Among the list of private schools in Delhi, Lingaya’s Public School stands out with a dedicated concern for the child’s mental, physical and spiritual development. The best trained teachers along with the world class educational infrastructure ensures that no stone is left unturned to bring the best educational experiences to the growing child. Yet, most of the time is spent in classrooms and the teacher is concerned with the cognitive development that seems to be a great mystery. Psychologists and psychiatrists naturally have a better understanding of mental processes, but they cannot be teaching the youngsters! Teacher training courses may teach the essentials, but reminders are necessary.
Children are fragile and their minds, even more so. Like in a gift shop, teachers need to handle kids with care and make the most positive impressions to bring forth the best performance. What is learned in the class has a wider application to the life and surroundings of which a greater understanding is slowly developing over the years.
The process of learning
It has long been accepted that study should not be a memory game. Rote learning has its defects and is easily forgotten. Committing to memory without really understanding is the problem and vomiting in the examinations that has gone on long enough. Interactive and participatory learning, group work and stepping outdoors in a stress-free atmosphere and the child is happy and really learning rather than putting on a pretense of learning.
Lingaya’s Public School practices several methods of study
Come to one of the top schools in Delhi and it is a systematic variety of learning methods that take the stress and boredom out of the learning process. It cannot be the chalk and talk method alone or the bookish study that will result in real study. Working is done with smartboards and posters, group work and laboratory and library assignments or computer based work that keeps the children on their toes. As a result, it is a challenging study process with so much to explore in a range of media nowadays available without abusing time or resources.
Learning and recall of information
If all the different methods enable understanding and the new knowledge registers in the brain, it needs to be used at some later date, whether to write examinations, attend interviews or in professional circles. Retrieval of information from the brain is the challenge like an output after the input has taken place. The information may be needed almost immediately for a variety of activities in the classroom like writing essays. Posters are one interesting and fun-filled activity to help remember important information, either prepared by students themselves or bought readymade.
Multiple intelligences theory of Gardner
The Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner thinks that we have been following a limited understanding of the mind’s potential and common sense indicates that. He believes that a variety of intelligences exist rather than a single one, as many as eight of them and perhaps a ninth existentialist one. The 1983 book with the title ‘Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences’ set forward such a theory. It makes better sense to imagine that the mind is broken up into little bits when we consider the diverse range of skills and abilities that a a man or even a child is capable of. Study and games, eating and sleeping for instance, all seem to require different approaches.
Besides the intellectual capacity, some other kinds of intelligence extend to the linguistic and musical, spatial and interpersonal. This point of view seems to better explain why a person is unusually gifted in language or music.
Piaget’s cognitive development theory
In cognitive theories that extend to education, the theory of Piaget suggests four stages through which the mental development takes place.
- Formal operational stage refers to 12 years and older
- Concrete operational stage between 7 years and 11 years
- Preoperational stage between 2 years and 7 years
- Sensorimotor stage from birth to 2 years
Considering the Formal operational stage that is spent in middle school, the boy or girl engages in abstract thinking and can reason about hypothetical problems. Reasoning develops and now it is possible to consider moral and ethical, social and political subjects with understanding. Deductive logic can be applied at this stage.
Concrete operational stage encourages thinking about concrete events and understanding about conservation for instance. Logical and organized thinking is developing but more about concrete things. Inductive logic of going from the specific to the general is developing.
Lingaya’s Public School is reputed to be one of the top schools in Delhi and pays close attention to cognitive development on a scholarly and practical basis. It is important to remember that the child has something beyond the body and that is the invisible mind that requires greater attention. Delicate approaches with certain cognitive development goals in mind would bring out the best in the child for the improvement of learning potential and ultimately better life performance.