Middle schools (grades 5 to 8) are formative years for children. At this age two important things happen:
Therefore, in middle school, it is extremely important to structure learning around curiosity, love for the subject matter and open-ended enquiry. The Mathematics and Science Olympiads usually help this process. But they alone are not sufficient.
Here are some of the tools that you may use for children in the middle school and help them succeed in the long run.
Thanks to the internet, we have an over-flow of information. This creates a lot of noise, unnecessary screen time and confusion. It is important to introduce children to the right resources early on. We try to do that in our math and science olympiad programs at Cheenta. Parents and teachers may do that at home and school as well.
Books written by true masters can change the life of children. They ask thought-provoking questions and provide powerful intuitions for fundamental ideas. Some of these books also have ‘how-to-teach’ sections. Here are some good titles for middle school mathematics and science.
It is useful to have hands-on interaction with mathematical sciences. Our years of work with students taught us a very important lesson: if students are allowed to ‘do stuff’ they will begin to ‘teach themselves’. Here are some good softwares to do hands-on math and science experiments.
You may also set-up small labs at your home. A good telescope and some elementary tools can take you a long way. Here is a good book to get started with it:
It is very important to have a strong peer group. Kids need to see other children who are excited about the subject. At Cheenta we endorse group activities such as math circles to promote such a culture.
Join a math circle or create one in your locality to inculcate a culture of critical thinking and problem solving in your child. Let us know if you need help.
At Cheenta we ask our students to teach as well (yes, even the kids in middle school). This process has an incredible effect on motivation and self-propelled learning. For example some of Cheenta kids teach rural school students, slum-area students from remote corners of India.
This process keeps the children grounded, alert about their own learning and engaged with the real world.
Cheenta programs use a lot of non-routine tools for Middle School Olympiad programs. You may also use them at home. They are useful for nurturing the mind and keeping motivation level high.
Non-routine contests such as science and math olympiads can be useful motivating for the children. However we should be very careful about this. Nowadays there are lot of contests with un-interesting problems that promote rote-learning. They may have negative impact on children. Here are a few contests that are useful for middle school kids.
Cheenta has outstanding math and science olympiad programs developed over a decade. Let us know if you need more information on curriculum and work-flow. Learn more about the success stories here:
Middle schools (grades 5 to 8) are formative years for children. At this age two important things happen:
Therefore, in middle school, it is extremely important to structure learning around curiosity, love for the subject matter and open-ended enquiry. The Mathematics and Science Olympiads usually help this process. But they alone are not sufficient.
Here are some of the tools that you may use for children in the middle school and help them succeed in the long run.
Thanks to the internet, we have an over-flow of information. This creates a lot of noise, unnecessary screen time and confusion. It is important to introduce children to the right resources early on. We try to do that in our math and science olympiad programs at Cheenta. Parents and teachers may do that at home and school as well.
Books written by true masters can change the life of children. They ask thought-provoking questions and provide powerful intuitions for fundamental ideas. Some of these books also have ‘how-to-teach’ sections. Here are some good titles for middle school mathematics and science.
It is useful to have hands-on interaction with mathematical sciences. Our years of work with students taught us a very important lesson: if students are allowed to ‘do stuff’ they will begin to ‘teach themselves’. Here are some good softwares to do hands-on math and science experiments.
You may also set-up small labs at your home. A good telescope and some elementary tools can take you a long way. Here is a good book to get started with it:
It is very important to have a strong peer group. Kids need to see other children who are excited about the subject. At Cheenta we endorse group activities such as math circles to promote such a culture.
Join a math circle or create one in your locality to inculcate a culture of critical thinking and problem solving in your child. Let us know if you need help.
At Cheenta we ask our students to teach as well (yes, even the kids in middle school). This process has an incredible effect on motivation and self-propelled learning. For example some of Cheenta kids teach rural school students, slum-area students from remote corners of India.
This process keeps the children grounded, alert about their own learning and engaged with the real world.
Cheenta programs use a lot of non-routine tools for Middle School Olympiad programs. You may also use them at home. They are useful for nurturing the mind and keeping motivation level high.
Non-routine contests such as science and math olympiads can be useful motivating for the children. However we should be very careful about this. Nowadays there are lot of contests with un-interesting problems that promote rote-learning. They may have negative impact on children. Here are a few contests that are useful for middle school kids.
Cheenta has outstanding math and science olympiad programs developed over a decade. Let us know if you need more information on curriculum and work-flow. Learn more about the success stories here:
