Being born in Singapore certainly has its perks. We enjoy relatively
peaceful lives, our SGD is strong, and salaries are good. If we have a good educational
background, we are more or less guaranteed a successful life. However, many
parents and teachers believe that the way to nurture a child is through
academics. I believe that schools exist to allow children to form
socio-emotional skills. You can find any resource you need in the different domains,
you don’t need a teacher to teach anything. However, teachers and peers are
there to teach children how to problem-solve, interact, and collaborate.
There are many schools of thought in teaching children, and
today I shall talk about two of them. The traditional approach vs the constructivist
approach. Worksheets and teacher-directed learning are from the traditional
approach. I grew up with this. The teacher is the one imparting the knowledge,
while children absorb it like sponges. They are not allowed to speak up, have
opinions, or say that they do not want to learn anything. If we are learning
about insects, we are not talking about planets at all.
As for the constructivist approach, it is the modern
method. Things may change soon, but as of now, this is the approach that
academic sources and institutions heavily rely on. Constructivism is when a
child learns through an active process at every stage, as they construct
knowledge internally, and teachers observe children as they learn
Worksheets have always been used to document children’s
learning and development, but they are often not developmentally appropriate,
so children might be reluctant to make mistakes, whereas a play-based approach
allows children to think and explore using their senses
As such, it is not easy to find a play-based preschool in
Singapore. I can recommend one, Creative O Preschoolers’ Bay. They had a camp
where the K2 children went to St John’s Island. J
References
Gray, C., & MacBlain, S.
(2015). Learning Theories in Childhood (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Grossman, S. (n.d.). The Worksheet Dilemma: Benefits of Play-Based Curricula. Retrieved from http://kidnkaboodle.net/noworksheet.html
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