Brainwaves

At the beginning of next week Year 4 will be following a unit of work for 3 weeks which focuses on 'The art of learning'.

The past fifteen to twenty years have seen an explosion of research into how the brain works. (Almost everything we know about this subject has been learnt during this time span.) During the same period, there has been a similar explosion of interest from teachers interested in using this information in the classroom. Many of the activities in each IPC unit have been designed around this new information.

We are also learning something else. If children can be encouraged to think about their own learning, how learning happens and how they learn best, then they will learn more effectively. This short unit is about helping your child to 'learn how to learn'.

The purposes of this unit are:

• To introduce children to some ideas about how learning takes place
• To provide them with some strategies to use in their own learning
• To encourage them to think about their learning as something over which they have control

During their work they may well ask you about your own preferred ways of learning. Please help your child by being as honest as you can, particularly about your own learning habits. Please discuss the work with your child, trying to help them understand themselves as learners rather than imposing a 'one size fits all' approach. Whatever else we may have learnt, we know that this is one thing that doesn't work.

We will be inviting you in to our class assemblies to find out more about what we have been doing. You will receive an official invitation nearer the time.