Is kindergarten too young to study Physics?

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Studying Physics in a kindergarten classMany parents of young children have vague (and sometimes not so pleasant) memories of studying Physics during their high school years.  These same parents with their somewhat patchy memories of what matter and energy are, and how these “Physics things” interact, would be astounded to learn that their kindergarten-age children are in fact ready to study Physics.  But isn’t Physics terribly complex with lots of formulae, obscure calculations, and plenty of abstract concepts to glue it all together?  How can a kindergarten-age child possibly study Physics?

 [1]Marxen in her article “Push, Pull, Toss, Tilt, Swing: Physics for Young Children”, explores the role of Physics in the learning process and problem-solving skill development of young children.  Marxen comments that there are “similarities between how children think and learn and how scientists work. Children, like scientists, are theory builders. When children are allowed to construct knowledge by acting on their environment, they expand their understanding, which in turn contributes to their intellectual development.”  So your children are little rocket scientists in disguise, how exactly are they learning and building these theories?

Marxen explains that young children’s Physics experiences usually involve the movement of objects.  For most parents and teachers, “movement of objects” is synonymous with play.  The action is primary and the observation is secondary. Children typically make discoveries about matter and energy through creative play and simple discovery activities in the classroom and at home. For example, something as simple and inexpensive as some small balls and a few sheets of cardboard (that can be folded into ramp-like structures of varying steepness) can invite children to explore concepts that will only be translated into detailed formulae and complex concepts many years down the road for them.  Playing and learning to ask the question “why does that happen” gives these children the opportunity to acquire valuable learning experience.  This experience can be built upon to create a practical knowledge base which will later provide a sturdy foundation to which more complex, abstract Physics knowledge can easily be added.

Are kindergarten children too young to study Physics?  Absolutely not!  Teachers and parents alike can introduce young children to Physics discovery and learning with play-based activities without fear that the children may be overwhelmed or turned off Physics.  Plan playtime or classroom activities that focus on getting the children to experiment and make observations about the world they live in, and you will be well on your way to stimulating a life-long interest in, and appreciation for Physics.

[1]        Carol E. Marxen; Childhood Education, Vol. 71, 1995.

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Teaching Creative Problem-Solving to Children

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Bob Eberle and Bob Stanish agree that creative problem-solving is a basic skill and a good sense approach to modern day living and learning. As a practical style of learning, creative problem-solving has significant transfer value.

CPS: Creative Problem-solvings for Kids In their book, “CPS for Kids: A Resource Book for Teaching Creative Problem-Solving to Children”, Eberle and Stanish share their 6-step approach to creative problem-solving. They show how to start with becoming more alert and developing an awareness which stimulates recognition of situations or conditions that need improvement or correction. From this starting point of becoming more observant, the reader is led to the point of generating creative ideas with potential solutions to the problems at hand. But the process doesn’t end with an idea. No, it takes the reader all the way through to a final step that is often omitted when problem-solving techniques are taught. Solution-finding is only part of the end product. Implementing a workable solution is the rest of the end product, and the final step in Eberle’s and Stanish’s process. The reader is taken all the way from waking up to the call for solutions, to developing the final plan to implement their best solution.

While this book emphasizes application in the elementary school environment, its value in teaching at all levels should not be under-estimated. Students need to be challenged to think, and this book helps teachers, parents, and students alike to seek out those challenges and to embrace them enthusiastically.

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Engaging the reflective mind

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The image of a good problem solver is one of an intelligent person. But years of teaching Physics to intelligent young people has convinced me that intelligence isn’t the only criterion for a successful problem solver. Common sense is perhaps more critical than many have recognized. Without it, an intelligent individual may have a lot of knowledge  and the capacity to make complex connections, but may simply lack the practical wisdom to apply it appropriately. Unfortunately, recognition of the fact that common sense is critical to effective problem solving is where most people stop. Possibly this resistance to dig deeper is due to an underlying belief that if you don’t have a whole lot of common sense to begin with, you are never going to get more.

Daniel Willingham, in a recent article, raises the question of whether common sense can indeed be taught. Willingham debates this question from a psychological perspective and eloquently references psychologist Keith Stanovich who, in his new book What Intelligence Tests Miss, offers a way to understand the difference between intelligence and common sense.   Stanovich sticks to a more traditional definition of intelligence that focuses on the ability to solve problems and make effective decisions. Stanovich suggests that there are three components to the cognitive system that handles these functions: the autonomous mind (which engages in quick thinking based on simple associations and past experiences), the algorithmic mind (which processes information by making comparisons and combining concepts), and the reflective mind (which interprets goals and beliefs and determines appropriate actions to achieve those goals). What most people don’t realize is that typical intelligence tests measure the efficiency of the algorithmic mind, but fail to consider the moderating effect of the reflective mind.

To problem solve effectively, you don’t only need to decide which facts should be combined to generate a solution. You have to test and adapt that selection (made by the algorithmic mind) to the situation at hand. In other words, the solution needs to fit into the environment of the problem, or the solution will never be practical. And this is the job of the reflective mind. According to Willingham, “You need to see your environment for what it is, you need to set realistic goals, and you need to select actions that move you towards those goals.” Intelligent people (categorized this way by typical intelligence tests) don’t always successful engage their reflective minds (the source of common sense) to determine the appropriateness of their solution. The result? Intelligent people are not always naturally good problem solvers. But could they become good problem solvers? To the critical question, “can common sense be taught?” Willingham’s response is “To some extent, yes. With sufficient practice, people can come to recognize the types of errors the reflective mind makes, and learn to avoid them.”

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Common sense – the stepping stone to successful problem solving

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“My kids seem to have no common sense.  What do I do?”

 Before we consider whether common sense is something that can be acquired through exercise or practice, a curious reader may well ask, “But how do we know if we (or our children or students) have enough common sense?”  How much is enough?  Was I born to struggle with issues that require common sense?  Is my lack of common sense just the result of my genetic coding?  And why is problem solving hampered by the absence of common sense?  Can’t I find a way to become good at problem solving without growing my common sense?

These questions introduce complex topics that promise to weigh down the most athletic mind.  It’s easy (and extremely informative) to get caught up in the theories and debates that psychologists and educators invest themselves in.  My experience, however, is that most parents and teachers need practical solutions that will make learning easier for the children, and not a bunch of theoretical textbook quotations.  So here, we will rather focus on the practical issues, and how to overcome real-life hurdles that keep students from succeeding.  Parents and teachers may find they identify a little better with their children and students if they first challenge themselves to a fun, common sense test (an example is found at http://www.kathimitchell.com/commons.htm).  The score doesn’t matter nearly as much as the insight this test will offer us into recognizing why common sense is so very important in the problem solving process.

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How do we challenge and motivate students?

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Every teacher knows that getting our students excited about learning is not always easy.  There are, however, some successful ways to engage learners and raise their excitement levels.  Elena Aguilar describes one such approach in the article, Do Your Final Projects Challenge and Motivate Students? | Edutopia.  Give students a clear goal, a practical way to express what they have learned, and you will encourage learning.  Aguilar describes how “dangling” the final project in front of the students actually lures them into the learning process.  For the students, “the purpose of learning discrete skills” becomes apparent.  “They see how the learning will be applied, they know that there’ll be an audience at the end, and they anticipate the fun.”

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Taking arithmetic exercises out of the classroom

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Most kids dread mathematics homework, but won’t mind playing a game.  The LPN Game is a very simple, fun, number-based activity suitable for the whole family.  The game, which is customizable in difficulty, can be played by all the members of the family, play group, or students in the classroom, and is a great way to introduce very young family members  or students to the process of combining numbers in a fun, non-threatening environment.  Without realizing it, your children or students will soon be “doing arithmetic” exercises outside of the classroom without the need for books or pencils.

The LPN Game (available in print format) will soon be available as an affordable download from www.drpearllewis.com.  The low-cost download version is ideal for teachers and parents on a tight budget.

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Mathematics as a Family Activity

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Mathematics doesn’t belong exclusively in the maths classroom. Parents can, and should, integrate it in a number of enjoyable family activities. In most cases, when they are enjoying themselves, children will not even be aware that they are developing their mathematical skills as they play. Do parents require special skills or need to take some course to encourage their children to develop basic mathematical skills early? Fortunately not. In fact, you don’t even need to be “good at Mathematics” to have fun with your kids. And that is the key: fun. Children need to learn that addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (and later calculus and trigonometry) are not just useless, intimidating procedures weighing down their homework. The best way for children to learn this, is to learn it without directly associating the learning with formal Mathematics.

As part of this blog, I will share some of the mathematics-oriented family activities that I enjoy, and which don’t require special training. Some of these ideas will be so obvious and “everyday” that you will wonder why you haven’t been “playing” all along. Join me as we explore these ideas and develop them into games for the whole family.

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Expecting too much of the teacher?

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By the time a young person enters a high school science class, they should be brimming over with curiosity and a desire to learn. Does that describe the average student? No. Most drag themselves to class, disinterested and intimidated by the material they encounter. The teacher is left with immense task of not only communicating the facts, but also trying to stir up some curiosity and instill and develop some basic skills (such as observation of the environment). Is this really the responsibility of the teacher, or are we expecting them to do the very things that should be part of family life?

I believe that education begins at home. I also believe that it should begin early. Developing the natural curiosity of a child is part of the role of the parent. Unfortunately, many parents sit their little ones down in front of the TV, pop in an “educational” dvd, and hope the edutainment on the screen will do their work for them.

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Is it possible to put common sense back where it belongs?

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For many students, something very fundamental is missing from the problem solving process. Many of my students simply couldn’t see the “obvious” as it glared at them from the question paper in front of them. Because they missed the simple sign posts that point the way to the solution in a problem solving activity, they quickly became hopelessly lost, and almost all would give up the moment the hopelessness attacked.

It took a while to realize that many of the students who struggled with the challenges of science or mathematics were not tripped up by a lack of knowledge of the subject. They knew the facts – they just didn’t know how to make the facts evolve into a solution to a fact-related problem. There are a number of reasons for this happening, but from my observation, the most common problem is that the students simply missed the “obvious”. It’s not that the students were rebelling against “common sense” just for the sake of rebelling. Most students simply had no idea that they lacked that vital ingredient to successful problem solving, that simple human quality which previous generations called good, old “common sense”. Sadly, it has become apparent that “common sense” is no longer common.

If common sense is missing, is it possible to put it back where it belongs? As we explore the process of learning, we will try to answer this question.

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Where is the gap in my education?

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As a teacher of Physics, I have spent years searching for ways to make complex concepts simple to grasp. I have looked for ways to make the learning process easier. And I have studied my students, listened to them, watched them, and experimented with different ideas to see which will enhance their understanding. In this process, one thing has never ceased to amaze me. In speaking to colleagues in similar study fields, I discovered that I was not the only one to notice this strange “phenomenon”. What astounded me was the gaping hole in the education of my students, and the frightening thing about it was that most parents and students didn’t seem the least bit concerned about it. What was missing? Common sense. Common sense? Surely I am mistaken? Everyone has common sense – it comes with the being human, right?

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