Relating Patterns or Separating Categories
Soha a four-year-old is delighted in making connections. Gazing alertly around her world, she discovers patterns everywhere. From her vantage point, she sees and shares similarities and differences, observing comparisons and even making simple analogies. "You know that story we read about two sisters and how one is jealous of the other? I got jealous at my sister's birthday when she got all the presents”. The child is connecting her own experiences with literature, other children, and movies.
Both connecting and compartmentalizing contribute to children's insights and understanding of the world around them. Ideally, we would all grow to be adept at both, and certainly early childhood is a great time to begin. For innate connectors, links are irresistible: Single facts or notions spawn webs and networks of thoughts and ideas. This is a delightful learning process to encourage! There may be times when you want to help focus a child immersed in connecting, involving her in sorting by category or discussing how items are similar or different. Choose stories to read together by saying: "What would you like to read about?" As you read - and afterwards - take time to discuss what you've each noticed in the book.
"Look What I Made!" or "I Can Do That!"
In the art area in your class, one child picks up a sheet of paper and starts drawing Winnie the Pooh from her memory. She draws exactly from memory the Winnie the Pooh cartoon she watched on TV a couple of days ago. On the other hand, another child sits at the table and first thinks through what he wants to draw and then begins by looking at the story in front of him about Peter the Rabbit, reproducing the character how he sees fit.
Like many of the other approaches to learning, both inventing and reproducing are valuable processes to take through life, and both need to be encouraged in early childhood settings. Children who are prone to invent may need help learning how to categorize. You might suggest they start collections -- leaves, labels, or pictures from magazines of pets, clouds, and favorite things.
Encourage the reproducer to stretch this learning style by presenting him with potential inventing situations. Offering a bag of materials - cardboard paper rolls, tape, different-sized tin cans, a bunch of feathers, leaves, gold, silver, and black paint - you might say, "What could we make from these that could help us if we went into space?"
In conclusion, adults need to understand the learning process and be able to identify the patterns children encounter throughout their childhood. A child needs to be understood, both physically and mentally, in order to gain the appropriate tools to succeed as an adult. Theories set guidelines that parents, teachers, etc. can follow in order to achieve that goal. Learning is a difficult thing, but because we have so many ideas and theories as to why children process it is easier to teach the necessary, age appropriate, environmentally correct lessons. Letting children know that you respect their learning approaches will encourage special talents and tendencies to grow. Drawing children into learning opportunities where they feel safe stretching mental muscles in new ways not only broadens their horizons but also helps children feel better about themselves as active, able learners.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah is an Advocacy and Publications Associate at Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) and has acquired a two year diploma in Early Childhood Education (ECE) from Sheriden College in Canada. She has a vast experience in developing and conducting workshops for pre-primary teachers.
