That moment when parents see their child reading something on their own or their children trying their own shoe laces is such an incredible moment. The overwhelming feeling that washes over parents and teachers when children show they can do something new or act on what they’ve learnt, cannot be explained. Children are able to act independently once they have been taught a skill. However, it is up to parents, guardians, and teachers to promote independent learning and to encourage children to seek out knowledge on their own. Children are naturally curious beings and you may not even realize it, but children enjoy seeking out knowledge for themselves. We offer some guidance on how to promote independent learning at home and in the classroom setting.
Some of these helpful hints were established by looking at the different curricula that exists when teaching younger learners. However, most of the suggestions put forward comes from monitoring children in their natural settings and looking at when it is that they attempt to learn something new and discover a new concept or idea for themselves. Bearing this in mind, here are a few strategies that you can use to ensure you foster the right conditions to promote independent learning and to ensure that you are not discouraging your child from wanting to learn something new independently.
Children learn best when exploring and finding objects that they need to learn how to use. Creating a space at home or in the classroom where children can pick up a book or play with a puzzle is always a good idea. Make sure to adjust this environment by including novel toys or activities almost daily so as to ensure that your child or children do not get bored from seeing the same activities or toys daily. Once your child has mastered a puzzle with less pieces, include a puzzle with slightly more pieces so as to challenge your child to try harder daily. When creating an environment that promotes learning, you should not interfere with the learning process. Give your child or children the chance to explore the area and to scrutinize the objects for themselves. Only intervene when your child or children ask for help to complete an activity or to play a game. Leaving children to their own devices to observe, understand, and try. This is always an excellent idea when encouraging and promoting independent learning. However, there are times when parents and teachers will need to get involved and assist the learning process.
When children ask questions, it is not their way of being annoying but rather their way of trying to get answers that may help them to understand all that is going on around them. When they ask simple questions such as “Why is a pizza round?” or “Why do birds fly?” they are seeking some guidance as to why certain things are the way they are or different from other things. Try to provide thoughtful and insightful answers to explain fully the thought or idea the child needs help with. Children tend to remember the answers given by adults.
Sometimes children may ask you a question that you struggle to answer. In that case, it is okay to answer, “I am not quite sure, let us look up that answer using the internet or a book.” When you role model the act of seeking answers to things unknown, you teach your child how to seek out answers to troublesome questions independently. You would be surprised at how easily today’s children can seek out answers for themselves using AI tools and the internet. It is up to parents to teach children how the internet and AI tools wisely to assist learning.
Younger children are still finding their feet and starting to realize what they like and dislike. It is important not to discourage them from completing any activity as they could end up liking the activity and being good at it. Provide building blocks, soccer balls, paint brushes, or objects related to a particular trade and get children to discover what they like independently. If your child enjoys painting, he or she will regularly ask to paint and will try to find new painting techniques and styles on their own. Eventually, a child will become so keen to learn more about a particular skill, they will ask you for help or tools and tricks that may work best. You may even realize what extra mural activities your child will most enjoy if you allow your child to explore different options from an early age.
At school, teachers must encourage younger children to sit in groups where they can explore a concept that they are interested in without having to learn about something that does not interest them. During free learning time, some children can play with and learn about dinosaurs while other children can explore tools to fix a car and learn about how to do it yourself when fixing something. Children learn best when they learn about something they enjoy. However, teachers must give all of the children the chance to show what it is they enjoy by providing many different tools and activities for them to choose from in the first place.
There is much benefit in taking young children to a restaurant and role modelling good manners in a public place. It is also a good idea to allow your child to see for himself or herself what is allowed or not allowed in a place like a restaurant. Always give your child a menu and assist him or her to order independently. Taking your child to museums or art galleries near you is always a good idea to encourage your child to seek out independent learning moments or to ask those questions that promote further learning. It is important for parents and teachers to show children that learning can happen anywhere and does not need to be restricted to the classroom environment.
Field trips and excursions are great to give children the chance to run around and identify objects while learning some new facts for themselves.
One of the best ways to promote independent learning is by getting children to try out something new or to follow a recipe. In the kitchen setting, or when working with food during show and tell, children have to problem solve and figure out how to do certain tasks such as butter the bread or crack an egg. This is the best time to allow children to play around with a few ideas until they see for themselves what the best way to butter the bread is or how to crack an egg easily. Certain environments and specific activities like tidy up time does allow children to think about how to do something and sees them trying different options until they find the best option. Letting children problem solve in these ways under the supervision of an adult are always excellent to ensure children develop their cognitive thinking skills and learn how to learn better too.
Let’s be real! If we want our children to learn independently, we must expect children to learn the wrong thing sometimes or to make mistakes. We must be open to the fact that independent learning may not always mean learning well. If children try to copy a science experiment that they saw, they might make a huge mess. However, this provides the ideal time for parents and teachers to go in and teach children how to avoid such a mess in the future. Independent learning does give parents and teachers the chance to correct what has been incorrectly learnt or done.
While it is vital to encourage independent learning, the role of teachers and parents in the learning process from an early age should not at all be understated. When encouraging independent learning, parents and teachers must remember that it is not about leaving the child to his or her own devices. Pushing the child to learn independently requires supervision, probing, and sometimes even scaffolding to ensure learning is taking place properly. Furthermore, teachers and parents should never underestimate the child’s ability to problem solve and learn things on their own. Sometimes all the parent or teacher needs to do is be patient and watch as the child tackles something complex or attempts to discover a new concept by himself or herself. Getting children to learn independently is always a good idea and it must be promoted by parents and teachers.