Parents Blog

Lack of sleep affects kid’s learning

Lack of sleep will adversely affect your ability to remember what you learned the day before, so say researchers at a top French University. Lack of sleep will therefore adversely affect your kid’s learning.

Nature magazine published this conclusion as far back as 1983 stating that REM sleep was required to enable the brain to process the information and the experiences of the day.

Without this sleep the brain was unable to delete superfluous information and pathways and would therefore be less capable of remembering and learning.

This is a very important message for the quality of children’s learning. What about during vacations and holiday times?

More »

What time of day is best for effective learning?

You have probably heard of people saying “I’m a morning person” or “I’m an evening person”, meaning that person does better in their daily activities at different times of the day.

This suggests that for learners the best time of the day may vary depending on the person and that effective learning for an individual will vary accordingly.

But what does the research say about the best time of the day for learning? Some research says that we learn better at different times of the day. For example, R Thayer suggests that effective learning is best carried out in the late morning and early evening. As a parent need you concern yourself with this?

More »

The Pygmalion Effect – School teachers and parents can improve children’s education with great expectations

Do you want your children to be a success at school. The greater the expectation placed upon children by teachers the better they actually perform in their education at school.

To say this in another way; when teachers expect children to do well in school that is what they do and when teachers do not expect them to do well they do not do so well.

This is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy and is known as the ‘Pygmalion Effect’.

In the world of education the effect was discovered by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson and set out in their book ‘Pygmalion in the classroom’.

In their study teachers were told that a class had very intelligent students and that the teachers had to make sure that they were stretched. Though these were ‘ordinary’ school students they achieved brilliant results.

Why?

More »

A question of identity – Can you as a parent be a teacher and help your children learn?

Many a parent thinks that the role of helping their children learn should be left to the teacher, after all they will say “I’m not a teacher”.

You can help your children learn outside the classroom, you therefore can be a teacher to your children.

Anthony Robbins says that;

“what we consider possible or impossible is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”

Have you said to yourself I can’t do that, or that’s just not me or that would be impossible to do?

If so you have, as Robbins says;

“run up against the barriers of a limited identity”.

You have confined what you are able to do within certain boundaries because you see yourself as not being able to do something, it has become what you are and it has become part of your identity. Is this ok?

More »

Left brain, Right brain – Your learning resource in two halves?

It has been said by researchers such as Roger Perry that the human brain can be viewed as being in two halves with each providing its own defined learning resource to the individual.

The left side of the brain is thought to be the logical half processing information sequentially in parts. The right side of the brain is said to be the creative side processing in ‘wholes’.

This understanding has led to an industry of commentators who have categorised people as predominantly ‘left brained’ or ‘right brained’, often saying that one is better than the other, if you like that one learning resource is better than the other. Is this the correct view and how does the answer matter to you personally and as a parent?

More »