| As most of you know, every two months all world song schools preschool classrooms receive a Rock and Roll Box packed with materials and a Challenge book to give kid’s neurons a workout. But what is Challenge Education? It is a fun and enticing way to learn math, science, language… by challenging kids to carry out an activity. This innovative educational model designed and developed by our partners in Europe is based on the latest advances in Neuroeducation and inspired by the work of Maria Montessori, Arno Stern and Rolando Toro. It was initially developed for Elementary age children, and it has been adapted for preschool to enrich our program at world song schools. It taps into children’s inner motivation and is based on their natural learning process. But how do children learn, exactly? And what does learning imply? We know that children learn naturally by exploring, playing and seeking out goals that put them to the test. And we also know that their achievements help strengthen their own identity. Neuroscience tells us that the brain is more prepared to acquire new knowledge through action; that learning implies action. Knowledge is acquired and then something is created. If you learn something, but then do nothing with that new information, you will eventually forget it. Our challenges begin with passive learning, where the intention is to get children excited by giving them a surprising piece of information. Then, we encourage kids to discover, solve or create something, and there is active learning where they engage in a purposeful way. |
| Check out an example of a challenge activity in the following video. Get your child excited about butterflies (passive learning) and then create some butterfly wings with them (active learning) to complete the learning process: In children’s inner motivation we trust! |