Well-Prepared II

How do I Teach to Get Children Ready!


1) Build New Knowledge from prior knowledge

I understand from Dr. Yeap's lesson that children are able to construct new knowledge only from old knowledge, things they already know. And as educators, it is important for me to make connections between the new information or concept with students' prior experiences. 

With this in mind, I also need to understand the need to...


2) Always start with Concrete material that is meaningful to the children

Based on Dr Yeap's explanation, I gathered that learning progresses primarily from prior knowledge and only secondarily from the materials that we presented to the children. Which also explains why the material I used need to be natural and meaningful to the children where they are able to relate and make meaning of it. As math itself is rather abstract and there is a need for teacher to bring in concrete material to help children visualize the concept and construct knowledge from infromation gathered from their experience and exploration of the math problem with the concrete materials.

 



3) Provide opportunities to talk and

4) Build in opportunities to reflective thought

We are all guilty of hurrying through teaching some concept or skill and not taking time to slow down to allow children the opportunity to talk and discuss math which what Dr. Yeap had done so in his lesson. His way of putting, "I wonder what..." also helps to create an opportunity for us to reflect and be engaged in interesting problems with the use of our prior knowledge as we attempt to search for solutions and create new ideas in the process.

And I think that the most important words that Dr. Yeap used is "Maybe.... We can try!"

5) Treat Errors as opportunities for Learning

It allows us the confident to try. It engages us to attempt to get a solution to the problem. We are not afraid of getting mistakes for we know we will not be let down or put to shame if our answers are not correct.