Strengthening the foundation - STEM learning

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As parents we want our kids to inherit the best of our qualities and we often pray that they don't acquire the flaws and traits we detest in ourselves.  

I have never been inclined to numbers, never had aptitude for things that I could not see, touch,  feel; so, while I enjoyed social sciences and biology; physics, chemistry and maths never made much sense to me. 

 Howard Gardner, the famous psychologist from Harvard proposed the popular theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, which emphasised on 8 main types of intelligences/abilities that every human posseses, with few being dominant and others being dormant or less active. These intelligences are-

1. LINGUISTIC

2. LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL

3. VISUAL-SPATIAL

4. BODY-KINESTHETIC

5. MUSICAL -RYTHMICAL

6. INTERPERSONAL

7. INTRAPERSONAL 

8. EXISTENTIAL 

This clearly means that every human has these abilities with varying degrees or intensities and these need to be understood and explored at the right time. Generally, of all these abilities/intelligences verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences are the ones that are most focussed on in mainstream school curriculum, but again are not taught the right way. That is the reason till very late in life majority of people fail to identify which field they can excel in. 

I was miserable with numbers because my basics were not clear and there weren't enough tools to drive my interest to it.

Now that i have grown up and have a child of my own, I would want him to be good with numbers and have stronger understanding of basics of everything that is required to live a happy successful life. Numbers and elementary level of understanding of engineering concepts are important even for regular course of life

Times have changed and so has the teaching methodology. While we only had black board and books; now there are ample of interesting learning aids available much before a child starts going to school. 

There  are toys available that focus on triggering mathematical and technological abilities of kids quite early on in life. Often known as STEM learning, where STEM Stands for science technology engineering mathematics. STEM learning starts at the age of 7. It is not only about Maths learning or technology learning, but it is a combination of any of these 4 areas that together improves logical thinking and helps in raising adults who can fare well in their life ahead or can be employed in jobs that are related to science and technology. In other words it is like developing innovators and doers. 

How as parents can we help our children build stronger foundation for tomorrow?

• The closer kids are to nature, the better their learning is. It is important that kids are left to play outdoors.

• Teaching same thing with multiple objects and in different settings. 

• Minimising exposure to screen.

• Taking the child to field trips, nature walks, hikes etc. 

• Allowing the child to explore and create games on his own rather than having a structured play.

 • Providing toys or games that lead to open- ended, explorative play

• Avoiding battery operated toys 

These are a few of the many things that we as parents can practice to inculcate STEM learning. 

 We are lucky to have options of toys and tools that assist in Pre-STEM learning; that is preparing a child for STEM learning; Skola toys is one of the brands offering great variety of educational toys.

The ultimate goal of Skola is to improve fine motor skills which not only helps in engineering, but more importantly it helps children think clearly and enhances concentration and cognitive ability, spatial intelligence which is directly a STEM requirement. 

The well researched skola toys' range focuses on fine motor skills, geometry, pattern recognition, numbers, colors and much more. For example-  their toys like rolling car slope, cascade car and sand pendulum etc. help kids learn about motion, speed, force and visual tracking which is the base for physics. Click Here to check Skola toys website.

STEM learning supports the innate curiosity of little kids and thus, the best time to start it is as as early as you can. 

Let us make learning relevant and joyful for our kids; let us try to build stronger foundation for tomorrow and let us try to raise happier individuals.