I read an interesting article recently about schools looking to acceleration to fill in pandemic learning gaps. (Here is the link to the article on chalkbeat.org https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/4/22/22398311/schools-acceleration-learning-loss)
It is true: schools have moved cautiously over the past year in order to balance remote schooling and hybrid schooling, and to walk the tightrope between technology (video conferencing) and safety (social distancing, masking). The focus has been taken away from curriculum. Students have not progressed as much.
However, there is great danger in accelerating the system without preparing the students for it. In one word: inertia. Newton’s first law states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force. This applies to the mind, also. When students are used to a certain pace of learning, acceleration will hurt more than it will help.
The popular belief is that students will learn or not learn according to their abilities. This is definitely not true, and I am living proof of the contrary. I participated in an experiment about 45 years ago in which my learning faculties were analyzed and I was then given a personalized learning system. That made the difference between terrible grades in 6th and 7th grades and graduating from an honors engineering program with distinction (summa cum laude). This experiment was the basis of a Ph.D. thesis and a project that won the CASTME (Commonwealth Association of Science, Technology and Mathematics Educators) Award in 1984. The system that grew out of the experiment has been used to create hundreds of super students – those who studied in Sri Vidya Schools in Tilaknagar, Hyderabad, while it was under the leadership of Dr. Indira S. Rao will relate to this post.
Dr. Indira Rao believed that education should be a partnership between the teacher and the student. In the current system, teachers are trained to teach but students are not taught to use their learning skills. This is not a true partnership. Teachers are “active” participants in the education process but students are only “passive” participants. Acceleration will not work unless students are also taught to learn effectively and efficiently, i.e., unless there is a true partnership between the teachers and the students.
How can students be made into “active” learners? I have quoted Brian Herbert before: “The capacity to learn is a gift, the ability to learn is a skill, and the willingness to learn is a choice.” The last time, I focused on the third, the choice. This time, let me focus on the first, the capacity. Every child does have the capacity to learn. This capacity is often dormant because the child’s unique learning skills have not been identified and shown to the child.
Since each student has a unique brain, thinks differently, and, therefore, learns differently, there is no single way to teach students to learn efficiently. On the contrary, each student has to be taught to learn in his/her unique way. Such was the system that Dr. Rao created in the experiment that I was the subject of. And this is the same process I use today to help students become better learners.
Here is how I create personalized learning processes for students. There are other experts in the field who have their own methods and opinions. These are mine.
- I analyze the factors that make up your child’s learning skills
- I assemble a set of learning methods that suit those learning factors
- I tailor the learning methods in a step-by-step learning process to suit your child
- I teach your child the methods and the process to unlock your child’s skills
- I optimize the process to fit your child closely and therefore accelerate the process
The Turbo Learner method is a framework for acquiring, applying, adapting and augmenting knowledge and skills in a structured and consistent manner. It is not a tutoring or coaching system, nor is it a learning center or test prep center. It is not a replacement or substitute for any of these – tutors, coaches, learning centers and test prep centers give you immediate results, while Turbo Learner fixes the foundation and give long-term results.
For more information, download our free e-book “Introduction to the Turbo Learner Method” from this link here.
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