Active learning during the summer months

BY PAUL JUNOR

As the summer continues and students, parents, guardians and family members are enjoying themselves, it is important to reflect on what educational opportunities are available. Education is a lifelong process and it is not only what occurs in a regular classroom. It is a never-ending journey that occurs in many diverse, varied and multiple ways. Many students see the summer as a time to put away their books, writing utensils, notebooks, calculators and their thinking and reasoning skills. This is often because of the freedom that they have, and the fact that they do not have restrictions with respect to going to bed, waking up on time, and being aware of deadlines.

It is however during the summer that there are endless opportunities for students to continue their educational journey. It is a known fact that during the summer months, students tend to forget much of what they learn during the academic school year, specifically in content-heavy subjects such as mathematics and science. By forgetting important and relevant details, facts and information in these subjects, it makes it very challenging for students when they start the school year. In order to avoid this possible summer learning loss, I have listed some recommendations that will help parents and guardians to help their young ones stay ahead.

The academic reports that students received in July provide a wealth of information that an informed and aware parent should be conscious of in terms of their child’s strengths, abilities, weaknesses, and areas that need improvement. This document is a source of critical information from which one can obtain excellent ideas and suggestions that should be foremost for planning.

These are some ideas that parents/guardians may find helpful in providing positive support.

• Many summer camps that students attend and are a part of provide opportunities for children to engage in outdoor activities that focus on developing, thinking, creative critical skills. The enrichment that these provide will increase significantly the consolidate and improvement in student’s abilities to supplement their existing level of academic, social, emotional and intellectual abilities.

Many public libraries offer summer reading programs geared to specific age groups that provide an environment for children to read books of their choice, and to engage in discussions about them. This is invaluable as it enables children to remove themselves from social media and participate in activities that can build their social and emotional skills.

Many tutoring services such as: Oxford, Cambridge, and Kumon offer summer classes for students who need a refresher in their specific subjects or need to learn concepts that they will be covering in their next grade in September. This enables students to review previously learned concepts and skills and to reach ahead to master more difficult ideas. This is particularly helpful to senior students who are thinking about post-secondary options.

Hiring private tutors is an option that many parents/guardians pursue in order to ensure that children are able to acquire critical skills, specifically in the math and science areas. Although these tutors may be quite expensive, the benefits and rewards from one-on-one support are often invaluable and immense considering the competitive nature of college/university admission. Given the emphasis of very high marks for certain programs, tutors are often vital.

There are many interactive websites that are available that students can turn to in order to review previous materials that were covered or new ones that they will have to learn. The Ontario Association for Mathematics Education has lots of information from kindergarten – grade 12. There is also the ministry of education website; edu.on.ca, as well as Khanacademy.com which has a wealth of rich and valuable information. Your children are obsessed with social media; put thought to purpose and use social media to your advantage. There are many lessons that can be found on YouTube that are fun, interesting and exciting.

Finally, there are museums and art galleries throughout the GTA that have special programs that are age-specific for students.

Parents, it is not too late; we have a month left, which gives you plenty of time to get your young ones back into the swing of things.