Nurturing confident learners
CHILDREN learn by doing, by using their senses as well as by exploring their environment. But how exactly do children “experience” learning? One way is to engage in outdoor activities as these facilitate physical and brain development. Research enables R.E.A.L Kids to design its preschool programmes to incorporate the following:
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Hands-on activities (Experiential learning)
When children engage in firsthand experiences, their minds turn on and become as active as their bodies. Through observation and doing projects, they begin to compare things in their world.
Children start to classify and sequence objects while relating new information to existing ideas of how they think the world works.
When information does not fit their existing ideas, they would change or create new ones. As they do so, children are constructing their own knowledge and storing it as concepts, rules or principles (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969).
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Engaging teaching and learning materials
R.E.A.L Kids uses teaching and learning materials that raise children’s level of engagement in the classroom as well as motivate and promote their enthusiasm for learning.
This promotes mental activity that helps them retain new knowledge and integrate it with what they already know. These materials also involve the use of multiple senses to learn effectively.
Children do not just learn from books but by doing, feeling and experiencing. Multi-sensory teaching helps them absorb information better and retain it for longer.
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Bringing real-life connections into the learning environment
Using real-life connections always makes the learning experience more fun, engaging and meaningful. Whether actual or stimulated, tasks provide learners opportunities to connect directly with the real world.
Research has shown that implementing multi-sensory activities, pursuing meaningful tasks and exploring a variety of skills with real-world applications are crucial in achieving optimal learning.
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H.O.T.S (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
H.O.T.S includes the ability to question, predict, investigate, hypothesise, analyse, reflect, revise, compare, evaluate and form opinions. It involves an inquiry process of exploring issues that may not be clearly defined or which there are no clear-cut answers.
Moving towards nurturing more independent learners with critical thinking skills, H.O.T.S plays an integral role in R.E.A.L Kids’ new approach in preschool education.
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Developmentally appropriate practice
R.E.A.L Kids programmes are designed to be in accordance to the age and development stage of different groups of children.
They nurture a child’s language, social, emotional, physical and cognitive development based on the individual strengths and needs of each child as well as child development theories.
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The lessons and materials at R.E.A.L Kids are all designed
Learning time
according to allocated learning time. Much thought and care have been put into learning time so as nottonotoverburdenbothteacher and children in meeting learning outcomes.
Besides experiential learning, quality preschool education also lays strong foundations for lifelong learning.
Ultimately, the R.E.A.L Kids curriculum is designed to nurture graduates who are confident learners.
Children who are confident are motivated to engage in even more experiences and the learning process or cycle goes on.
Explore this and more of what R.E.A.L Kids has to offer during its upcoming Open Day on Sept 23 at all its centres nationwide.
Established in 1986, R.E.A.L Kids (formerly known as CEC) is part of R.E.A.L Education Group and is the country’s largest owner-operated preschools with over 30 centres nationwide.
All R.E.A.L. Kids centres provide full programmes (from 8.30am to 3.30pm), which include a host of enrichment lessons and extracurricular activities.
These complement a fully developed and holistic curriculum offering both national and international syllabi.
Extended programmes are also available to cater to busy, working parents.
■ For details or other queries, call 03-5631 8000 or visit www.realkids. edu.my and Facebook page at REAL.Kids.Malaysia