4 - EASTERN OREGON PARENT - August 2017
Effective skill building requires time and discipline
R
esearch shows that learning
new skills in the most effi-
cient manner requires self-
discipline and practice. That seems
like common sense to most of us.
Science is confirming that, yes, to
get better you’ve got to make your-
self sit at the piano and play those
tunes and do those finger exercises.
Every day.
Effective learning or skill build-
ing occurs when we can maximize
these factors:
• We have the ability to focus our
attention on the task at hand.
Maren
Schmidt
_______________
Kids Talk™
• We have control over the choice
of the task.
• The task is meaningful to us and
we understand how to do it.
• We have adequate time to
practice the task, which research
shows to be 60 to 90 minutes
per day.
• We control feedback, which is
accurate and timely.
• We have the opportunity to
repeat the task daily or many
times per week.
• We have overnight rest between
practice sessions.
Ability to focus. Learning to fo-
cus can be difficult with the distrac-
tions of everyday life. There may
always be something more interest-
ing than what someone else wants
us to learn, which makes the next
point critical.
Choice of the task. When we
feel that we have control over what
tasks we do and when we do them,
we tend to learn more quickly. If we
know we do better with math early
in the morning when we are fresh,
we’ll learn more quickly if we can
make the choice to do math in the
morning.
Meaningful tasks. Haven’t we
all taken a class and wondered,
“When will I ever need to know this
stuff?” We learn more quickly when
tasks connect to our everyday life
and we understand how to do the
task. Do you remember the first
time you cracked an egg? Having a
clear vision of how to perform the
task helped. Meaningful? Doing it
right meant the difference between
scrambled and sunny side up, or in
the dish versus on the floor.
Adequate time. Research shows
that children will stay on a learn-
ing task for 60 to 90 minutes if the
task is meaningful, if the individual
child has choice about the task, and
if the child is interested in the task.
When these conditions are present
for learning and the meaningful,
chosen, and interesting task is inter-
rupted because of time constraints,
learning goes down the tubes and
self-motivation takes a nosedive.
Learner controlled feedback. We
learn best when we get accurate
feedback about our progress when
we desire it. Self-correcting mate-
rials are ideal learning aids. Hav-
ing the correct answers available
immediately aids learning. Ever try
to work a thousand piece puzzle
without looking at the picture? It’s
probably ten times easier to put
it together with a picture because
you get the timely and accurate
feedback needed to figure out the
puzzle.
Daily repetition. People who
excel in an area know that they
need to be involved in meaningful
tasks everyday to grow and main-
tain skills and knowledge. We need
to make sure we allow the time
every day to take on the challenge
of learning.
Overnight rest. As many college
graduates will confess, you can’t
cram a semester’s worth of learn-
ing into a one-day event. Study
an hour a day for twelve days and
you’ll learn more Anatomy 304
than twelve hours in one day. Daily
repetition and overnight rest is one
reason schools and businesses run
on a five-day a week schedule. It
helps people learn and grow.
Understand and use these
seven points to aid effective learn-
ing in your children’s and your
personal development.
________
Kids Talk™ is an award-winning
column dealing with childhood de-
velopment issues written by Maren
Stark Schmidt, M.Ed. She has more
than 25 years experience working
with young children and is the au-
thor of Understanding Montessori:
A Guide for Parents. Contact her
via e-mail at maren@kidstalknews.