Does your child’s school really know your child: their likes and dislikes, how they learn, what interests them, or their aspirationsIJ Extensive research shows that personalising a child's learning experience from an early age fosters a system wherein every child matters.
In a 2006 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Research report, Sanna Järvelä explained that personalised learning is not solely individualistic nor does it discourage social learning, but instead increases students’ interest and engagement in learning activities, contributes to better learning results by developing personalised learning strategies, has the ability to integrate different values and cultures into learning contexts, and can improve the usage of technology in education.
A 2007 ASCD research report authored by Judy Willis’ revealed that both neurobiological and psychological studies have proven that when the fun stops the learning stops too. Schools are boring and kill the desire to learn so it's no surprise that many children lose interest in learning at some point during their school journey. Children simply cannot be taught the same thing in the same way at the same pace.
Willis’ neuroimaging and neurochemical research confirms this theory and proves that superior learning takes place when classroom experiences are enjoyable; relate to students’ lives, interests, and experiences; and are linked to individual senses, leading researchers to conclude that students retain more information, longer when it is coupled with a strong positive emotion.
Willis demonstrates that stimulating and challenging lessons are more likely to pass through a filter in the lower brain that focuses attention on changes perceived in the environment, then release chemicals to stimulate memory centres and focus attention. On the flip side, cognitive psychology studies confirm that stress, boredom, confusion, low motivation, and anxiety inhibit learning while brain scans establish that, during times of stress, information is blocked from entering the brain's higher cognitive memory consolidation and storage.
If your child’s school isn't making the effort to know your child and what makes him happy and relaxed, how can they guarantee that your child is maximising their learning potentialIJ Personalised learning understands that not every child thrives with the same type of instruction, the same assignments, or the same assessments.
Customising learning to each child steps away from the 'one-size-fits-all' approach and makes the curriculum student-centred and child-focused.
Hence, there is a learning experience for each of their students, preparing personalised learning plans, which take into account children's varied interests and learning manner and pace, to help each child meet their own learning objectives in a timely manner.
learning leaders meet every child in their home to better understand their home environment, give them an opportunity to collaborate and develop a personal learning plan with the child and their parents, and cultivate deeper leader-learner relationships.
learning leaders are also encouraged to modify assignments and instructional strategies to meet the needs of each child, design projects around individual interests, group students into smaller groups to help develop their strengths and weaknesses, and maintain digital portfolios of every learner’s academic work and accomplishments. Performance rubrics are maintained over the years to monitor the child’s aptitude and fine tune the learning goals.
The writer is Sandy Hooda, Co-founder, Vega Schools