Valuable Lessons from the Second Grade
The lessons we learn in elementary school can stay with us the rest of our lives. They can be very beneficial to our every day lives without our even realizing the impact that they have had. In fact, they can make our lives easier, safer, and even healthier.
Take for example the second grade. Some of the things I learned in second grade I use everyday. Thank you, Mrs. Biles. In second grade, Mrs. Biles’ students were constantly reminded to wash their hands. It was important to her that we wash our hands before we ate and also after a visit to the restroom. She lovingly made sure that we did. In fact I can still her say, “wash your hands boys and girls.” I know it seems like a simple task, but when you think about it, it is a vital task.
Little did we know in the second grade that the world around us, our friends, and even our beloved family pets, all have germs. As we go about our lives we constantly come in contact with germs, accumulating them on our hands on a daily basis. Then if we don’t wash our hands often enough we can infect ourselves with these germs and even infect others unknowingly by touching something as simple as a door knob. There are many diseases that we can catch from these germs, including the common cold, the flu, and several gastrointestinal disorders, such as infectious diarrhea.
Food related diseases, such as from E. coli and salmonella, are also spread by poor hand hygiene. Fortunately for those of us in Mrs. Biles second grade class, our beloved teacher knew the importance of proper hand hygiene. Now we can go about our everyday lives safe from most of the germs we have come in contact with largely because she cared enough to help teach us to wash our hands (frequently). We may be healthier adults as a result.
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Learning Through Memory
Learning, in all its forms is educates man by providing him with knowledge and making him intellectually superior to utilize the acquired information aptly in the required situations. Be it an educated personal or an illiterate person, almost everyone undergoes this learning process in some way or the other. An educated person learns through certain theories, books and practical taught to him in his school, college or university while an uneducated person acquires the knowledge from the nature, either by observing his elders or by the surrounding. Both have different forms of knowledge, but hold similar importance for the livelihood.
Human Brain is made up of different forms of memories which enables in the learning process. Amongst which the long term memory is utilized for learning. This long term memory can be broadly classified into two forms declarative memory, which includes a memory which be willfully remembered when required and procedural memory which includes the memory unintentionally stored in our brain. Declarative memory deals with facts and events for instance an incident happened to you in the class or on the road while procedural memory which deals with the skills you acquired or learned for instance learning new language. Declarative memory is further classified into episodic memory which deals with personal experiences and semantic memory which deals with factual information.
Declarative memory can be simply described as a chunk of information that can be easily expressed through words. We tend to memorize our best friend’s telephone number as we call him numerous times a day; this is the form of declarative learning. Declarative learning enables the learning process which benefits education and results in personal development. Declarative Learning explores different horizons which are language based and results in analytical approach while procedural memory does not involve any language component but the applications can be performed unintentionally.
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Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Learners – Help Your Child Learn Better
Gone are the days when our teachers lectured us on particular topics and a few front benchers actually understood the concept, while the rest of the class stared sluggishly at the black board or just pretended to look attentive. Education itself is experiencing a phase of transition from a product oriented system to process oriented system. Each child is different, so are their learning needs and it is incorrect to expect them to learn in a similar manner ,like everyone else in the class. To bring the best out of children and help them in their learning process we need to be more aware.
Identity their learning styles
All children don’t learn in a similar manner, so the traditional system of teaching might not be effective for all the students in a class. The past decade has brought about some mind boggling findings in field of education, which has compelled teachers, educators and educational institutions to take a second look into their teaching methodologies. According to researchers “learning styles” are simply ways in which individuals perceive and process information. Individuals are categorically divided in to three learning styles; visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Visual learners learn more effectively by sight. The visual learners are geniuses at board games and memory devices. To help visual learners learn effectively provide them with picture books, which would help them to create mental images.
Use of colored pens, computer graphics and drawings while writing help to motivate visual learners in their writing assignments. Similarly, auditory learners retain information based on what they hear. Auditory learners respond well to auditory stimuli, so they can be encouraged to create word problems, dictate stories and read aloud or using sensory aids like the tape recorder. The third category of learner namely tactile or kinesthetic learners prefer learning through hands on experience. They learn better by doing things themselves rather than just listening. If your child is a kinesthetic learner, then using hands-on-activities like experiments and encouraging him to take up art and science projects would help him realize his true potential.
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Continuous Learning
I have always been a strong proponent of the concept of continuous learning. I cannot think of a time in my life when I didn’t have continuous learning high on my list.
Learning and experiencing new modes of thinking and interpreting this world in and around us are simply frosting on the cake. We all know about frosting – not only is it lovely to look at and yummy to taste, it adds a new dimension to the prospect of eating the cake. It adds fun!
Brian Tracy discusses continuous learning in his “Great Little Book on the Gift of Self-Confidence.” Here are some of his theories:
o You are your most valuable asset. Take all the training you can get to increase your value.
o A feeling of continuous growth is a wonderful source of motivation and self-confidence.
o Invest three percent of your income back into yourself in the form of continuous learning.
o High levels of competence and mastery in your field will give you a feeling of unshakable self-confidence. Continue reading