Involve Me

Involve Me

When I first started teaching, unit plans were all the rage. A unit plan is centered around a topic usually from social studies or science. Every lesson taught is connected to that topic. Math problems and reading assignments are chosen to support the unit's topic. The unit topic is the connecting thread for learning.

In Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children, Roberta Michnick Golenkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek detail key skills necessary for success in today’s society. The first is collaboration, working jointly to produce or create, the second is communication, developing a connection between speaker and listener for understanding, and the third is content or information. 

We live in a world of “big data.” Golenkoff and Hirsh-Pasek explain this explosion of data with four Vs — a huge amount of information (volume) coming in many forms (variety) arrives instantaneously (velocity) and must be judged as true or false (veracity). Today’s learner is drowning in content. 

In the last century, the “hot” skill was "recall." Learners who won spelling or geography bees, calculated quickly, or aced multiple choice tests were rewarded. Today, successful learners must be able to sift through information, judge it for usefulness, and adapt it to solve unique problems. With information available in many formats at the press of a key, learners no longer need to remember content— they must locate and use it.

Babies learn about the world through their senses. They look for patterns and make predictions. When Mom sets the table, dinner is on the way. After Dad reads a story, I take a nap. A three-year-old’s favorite word is “Why?” Children are seeking to make connections. As they mature, children connect known information to new information to use in new situations. 

Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Memorizing content is not enough. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff write that learning must be “active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive.” Learners must be fully involved in learning, working with other learners, and asking and answering questions about topics of personal interest and importance. 

Parents and teachers support learning when they involve children in activities which they enjoy and which are meaningful to them. Math is more fun when connected to a topic which kids love — building forts, shopping, playing sports, solving riddles, treasure-hunting, planting a garden, etc. Activities such as “drawing and painting, dance, music, and drama enhance children’s capacities for learning information deeply.” Creating increases comprehension. Doing makes learning stick.

Which are you more likely to remember the geometry formulas you memorized for the test or how you used them to build a house for your canine buddy? Parents who provide wide and varying experiences for children nurture in them a deeper understanding of the world. 

Spend time exploring with your children. Take them to museums, the forest, art shows, the theater, and the library. Start in your own backyard. Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff write that “The road to success is paved with experiences you share with your child.” Help your children connect the threads of learning all around them. The love and attention of a parent are the best “unit” plan of all.

(This is the fourth in a series of articles inspired by Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph.D., and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. I encourage you to read it.)