Activate the vestibular

Always spin rock, sway and rotate your child so that their head is moving through space and their vestibular is activated. This sends the signals to the brain to wake up, be alert and be focused on posture and other incoming information.

Move

Apart from vestibular stimulation all children should move no matter what their age. As much as possible help children put information to movement patterns, tapping or dance. This allows several parts of the brain to be activated and increases the chance that the child
will remember and understand the needed information.

Use music

Much to the horror of many teachers – many children do learn better with music. Baroque and some classical music have been shown to increasing learning as it enhances the needed brain waves for focused attention and learning. Ensure that it doesn’t become a distraction
by changing the music constantly, or in having too many words in the music that compete with the learning that is being done.

Use Parkinson’s Law

It has been shown that short bursts of focused and deliberate work with small breaks in between enhance productivity much more than long periods of work. Parkinson’s Law states that work will expand to fill the time allotted for it. For example, a piece of writing will take either 30 or 45 minutes depending on the time given to it. Therefore, by using smaller chunks of time with brain breaks in between the productivity and enjoyment of the task increases.

Balance

It doesn’t matter how old the child is, when they are in a physical position where acute balance is necessary, the brain sends and receives many more neurons that if it is still. To challenge balance use balance boards and beams, wobble boards and other moveable equipment for both play and in the classroom. Some children need to be moving in order for their brains process information – so let them move.

Be creative

Allow children to use a lot of colour, drawings, mind-maps and visual representations in their work. Very few adults and even less children can remember whole paragraphs of text; however, the right hemisphere of the brain is highly tuned to colour and picture and therefore can remember it better. This is a great idea when studying for an exam.

Talk, Talk, Talk,

For extroverted children the need is talk helps them process what they are learning and subsequently gain understanding from it. Though it may not always be convenient to have chattering at study time by allowing some ‘talk to learn times’ as well as some quiet reflection time all students will have the opportunity to process their learning.

Know your learning styles

Learning styles are a real and valuable tool for any learner. The main learning styles are visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. This means the main way we learn or take in information is either through our eyes – pictures and colours and words, or our ears – through listening, or through our hands – doing things, putting things together and touching. When we use the learning style that best fits the child the child is then able to maximize the time spent on the task.

Feed the brain

What we feed our body plays a huge role in how our brains work and think. Have you ever had too much caffeine? Too much sugar? Or just too much to eat? The brain in these times tends to shut down or become hyperactive, this is so that the needed blood flow can go to the gut to process the food, or the brain finds it difficult to stay focused on one task because it is overactive from the stimulants. As much as possible try to eat healthy, whole foods and avoid sugar.

Keep it interesting

We are all so much more engaged when we actually want to learn about something. The inquiry learning process is a key to engaging learners. Using all the curriculum areas to understand a specific concept such as ‘how to build a bike’ encourages creative thinking and engagement. However, if you really can’t choose an interesting subject then find ways to keep the learning process motivating. Is there something special that can happen at the end? Is the child working towards something for the end of term? Can you get them a new pen? Or is some of the work able to be done online? By keeping the child engaged in the process you will have less battles and the work will be accomplished much quicker.

Enjoy!
Leanne