If you’re already a parent, you would (most possibly) have forgotten most of what you’ve learnt in primary school decades ago. Despite so, don’t feel helpless if you’re not sure how to guide your kiddo along!
You can most definitely still help your child excel in their academics in ways which do not necessarily involve having to spoon-feed them with the answers.
Here’re some simple things you can do to help your child excel in primary school science:
Help your child master essential concepts
To excel in a subject such as Science, a child would need to know his content and knowledge well. Hence, the first step to mastering Science is to learn the essential concepts.
You may want to get your child to:
Tell you what he or she has learn about for each topic, or even
Draw out a concept map to showcase how much he understands and recalls about a particular topic
You could also get creative and come up with your own ways to get your child interested in going through the processes of recalling and restating content for each topic. Ultimately, the point is to build a solid foundation as it is crucial for your child to move on to tackling both multiple choice and open-ended questions.
Don’t neglect MCQs
While many parents are more concerned about the open-ended questions (OEQs), it is recommended that after mastering the concepts, you should let your child try out the Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) first. This would allow the concepts to sink in more easily as it removes the stress of having to pen them down in sentences.
Your child should not focus on just knowing which option is correct but he or he should be able to articulate to you why the other three options are wrong.
If the MCQs are not done well, review the concepts again before moving to the open-ended questions.
Let your child critique their own open-ended questions
For the open-ended questions section, besides taking note of all the ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ that the teachers tell your child, it would be good to let your child learn to critique their own answers.
To generate more interest, you may play the role of the student and deliberately give answers that are erroneous, unclear, or incomplete and get your child to point out your “errors”.
Bring it away from the textbooks
For example, whenever the opportunity arises, take your child out for a nature walk (instead of strolling in malls) and allow him or her to conduct some simple science experiments together with you to etch the concepts into their mental schema and understanding.
Do not underestimate the impact of such activities as these forms of visual anchor for the child are a lot more effective in terms of retention and interest building. These activities leverage on your child’s natural sense of curiosity and develop your child’s skills such as being able to observe, compare, and generate, which are essential for him or her to do well in Science. This would also be a good time for you to bond with your child.
The science programmes offered at Learning Point weave in all of the positive practices mentioned above. Not only do we ensure that our students master science concepts through practice, we make sure that our children enjoy the lessons by injecting some fun into them! Children in our science programmes even get to experience fun outings to the bookstore, supermarket, zoological gardens, and more!