When teaching children, many teaching methods that can be employed to help students understand new concepts and retain new information. While explanation can be effective when teaching kids new things, it works best when the teacher is truly enthusiastic about the subject. Demonstration involves using things like examples, stories, and experiments to help a child absorb new information. This works well when used in conjunction with explanation.
When teaching children, it is important to use teaching methods that will be effective with the different learning styles. An auditory learner might be able to learn something new by way of an explanation or story, but a visual learner might need an illustration or other visual aid to truly understand a new concept, and a kinesthetic learner will learn best from building a model or working with other students on a group project.
Explanation is probably the most traditional method used when teaching children. With this teaching method, the teacher explains the topic or concept to the students. Studies have found that explanation is most effective when a teacher is enthusiastic about the subject matter being taught. Students learn best when they are interested in and excited about what they learning. So when a teacher is bored, and can’t talk about the material with much enthusiasm, the students will pick up on that boredom and will have trouble developing an interest in the subject matter.
Demonstration is method for teaching children that often goes hand-in-hand with explanation, and can help make explanations more clear and effective. A demonstration involves using examples, illustrations, visual aids, experiments, and even stories to make the explanation more clear. Studies have proven that a demonstration of a concept can make it easier for students to absorb the information they are being taught. Students will retain the information for longer than they would through explanation alone.
Students learn in different ways, and a method that might be effective with one student might not work as well with another. By employing different types of demonstrations, a teacher can reach children with different learning styles. For example, a story will work well with auditory learners, while a colorful illustration might work better with visual learners.
Kinesthetic learners are students who learn best by doing, so, when teaching children something new, it is important to give them hands-on activities to help them better absorb the new concepts. For example, kinesthetic learners can best learn the parts of a castle by building a model of a castle. Kinesthetic learners also tend to do well with group activities where they are allowed to work on projects with other students.
