If you are a parent, you have probably asked yourself this question: “What is the best way to help my children become good thinkers?” Recent research from Vanderbilt College has come up with a very surprising answer to this question. Which of the following would you guess is their solution?
- Require all children to do two hours of homework per night.
- Play a Mozart CDs to them when they are in the womb.
- Involve them in three or more activities at all times.
- Listen to them.
If you guessed number 4, you are the grand prize winner.
What the study found is that children learn best when they are asked to explain their reasoning to someone else. This means asking children to explain how they plan to solve a problem is far better than telling them how to do it.
This process of explanation causes children to develop a deeper level of thinking. It also helps them to make sense of their ideas and solve problems. Developing this ability to think through problems and explain their reasoning has life long benefits.
Employers will tell you that what separates a valuable employee from an average one is often the ability to think through problems and come up with solutions. Such employees add much value to organizations. This ability can be developed at very young ages.
The capacity to think independently, come up with solutions, and explain them effectively, is not tested on standardized tests. Yet, it is one of the most important qualities parents, guardians, relatives, and schools can develop in children. The Vanderbilt study found that this development can start with children as early as four or five years of age.
What is best about their findings is that developing these important traits in children is not difficult. Adults need not have a master’s degree in education to help their children acquire these skills. The lead author of the study, Bethany Rittle-Johnson, explained it this way, “We knew children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help. In this study, we just had the children’s mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We’ve found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn.”
How can adults encourage children to share their thinking? This can be done by asking very basic questions. Some examples could be:
- Tell me how you came up with that answer?
- What did you learn today in science class?
- Tell me about how the pilgrims settled in America?
- Share your favorite parts of the story?
- What could be another way to end the story?
- How would you go about solving that problem?
These are just sample questions. The key is to open the door for the children’s thinking and then just listen. It is the same concept as priming a pump. You use simple questions to get their thinking started. Then you just get out of the way and let the children’s thought process take over.
Many underestimate the depth and richness of children’s thinking ability. As a result adults many times do one of two things: They virtually give children the answers without allowing them to work through the process of finding the solution themselves, or they keep the children’s thinking on a very superficial level without motivating them to think deeply and independently about a problem.
Instead of this the Vanderbilt researchers would tell us to spend most of our time listening to children and assisting them to think through what they are learning. This way of working with young people shows respect and appreciation for their ability. It also causes them to develop habits of thought that will cause them to become effective and productive adult thinkers and problem solvers.
For more information, contact the Webmaster. |
