#BTColumn – Tips to learn by

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Julia Hanschell

Independent learning has never been more important than it is now. Students have countless tools at their disposal. Once they take responsibility, frustration will decrease and learning will become literally, ‘child’s play’.

The uncomfortable part is that parents MUST become involved. Your child’s learning is unfortunately now, up to you.

First of all, if a student has a tablet, buy a protective case which has a keyboard attached. Students need to type efficiently on a keyboard, for research, completing work and perhaps sitting exams online.

All devices in general, and any devices used for school work in particular, need to be monitored by parents, regardless of the age of the student.

If parents do not intervene to ensure learning happens effectively, children will find a way to distract themselves. A child who can be trusted is not one who says, ‘Why don’t you trust me?’ Think about it.

When a teacher cares enough to communicate with a parent that a student is absent from an online class, or is obviously playing games while teaching is going on, parents must intervene if they want such activity to stop. If a teacher is absent or underperforming, communication between parent and the school principal is essential.

Then there is curriculum. Parents and students must demand their schools provide the topics to be covered in any academic year, especially from Class 1 through Form 3. CXC and CAPE students can obtain syllabuses free on www.cxc.org.

Use these as your checklists and where a topic is not taught, find it online.

There are also excellent groups supporting curriculum, for example Geo for CXC on Facebook and their website: http://www.geoforcxc.com/

Also there are the Attainment Targets, see: https://www.mes.gov.bb/Resources/Attainment/ as an example (early childhood) or purchase these from a bookstore. These are incredibly good sources for core curriculum and associated, soft skills which students should master by year level.

While we know that many textbooks are old versions or perhaps not available, there is the internet. And asking within a group on social media for help with notes on subject material made in a previous year, by a conscientious student, is a great idea. Grade A students obtain A Grades for a reason.

There are subjects that have common information, regardless of examination body, like Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

There is a great deal of free teaching available online, with YouTube even more powerful than Google. The resources there are excellent and extensive. Examination methods and expected language may differ, but the knowledge that must be acquired and the application of information are the same.

Students will find what they seek online. They’ll spend hours exploring how to master something they know they must learn independently.

There have been 31 million views on ‘How to Build a Modern House’ on Minecraft. CXC Maths Multiple Choice Tips has had, in comparison, 24K views. OK, global vs. regional numbers (there are probably ten times that number studying CXC Maths in the Caribbean) but you get the idea.

Every CSEC SBA has YouTube videos available. There are Study Guides for Caribbean Literature: https://www.scribd.com/document/379316189/CXC-English-B-Study-Guide.

There are Specimen Examination Papers available with free Syllabus sources from CXC, including marking schemes and Reports on what the examiners are looking for. Documents abound for every aspect of subject learning.

Spanish Orals: https://camdu.edu.lc/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/COMPILATION-OF-CXC-SPANISH- ORAL-QUESTIONS.pdf, Physics formula: https://kupdf.net/download/csec-physics-formula- sheet_5cc854f9e2b6f5e84b1262ce_pdf.

When all else fails, order from Amazon, locally from ttp://www.booksourceonline.com/booksource/ or just walk into a local bookstore.

However, the fact is that it’s how a student applies and expresses his or her knowledge that matters most, hence the profiles in CSEC examinations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAdm4ySRfXM is a video worth watching.

For a vast majority of students there is something that teachers know is a problem from as early as primary level. Students may know the material (because they may remember it), but cannot synthesise it well.

They find it hard to take a fact and link it within a broader context, expanding it. They find expressing this even harder still. In a nutshell: students find it incredibly hard to WRITE. This skill requires a lot of planning, practice, trial, error, corrections, editing. Those practical, time-consuming aspects demand endeavour, diligence, receptivity and resilience. Together these all equal TIME.

But there is help at their fingertips! In less than five minutes they can learn how to overcome a specific problem like planning an essay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgsHJdFoXvY.

However, what will literally take the pain away is HOW TO STUDY. Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p60rN9JEapg. See what the science says and get them highlighters, index cards and post its; start them studying smart, rather than hard.

Come on parents, let’s be honest. Would your child need extra lessons in Fortnite? Of course not. They would find a way to understand it and relentlessly pursue conquering it without your initiation, input or investment.

So why do they not connect to learning in THEIR OWN WAY when all the tools are at their fingertips? Because they don’t WANT TO.

Students have never had access to learning more than they do now and they have never sought it less. I respectfully suggest you make them.

Julia Hanschell can be contacted on smartstudying @gmail.com.