Unlocking the Future of Education: How Play, Exploration, and Abstraction Transform Learning

Natural Born Learners

Children are born with enormous curiosity, an eagerness to learn and a strong will to solve problems. Because of this, they can be very easily taught how to think, learn and behave.

Children can be taught to appreciate what they have, value hard work and take personal responsibility for making choices. Children who live well balanced emotional and social lives thrive better than others.

We all learn differently. Some of us are visual, some are auditory and some may be kinesthetic, because not all of us learn the same way. Children who can find connections and meaning in what they’re learning can stay engaged and grow.

How We Learn

Humans have social brains. We’re always trying to interpret the meaning of others’ actions. Our cognitive abilities are rooted in our social connections and our experiences. As humans, we learn through accumulated wisdom of our previous generations. The process is called abstraction. For example, we didn’t all invent our own coffee machines or our own cars when we needed one. We think, experience and turn our learning into habits to form our daily lives.

Relationships and interactions drive the development of a child’s brain. Children who understand how their experiences are relevant for their learning, in turn, become invested in their own education and growth. So, its upon us caring adults to create such deep learning and meaningful experiences for them.

Learning Through Play

In our childhood we learnt everything through unregimented self-exploration and sheer force of willpower – like walking and talking. As children, we found joy in the freedom of expression and creativity that unstructured play offers.

We had to explore, we had to touch, taste and smell everything. We had to pull apart everything to find out what that toy or thing actually was. But, as we began to grow, we stopped playing to our strengths and started learning through text books.

But, when there is safety and connection, it makes children ask themselves, “What can I learn?” They learn in high challenge, low stress environments. Let’s bring back that ecosystem so our children thrive!

Empowering Through Education

When children own their education, they feel empowered. At FutureSTRONG Academy, we teach children from ages 6 to 18. The idea is to build an ecosystem of multi-generational expertise and wisdom amongst the various age groups.

When such a diverse age group of children work on the same concept in their own ways, they discover ways of doing things differently by learning from one another. Through the intersection of various points of insights and learning, they integrate their skills to achieve a more wholesome concept of a given topic.

When little children see what the older ones are upto, they understand how far they can go. When older children see the younger ones, they discover who they are and how they’ve grown to be where they are now.

The Rise Of Avoidance Learning

Right now, our youngsters are avoiding way too many things and that’s not allowing them to develop coping mechanisms for adulting later on. By avoiding risks, they’re not learning what strategies don’t work in real life.

When parents don’t allow their them to take risks, children grow up to be teens and adults who don’t believe in themselves to take care of the mess they get into.

As parents this advice can be confusing? “How can we allow our children to take seemingly risky and irresponsible decisions?” The idea is not to allow risky behavior but to encourage children to test the limits of their learning and understanding through exploration.

Part of the process of encouraging them is to assure them that no matter what the outcome or consequence of their decisions and actions are, our unconditional love for them will not waver. How else can we ensure our children think of life as an adventure rather than a boring, predictable journey?

How To Listen And Learn

There is the “How to listen” module in one of our lesson plans where we teach our children how to care. Here’s how a child drew a whole body listening chart – while understanding the difference between hearing and listening.

Here are a few of the learning objectives of the class:

* Students will learn that first you listen before can think and respond.
* Students will understand the active listening pose and how our eyes, ears and mouth should act while listening.
* Students will learn the Golden rule and how it applies to listening.
* Students will practice the skills of taking turns, listening to others, and speaking clearly.
* Students will have an opportunity to practice paying attention.

Our Class Activities

We’re taking away our children and ourselves far from the interpersonal world of face to face interactions and experiences. Children learn socially and develop emotionally well in real social settings where they have to understand body cues and subtle nuances in communication.

FutureSTRONG Academy teaches life skills where each lesson plan is fitted within the 6 C framework. Confidence, Communication, Clarity, Commitment, Collaboration, Courage

Activities in our lesson plans include powerful protocols like role-playing techniques, group learning and critical thinking worksheets. Children learn to build alternative solution skills when they try to solve hypothetical problems.

Take Your Brain To The Gym

Attending these classes is like taking your child’s brain to the gym.

Let’s make our children anti-fragile by letting them handle life’s routine pressures. Real life needs courage. Are we making our children strong enough?

All around us there’s help in the form of physical sports activities and mathnasiums to help our children keep their bodies fit and shine in school. But, who’s offering help with our children’s brains? What are we doing to ensure their emotional wellbeing in the age of distraction addictions?

FutureSTRONG Academy is a place where children pick up essential life skills like empathy, collaboration, resilience and personal management.

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Inside The Ideal 21st Century Classroom