? If you are looking for an engaging way to get your child to exercise their mental skills, bringing out money- or a point-based board game is a great start. Have your child act as the scorekeeper or banker, and have them showcase their maths skills! You can also use this method to teach your child handy concepts such as algebra, statistics, and word problems. By learning ways to apply their textbook knowledge to a fun game scenario, your child can enjoy better memory retention, leading to more effective learning. For an added challenge, give a multiplier to each unit of the game’s currency – for instance, every dollar in the game is multiplied by two.

Even though money or points provides an ideal opportunity for your child to learn maths, other problem-solving board games should not be overlooked either. Maths is far more than just counting numbers – it is important to build a strong foundation on analytical thinking so that one can pick up higher levels of maths with greater ease in higher education.

Shop Online with Your Child

Online shopping often makes it easy to forget all about counting totals as the prices are automatically calculated for you. With the right approach though, you can turn an online shopping spree into a great educational experience for your child.

Instead of simply adding items to your cart and allowing the system to tally the prices automatically, let your child practice their money and decimal calculations. Tell them the prices of each item you are adding to your cart, and have them manually calculate the total cost. You can even join in and test your mental calculations as well! Finally, double-check the answers with the actual system-calculated total and see if you are both correct.

The great thing about online shopping is that you can also teach your child about percentages by applying the idea of discounts, which are very widely used in the real world. This way, your child will be better able to appreciate the applications of percentages in real life.

Playing Online Educational Games

While board games provide a great way for children to learn the basics of counting, it may feel limiting for older children, especially those who are studying PSLE maths. These children may benefit more from playing online educational games to enhance their maths skills. A quick online search for educational games can yield numerous options for your child to try out. Through fun and engagement, your child will absorb the maths concepts easier and apply their newfound knowledge to their studies more efficiently.

Playing online educational games also paves the way to get children interested in programming and development, a very useful skill later in life. This interest can help to improve their future maths and problem-solving aptitude.

Keep Track of Time

Some children may find it difficult to calculate the time when they are first learning it. If your child is struggling with learning time, what about helping them understand it in a real-time scenario? Instead of directly telling your child the time, try giving them a relative measure, such as “a hundred minutes from now”. You can also quiz them periodically on time. For instance, ask them to tell you what time it was “three hours earlier”.

Getting your child a watch, if they do not already have one, is an excellent way to teach them about time. In addition to boosting their maths textbook knowledge, watching the time also gets children to be more mindful of their time management, leading to better self-discipline and performance in their other studies.

Practice Questions

While there are creative ways to assist your child in their maths learning, you can always still go back to the time-tested practice questions and papers to drill your child on important maths concepts. These books are readily available from any bookstore, making practice questions a great go-to exercise if you need to change up any activities.

Practice questions often come as a cohesive learning tool incorporating all major primary maths topics, allowing your child to focus on the topic they are weakest in. Alternatively, you can also find past-year maths papers from other schools and the time your child to simulate a real assessment. This also helps the child to practice good time management and complete each question as quickly as possible. Remember to have them use the remaining time to check their answers to prevent careless mistakes.

Boost Your Child’s Primary Maths Prowess!

Fortunately, one does not have to feel short-changed by the current pandemic restrictions, as there are still numerous ways to enhance one’s maths learning at home. Is your child having difficulties with their primary maths or PSLE maths? Give some of these creative learning opportunities a try and watch your child become proficient at maths!