Clarity vs. Obfuscation

S.E.E.D.S. advocates student centered learning.  It starts with observing children at play and noting their actions and the objects of their attention.  Parents / care givers / teachers can use the S.E.E.D.S. principles of Community-based Education (C-bE), the Geographic Systems Model (GSM), along with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) to create appropriate project based learning activities.  This is in stark contrast to the typical bureaucratic top down curricula used in most schools.

In our 19 Aug 2015 blog, we pointed out differences between adults and children.  Do you recall the Little Prince’s statement? (“All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.”)  We guess most adults crafting top down curricula are not among the “few of them [who] remember it.”  A possible litmus test comes from   Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”  

 

Children are very keen observers.  They enter the world with little or no language ability.  But “a picture is worth a thousand words” combined with “seeing is believing” are critical to a child’s early learning.  The learning or acquisition processes fills the child’s head with data.  They may or may not be able to figure it all out---YET.  But they do make cognitive connections. 

Parents and teachers can facilitate the comprehension part of it all.  That will take time.  If the parents and teachers fail in their responsibilities, the child will continue to learn anyway.  How well, how fast, etc. are food for thought for all of us.  You can be a facilitator and make a positive difference.