Suprising facts about learning

1. Chess makes kids smart
Patrick S. McDonald, a great lover of chess and the Youth Coordinator for the Ontario Chess Association, compiled a series of papers and research that highlights the benefits of chess, especially as it relates to education. Honestly, there isn’t much negative to say about chess. It is an inexpensive game, a great opportunity for socialization among many different age groups and levels.

It forces students to slow down, concentrate, use precise thinking, active both inductive and deductive reasoning, as well as recognizing difficult and complex patterns.

Teachers who are in charge of children with mental and physical disabilities can also benefit from chess. It is a game that does not discriminate, and no matter what level you learn to play, it helps children to understand that “losing” the game is as valuable as winning.

2. Gardening improves children’s desire to learn and boosts their confidence

The Royal Horticulture Society in the UK has started a campaign to bring gardening back into the school systems. Thousands of schools have participated and some of the findings point to gardening as a crucial learning tool for children. These are just some of the few findings.

Kids who garden show a better ability to concentrate.

Gardening helped use up surplus energy in active kids.
The process of growing something from seed to fruit helps teach children responsibility and managing a living organism.
Some students learned valuable math skills as they sold their produce to the town for a profit.
Getting in touch with the dirt and bugs, helped some young students overcome their fears.
An English teacher found her student’s creativity in poetry expanded after working in the garden.
Gardening touches on so many different school subjects, from the science of photosynthesis, to nutrition, math, and even English. Kids who garden show a better ability to concentrate, whether it is because they have an opportunity to engage their whole bodies in the learning process, or simply because learning in the outdoors is good for the mind, heart, and body.

3. Playing with blocks increases neuron count in children

Schools are endangering a student’s creative intelligence when they replace all scheduled playtime with academic study. As the trend moves more towards structuring a curriculum that teaches to a standardized test, psychologists who study play are screaming that this is the wrong move.

In the Community Playthings article about the wisdom of play, researchers note that something as simple as toy blocks can have incredible impacts on a young student’s mind. Even with 15 minutes of free play, children will use some of that time learning about mathematical and spatial principles. Blocks, one of the simplest and longstanding toys, teach geometry, patterns, shapes, colors, and physics.

Even high-tech industries like NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory take into consideration a person’s background of play when they are hiring new scientists.

This is because research shows that children who have ample opportunity to play and manipulate the environment creatively, will be the most innovative and original thinkers as adults.