Judy Willis book How Your Child Learns Best Judy Willis book How Your Child Learns Best Judy Willis book How Your Child

How Your Child Learns Best

There are disturbing changes underway in today’s school systems. Funding is frequently tied to scores achieved on standardized tests, which primarily evaluate rote memory. Teaching “to” tests like these inevitably focuses resources and curriculum on the lower-scoring students.

The pressure to bring up test scores for these struggling students limits time for the kinds of individualized learning that challenges all students to reach their highest potential, and teachers have less opportunity to encourage creative thinking and incorporate hands-on activities. When education is not enriched by exploration, discovery, problem solving, and creative thinking, students are not truly engaged in their own learning.

Because teachers are required to emphasize uninspiring workbooks and drills, more and more students are developing negative feelings about mathematics, science, history, grammar, and writing. Opportunities to authentically learn and retain knowledge are being replaced by instruction that teaches “to the tests.” Neuroimaging and new brain-wave technology provide evidence that rote learning is the most quickly forgotten, because the information is not stored in long-term memory.

As students lose interest in lecture and-memorize classes, their attention wanders, and disruptive behaviors are a natural consequence. Even for children who are able to maintain focus on rote teaching, the disruptive responses of their classmates are encroaching more and more on teachers’ instruction time as they try to maintain order. The good news is, there is hope for education.