Блог Kodland ENG

Why do some children not want to learn and how to fix it?

Someone catches on and gets lazy, someone gets distracted all the time and someone just needs a different approach. Why do children not want to learn and how can they learn without pressure? We have identified a number of reasons. We have learned from our teachers and our guidance counselors how they increase interest in students in the classroom.

Reasons


The most common reasons for non-attendance are the exaggerated demands of others, conflicts with classmates and overburdened days with a lot of other activities. The role of the parent is to talk to the child and possibly the teacher and figure out how to solve the problems with studying.

The allocation of time between extra classes and sections at any age must be based on the possibilities and desires of the schoolchild. By nature children are very inquisitive, so a complete lack of motivation to learn is an anomaly, psychologists say. It happens that a young child, by virtue of age, is not yet ready to obey a strict school disorder. In that case, stay in the preparatory class or in the kindergarten for another year.

Solution One: Adopt a new approach to subject studies


Textbooks, webinars, excursions, experiments. The more formats are, the more fascinating the learning is. Gaming helps to embolden children, give them new knowledge or skills by using game levers such as a known story, a sense of victory and virtual gifts. Our teachers are also looking for new ways to explain complex topics with such elements.

Anna, a teacher of Scratch: One day a sad boy came to me to study in a group of children 6-7 years old. He immediately said: «I will not study». I offered to play tic-tac-toe and the kid liked it. So we looked at the theme of the graphic editor: by just measuring and drawing straight lines.

Dmitri, Website Development Teacher: I often do video reviews of students' homework, showing options on how to fix bugs, so that children’s sites work beautifully.

If the child has trouble concentrating at home, try to minimize distractions together. Put all gadgets aside for a while or go for a walk to recharge energy. Cleaning and small pleasant tasks like new stationaries, pictures, stickers will help to create the working environment in the house.

Solution two: Find the purpose of learning


It is important for children, as well as adults, to articulate the goals to which they genuinely aspire and realize that classes and independent work on projects bring them closer. Divide the training tasks into long-term and short-term tasks and celebrate a small victory together in the intermediate stages. It will increase the will to practice, it will set up for the end result.

Nikita, Introductory Lesson Methodist: Creating sites, drawing illustrations and programming is cooler than just playing. And I think that you have to teach kids the value of the classroom and set a specific goal  to make the lesson interesting. For example: «In four weeks I will create my game and my friends will play it». I was able to motivate the students in this way.

Goals cannot be imposed by parents or teachers, but must be the child’s natural choice. In junior high school, children understand what will happen in a day or a week, so short-term tasks are appropriate. For example, get a good mark on the given material or make an interesting report on the subject.

Solution three: real examples on the topic


The best way to explain the theoretical material is to use analogies that are interesting to the child. This is how our teachers apply this technique.

Ramila, a teacher of Scratch and Digital Creativity: I show children examples of work that other students have done in the course, telling them where to apply new skills.In the Scratch programming environment, for example, they can create their races and play them with their friends. With the help of the «Crocodile»game it is possible to diversify the lessons. Children guess the words on the course topic and remember them even better.

Anna, Scratch Teacher: I try to make the theme of the lesson relevant to the best interests of children. Before class, I can ask: “Who plays Minecraft? Do you want to create our own character today in the class?». They love it.

If you see that your child lacks motivation, try to be an example to him, find a common passion or a cause to develop and inspire each other. Take an interest in the child’s knowledge, not his grades, be his support group. In the right environment, in circles or sections that meet the needs, the student will try to keep up with the other children.