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Einstein and Flashcards

At JIMS, learning is fun. Learning should be fun! When learning is not fun, the school produces anxious, depressed, stressed out, and unhappy children. We definitely do not want our children to be depressed and unhappy. But more than that, a stressful education system also turns off the children’s natural desire to learn, to unleash their curiosity and creativity, and to explore their sense of mastery and independence. All of them are qualities that are needed to make them grow into intelligent, creative, and emotionally healthy adults that have high quality leadership capacity.

How can parents add to their childrens fun of learning? Simply by talking to them, by asking them questions about what happens at school. When you ask “ How’s school today? ”, and you get a short answer “Good”, don’t get discouraged. Follow it up with more specific questions such as “What did you do in your Maths class today?” or “Who did you have lunch with today?” or “Were you in the same team with X during soccer?” or “Are X and Y still mad at each other?”. Listen to what Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, Rodale, 2004, p. 11 have to say:

“Our exchanges with our children also promote their intellectual skills, without any conscious effort on our part. In conversation, parents naturally prompt children to tell narratives about the day. When they do this, parents are helping children to construct and interpret the stories of their lives, a playful game that will turn out to be valuable for what is expected in school. Describing “what happened” also helps train a child’s memory and allows him to find the “scripts” in everyday events. And it helps children understand and express their experience-in other words, to think and learn and increase their vocabularies in a playful way”

When parents have regular conversation with their children regarding what’s going on at school, and they get to know about the name and character of some students that their child is closest to, then it will be more fun for the child to recall his/her memory and construct logical narratives in order to come up with answers. The exercise is fun because the subject matter is one that is dear to his/her heart. And the fun of learning continues even after school hour is over.

Alexander Irwan Ph.D, JIMS Board Member