Category: Education

College may be a long way off for your young kids, but what will higher education look like in the future? Technology and the availability of virtual learning is already changing how teens view education. At the time of this writing, 1 in 6 high school seniors who planned on attending full-time college are now rethinking their decision.

The vulnerable state of many universities combined with the psychological effects on students who may feel disconnected from others are primary fuelers to this. For a few years now, kids, teens and young adults have been experiencing the replacement of personal human interaction with ease of communication through technology. As a result, the value of traditional education may be fundamentally affected.

Education Interupted

Worldwide, as of April 2020, 1.6 billion students saw their education interrupted. Despite drastic changes to the college experience and a move to online learning, the price hasn’t shifted. In March 2020, the American Congress allocated nearly $350 million of a Relief Fund to colleges with “significant unmet needs.” However, this was only able to help less than 3,000 students, leaving prospective students stressed over how they will afford higher education.

On top of that, the psychological effects of remote learning presented the graduating class of 2020 with many challenges. For example, isolation has led many to experience PTSD and depression. Even more catastrophic, younger adults have experienced a 10x increase in serious mental distress. The fuelers behind the mental obstacles? No physical classes or guidance toward their career of interest.

Knowing this, the future of education for your teens may be different than ever before. Not only will the economical value of education change, but also the classroom dynamic. Prepare your student for the future of education by becoming privy to how future classrooms will operate before they step into them.

Integration of In-Person and Online Learning

For example, mixed-location classrooms. Several experts predict a surge in integration of in-person and online learning. Now that the convenience of living and working online as been introduced, many tools like Zoom and Slack may be crucial in the future of online and in-person classes. 

Furthermore, colleges may take a major shift towards innovation. Some teaching methods were old-school and based on outdated technology. However, many are now quickly searching for innovative methods for distance learning. In China, for example, 120 million students now access learning material through live TV. However, students report feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and helpless in these scenarios. Expect this to be re-imaged in the future.

According to the American College Health Association, colleges can expect changes for at least the next 12-18 months. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the higher education economy for the best approach in preparing your teens. Pay attention to the dynamics of online learning, credit transfers, and avoid falling for scams.

Redefining the Role of Educators in Virtual Learning Environments

As virtual learning becomes more prevalent, the role of educators will undergo a significant transformation. In traditional classroom settings, educators play a central role in facilitating discussions, providing guidance, and imparting knowledge. However, in virtual learning environments, educators may need to adopt new strategies to engage students effectively.

In the future, educators may become facilitators of knowledge, leveraging advanced technology and interactive platforms to create immersive learning experiences. They may utilize virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to simulate real-world scenarios, enabling students to apply theoretical concepts in practical settings. Additionally, educators may focus on personalized instruction, tailoring learning pathways to individual student needs through adaptive learning platforms and data-driven insights.

Embracing Skill-Based Education and Lifelong Learning

With the evolving landscape of job markets and the demand for specific skill sets, colleges may shift their focus towards skill-based education and lifelong learning. Traditional degree programs might become complemented or even replaced by shorter, more targeted courses or certifications that emphasize practical skills. This shift aims to equip students with the necessary tools to adapt to rapidly changing industries and navigate a dynamic job market.

Colleges may collaborate closely with industry partners to design curricula that align with the current and future needs of the workforce. These partnerships may include internships, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs, providing students with real-world experience and enhancing their employability.

In addition, the concept of lifelong learning may become deeply ingrained in the educational system. As the pace of technological advancements accelerates, individuals will need to continually update their skills throughout their careers. Colleges may offer flexible learning pathways, allowing students to upskill or reskill at any stage of their professional journey.

Did you know that all children are born with intrinsic attributes of a successful scientist? It is in their nature to experiment with new things, seek answers to endless questions, and they are always curious about everything within their sight. Young kids pick-up everything they find and show genuine interest in the world around them. That is basically what scientists do.

But what happens when they join the school to the extent that they lose their interest in science? The obvious guess would be that as they grow up, they stop seeing the world around them being as important as they initially thought. They go to school and hate everything about it, including the science tasks they so readily undertook as toddlers. Everything seems complicated, boring, and completely out of touch with their lives. If you remember correctly, at one point, you too probably thought that most science projects at school were unnecessarily tiresome.

Replacing Disinterest with a Love for Science

As a parent, what can you do to ensure that your kid doesn’t lose their interest in science even after joining the school? Simple answer: By creating a science-friendly home and encouraging kids to experiment, ask questions, and take part in all science programs in the community.

There are plenty more techniques that you can apply if you wish to inspire your own child to fall in love with science. If you are a parent that works and you find it difficult to manage their time, we believe that finding out where your time goes and how to manage it, will be beneficial to you and to your kids. However, here are 6 of those techniques:

1. Take them to science camps

 On top of providing your kid with hands-on learning opportunities, science camps bring together hundreds of young scientists who can influence your kid positively through one-on-one interactions. When kids come together to explore and analyze science, learning becomes fun. Science camps are easy to find within your locality but in case you have no idea where to begin, you can visit one of the universities in your hometown. Most science camp organizers liaise with local universities to run science programs.

2. Allow them room to explore

Many parents don’t warm up to this idea because of the mess kids make when they explore, but there isn’t any way around it if you want your kid to love science. Even the greatest scientists became who they are today through experimentation, sometimes through trial and error. Allow your kids to try things out on their own. If they want to observe a pool of water under the microscope, let them be. If they want to build something using dirt and water, the best thing to do is to dress them appropriately. Make it acceptable to get dirty in your household and while at it, buy them a science kit in order to make their work easier and more fun.

3. Allow them to play video games

Video games such as Minecraft will introduce the virtual world to kids and nurture their interest in the science of coding. Not all games will teach your kid the language of programming, but there are many that will. Help your child choose the right ones.  You may also want to check out these game applications that can help boost their mind.

Skills such as negotiating, customizing player qualities, and different game levels equip children with the needed skills for progression to higher levels. Such qualities come across as necessary in later life.  Therefore, video games come across as an excellent way of enhancing your child’s problem-solving skills.  The key to a healthy well rounded life is balance between work and play.  This includes a balance between computer play and physical play, developing both mind and body. 

4. Help them keep up with the latest discoveries

Kids are naturally eager to learn about how the earth came to be and how it operates. Topics such as Earth’s rotation and how day/nights came to being are very interesting for everybody. Now build on that interest by letting kids follow breaking news about major scientific breakthroughs. Now build on that interest by letting the kids follow breaking news about major scientific breakthroughs.

5. Go hiking

By walking through nature, you will be igniting curiosity in regard to the world around them. You will create a terrific environment for kids to bring up scientific questions on their own. For example, hiking can arouse curiosity about photosynthesis, how plants eat, breathe, and grow. Besides, you will be seeing lots of animal species, birds, and insects, all of which you can photograph and try to research their adaptations. Your kid will love doing that. He won’t even realize he is learning.

6. Quash science-related stereotypes

Many kids have the wrong impression of science, especially girls. Make it your job to demystify these stereotypes and change your kid’s attitude towards science. Explain to them that physics is as simple as building with blocks, or that chemistry is as basic as baking or doing laundry, or that the simple act of breathing and excretion is biology. The key here is to make children see that he/she uses science every second.

Conclusion

We cannot emphasize this enough: Learning, especially in science, is founded on curiosity. It is your job to create a climate for discovery for your kids. Don’t force kids to love science. Just answer their questions and stimulate curiosity. Teaching science in a fun way and making it something interesting a child can relate too is key.  Everything else will naturally fall into place. 

Stuttering is a socio communicational problem which is a common problem among adults and children. Undoubtedly, it has negative effects on individuals’ mental, social and emotional aspects. Its causes are often numerous but mainly they are precipitated by accidents or head injuries or are simply presented during childhood.

Due to its effect on social life, it is advisable to seek help and overcome the issue as its damages become more severe. Stuttering is very common in kids, but it is not entirely in-existent in adults. This involuntary fluency disorder is known to precipitate socio communication problems in toddlers. The question many people ask, however, is whether or not the disorder has an impact on the Quality of life (QOL) in adulthood. What is its effect on individuals’ mental and emotional health?

To answer this question, we must look at stuttering from a multidimensional perspective and we must look at different aspects of a stutterer’s life. Of course, there are tons of studies that try to investigate and estimate the impact of stuttering on QOL, but most of them have registered little to no success.

One thing is certain, though: Stuttering has a negative effect on most quality of life (QOL) dimensions in adults. It is important that additional research is done in order to get the exact extent of the negative impact for better treatment planning. This will also be instrumental in preventing any future mental, emotional, or social disorders that could stem from adult stuttering.

Causes of Stuttering In Adults

Understanding the causes of stuttering in adults is the key to understanding a stutterer’s quality of life. Some speech issues start in childhood while others are precipitated by head injuries after an accident or a prolonged illness. People who suffer from neurological diseases sometimes find trouble producing sound and developing speech. They often find themselves making a slurred speech or lacking the right words to form complete statements.

There are qualified speech and language pathologists who help such people to improve speech. You can sign up for speech therapy for adults, for example, to have a professional help you deal with language issues. Speech therapy for adults also applies to patients with cognitive difficulties, particularly short-term memory.

The Impact on Socio‐Emotional Development and Quality Of Life of Language Impairment

Adults with severe speech impairment tend to have a worse QOL compared to those that stutter just a little. Research shows that as an individual tries to regulate and manage his/her speech impairment, his/her quality of life improves.

People who struggle with speech and language problems right from childhood have a normal QOL. Studies show that such people get used to the life of stuttering, since they know no other life, so they don’t really care how others think of their stuttering. That is different from people who develop speech impairment in adulthood, say due to stroke or any other illness.

Poor social interaction skills sometimes precipitate shame, embarrassment, and frustrations. People with speech impairment are easily irritated and are more vulnerable to depression. Note that speech impairments can be very isolating, so you must do all you can to prevent that from happening.

Studies also indicate that many people who struggle with speech issues through school are affected negatively in their academic life. Without positive emotions towards their time in school, such kids have problems making friends and establishing healthy relationships with teachers. If not addressed early enough, this problem can adversely affect an individual’s later life, say in terms of limiting their career options.

Speech issues can also affect your ability to obtain work or to relate well with colleagues, bosses, and clients. That can reflect in a bad way your work performance, hampering your chances for promotion. The good thing is that with speech therapy for adults, you can successfully reverse the effect of speech impairment on your professional life.

Problems with stutter are problems that also impact the student’s academic and social life within the school premises. Especially for teenagers, such a problem may impact their social life considerably. Thus, it is very important for teachers to know how to behave in such cases and help the student overcome the challenges.

There are several steps that teacher can do to help students such as:

• Talk slow so that the student feels comfortable when he then speaks slow.
• Do not tell the student to relax or slow down.
• Convey to the student that you are listening to the content said rather than the way it was said.
• Look at them with interest when they are talking.
• Repeat and rephrase what the student said to let them know your understood what was said.
• Research new technology available for students who may need additional resources.

As well, if the student is already visiting a speech therapy specialist, the teacher must coordinate with the speech therapist and let him/her know where the student is struggling most, so that practices are made in that context. Provide the speech therapist with classroom materials so that they can use them as part of the practice sessions.

The speech therapist and teacher must also coordinate on the technique they want to follow to push the student because it would be confusing, ineffective and unsuccessful to use different approaches to push the children to talk normally.

Final Thoughts

It is advisable that you seek medical attention as soon as possible in case you experience a sudden onset of impaired speech as that could be a sign of an underlying health condition. As we have mentioned, impaired speech in adulthood is in most cases a product of illnesses such as stroke, or severe head injuries. These conditions can be life-threatening if not addressed early enough.

Explore the top benefits of speech therapy for kids.

Do you find your children moan and groan when you tell them it’s time to do their science homework? There are simple solutions to make science fun. Kids are curious by nature and like asking questions. If they see, hear, or feel that which comes in their way, they’ll probably ask, ‘Why?”

Parents and teachers can make science learning fun and exciting by emboldening their curiosity about their surroundings. Teaching them how to find answers about the questions they’ve asked for themselves also helps. After all, science is all about finding the solutions to ‘why.’ 

Speaking of science, most kids tend to struggle with physics. And speaking of science, most kids also tend to struggle with physics and mathematics. Unless they have a solid understanding of the fundamentals, they will fall behind. Physics and math are inter-related, and if you live near a physics tuition center, you may want to consider enrolling your child. But there are things you can do right now at home to make science learning fun.

5 Tips to Make Science Fun for Your Kids

1.   Exploring Your Backyard or Park

When was the last time you took your child in your backyard or park for the science’s sake? It’s not something most parents think of doing. But science is best learned through observations and experiments. Your child will ask you “how do chicks hatch”, or “how does a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly?”, or how plants sprout from the seeds. The best way to make kids fascinated by science is through nature. In the real world, students can learn the fun secrets of science by observing the captivating development process of plants, insects, and animals.

In nature, teachers can also find quite a few science experiments that they can ask the students to do at home. For example, you can ask kids to keep a journal on how many days it takes for larvae to morph into a butterfly or the different types of butterflies in their yard.

2.  Studying Nature

Why does it rain? Why do the seasons change? How many stars are there in the universe? Why do we see stars at night? I’m guessing you’ve heard these questions from your child many times? Answering these questions about nature will generate interest in your kids about science. Take your children for long hikes and ask them to look out for the natural surroundings, including birds, trees, and rocks as you travel.

If you’re looking at clouds, tell them about the many varieties of clouds. If you’re studying birds, point out the different birds, and if chemistry is your thing, let them know what makes their soda fizzle.

3.  Find Out How Things Work

Whether your kids want to become doctors or engineers in the future or not, kids always get fascinated by how things work. They want to understand the scientific explanations and principles behind everyday technologies and phenomena.  So they want to read the books about Thomas Edison and other such famous inventors. They want to attempt to come up with experiments on their own to show how their inventions work.

If your child asks you for help with his or her science project, like making a rocket from a recycled water bottle, lend them a hand. You can help them find household items or demonstrate how physics principles work. If your child struggles with math, don’t rule out getting a math tutor to help them with their scientific calculations.

4.  Be Practical

You can’t learn science without experiments or hands-on activities. Sure, reading books about science, as well as biographies of famous scientists and inventors day-in and day-out, will give them knowledge. But never actually doing a science experiment or witnessing any scientific demonstrations is dull.

Learning science is a full-on hands-on activity, period. But before that, find out what everyday issues affects and interest your students? Do they like hunting for exotic bugs? Are they interested in making a fake volcano using vinegar and baking soda? Do they want to create glow-in-the-dark germs? Be creative!   There are tons of projects like these they can do to throughout the year.

5.  Read Biographies

Children need to be encouraged and inspired. And what better way to instill scientific curiosity in kids by persuading them to read biographies about famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie? Making biographies about scientists and inventors as part of your science studies will help kids stay engaged. It will make them curious to know about how these people worked, lived, and how they discovered facts about science.

The achievements of these types of people have greatly impacted the world and can often be looked at as super heroes. But simple reading about them can show how scientists and inventors are just real people with ideas who wanted to make a difference in our world.

Who knows, it could inspire your child to become the next famous scientist!

Discover how to engage and educate kids on saving energy.