Nurturing Thinking Learners In The Early Years … What Every Parent Should Know

9 September 2008 - “All children are thinkers, and all children are learners” - This is the basis of nurturing young children into thinking learners, as expounded by Dr Lilian Gonshaw Katz, international authority on early childhood education. Dr Katz shared some precious insights with around 400 parents and teachers alike on educating young children in her famous paper “Nurturing Thinking Learners” at the National Early Childhood Conference in Subang on the 16th and 17th of August 2008.  According to Dr Katz, in order to raise children who have thinking skills, educators need to have a teaching approach that bears the assumption from the very beginning that young children are capable of independent thinking; they are not machines to be fed information without context and relevance to their little minds. Parents are just as responsible as pre-school teachers in educating their children the best possible way to become thinking learners. Parents need to ensure that the early years setting that they select for their children foster such thinking skills, and not subject their children to mindless activities.

Thinking skills are indeed necessary today for children, who will grow up into working adults, and as we all know, these skills are required to be successful in life. Thus, it is best to start them off young using the most suitable and proven approach available.

Based on her years of experience and thorough research as well as the experiences of many teachers, Dr Katz has developed a number of principles for teaching young children, that help us in designing a curriculum for young children.

The designing of a curriculum in turn, requires one to answer a few crucial questions: What and when should be learned; How it is best learned; How effective was the learning? These are the questions that parents should ask so that choices they make in early care and education of their young are informed.

To know what to teach, Dr Katz said, “Nurturing young children’s thinking and learning needs to take into account developmental changes that come with age and with the range of experience. What children should learn and should do must be decided on the basis of what best serves their development in the long-term.”

In many instances, children are taught things without their real understanding. For example, would colouring a rambutan be enough to nurture the child’s interest in the fruit? Or would handling, smelling and tasting the fruit work better? What about even a visit to the orchard and have the children discover how the fruit is grown and what it takes to harvest it? As parents we need to ask if our children are involved in learning activities that appeal and make sense to them?

“Just because children can do something does not mean that they should do it. The decision of what children should learn should not be based on what children can do. Rather, what would benefit children’s development in the long-term,” stresses Dr Katz.

She cites an example, “Having frequent and early experience of behaving as though they understand something when they really do not may undermine their disposition to be thinkers and learners, and causes many to doubt their own abilities.”  (In the case of reciting the calendar without really understanding the concept of time.) 

Dr Katz also noted that parents must understand that they cannot artificially impose an attitude of positive, lifelong learning on a child. Instead, this disposition towards learning needs to be instilled early and with frequent experience of what the child feels is worthwhile to understand.

To avoid discouraging children from learning at an early age, the emphasis should be on acquisition of thinking skills rather than academic achievement. Skills such as making observations and understanding cause and effect are more important than scoring correct answers.

Many-a-times, we forget to consider how children feel in the process of learning. According to Dr Katz, if the child constantly feels incompetent due to tasks that are too challenging, he would feel discouraged and less positive towards learning.

If we want children to have self-esteem, we should give them the opportunity to make decisions and choices. The more engaged they are in the learning process, the more effective and receptive they are towards learning, and the more confident they will be of themselves.  

Dr Katz mentioned that the younger the child, the more it learns through interactive and direct experiences. That is why project-work is so suitable for them, as they get direct and active involvement in the learning.

Frequent chances to work on projects in which they investigate topics over extended periods of time nurture their thinking skills because they investigate phenomena around them and get deeper knowledge and understanding.

Dr Katz is a renowned expert in early childhood education. She is currently Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education and Co-Director of Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (CEEP) at the University of Illinois, USA. She has 30 years of lecturing experience, an established writer on early childhood education and a recipient of many honors. Her latest book, which was published as second edition and translated into several languages, is entitled Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years.

The National Early Childhood Conference was co-organised by the Faculty of Education & Social Science of SEGi College Subang Jaya and PTC Learning School International and was supported by National Association of Early Childhood Care & Education Malaysia (Naeccem).

The SEGi College Faculty of Education and Social Sciences (FOESS) have produced over a thousand graduates, over the years, who are serving the children in our country.

The Faculty offers cutting edge infrastructures and academic training with a practical-oriented approach, paramount in nurturing effective and efficient ECE practitioners. FOESS is constantly developing its students’ skills and understanding their duties and affective roles in moulding children in unison with global changes and the demands of time.

SEGi College offers the Diploma in Early Childhood Education (DECE) and the International Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy (IMD), partnering with Montessori Centre International. Registration for October 2008 intake is in progress. 

Upon completion of the Diploma studies, students have the option to articulate into the Bachelor of Early Childhood from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Graduates may also enrol as offshore candidates of the University for the Master of Education programme.

To find out more about Early Childhood programmes, please call SEGi College Subang Jaya (03-86001888), email to infosj@segi.edu.my or log on to www.segi.edu.my