College may be a long way off for your young kids, but what will higher education look like in the future? Coronavirus is already changing how teens view education. Following the virus’ outbreak, 1 in 6 high school seniors who planned on attending full-time college in the fall are now rethinking their decision.

The vulnerable state of many universities combined with the pandemic’s psychological effects on students are primary fuelers to this. As a result, the value of traditional education may be fundamentally affected.

Worldwide, as of April 2020, 1.6 billion students saw their education interrupted. Although the college experience remains unrecognizable, the price hasn’t shifted. In March 2020, the American Congress allocated nearly $350 million of the Coronavirus Relief Fund to colleges with “significant unmet needs.” However, this was only able to help less than 3,000 students, leaving prospective students stressed over how they will afford higher education.

On top of that, the psychological effects of COVID-19 has presented the graduating class of 2020 with many challenges. For example, quarantine has led many to experience PTSD and depression. Even more catastrophic, younger adults have experienced a 10x increase in serious mental distress. The fuelers behind the mental obstacles? No physical classes or guidance toward their career of interest.

Knowing this, the future of education for your teens may be different than ever before. Not only will the economical value of education change due to COVID-19, but also the classroom dynamic. Prepare your student for the future of education by becoming privy to how future classrooms will operate before they step into them.

For example, mixed-location classrooms. Several experts predict a surge in integration of in-person and online learning. Now that COVID-19 has introduced us to the convenience of living and working online, many tools like Zoom and Slack may be crucial in the future of online and in-person classes. 

Furthermore, colleges may take a major shift towards innovation. Some teaching methods were old-school and based on outdated technology. However, the pandemic has influenced many to quickly search for innovative methods for distance learning. In China, for example, 120 million students now access learning material through live TV. However, students report feeling isolated, overwhelmed, and helpless in these scenarios. Expect this to be reimaged in the future.

According to the American College Health Association, colleges can expect changes for at least the next 12-18 months. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the higher education economy for the best approach in preparing your teens. Pay attention to the dynamics of online learning, credit transfers, and avoid falling for scams.

We have a long way to go until returning to normal. The infographic below can help you shape a better understanding of the future of college for your teen.

Did you know that all children are born with intrinsic attributes of a successful scientist? It is in their nature to experiment with new things, seek answers to endless questions, and they are always curious about everything within their sight. Young kids pick-up everything they find and show genuine interest in the world around them. That is basically what scientists do.

But what happens when they join the school to the extent that they lose their interest in science? The obvious guess would be that as they grow up, they stop seeing the world around them being as important as they initially thought. They go to school and hate everything about it, including the science tasks they so readily undertook as toddlers. Everything seems complicated, boring, and completely out of touch with their lives. If you remember correctly, at one point, you too probably thought that most science projects at school were unnecessarily tiresome.

As a parent, what can you do to ensure that your kid doesn’t lose their interest in science even after joining the school? Simple answer: By creating a science-friendly home and encouraging the kid to experiment, ask questions, and take part in all science programs in the community.

There are plenty more techniques that you can apply if you wish to inspire your own child to fall in love with science. If you are a parent that works and you find it difficult to manage their time, we believe that finding out where your time goes and how to manage it, will be beneficial to you and to your kids. However, here are 6 of those techniques:

1. Take them to science camps

 On top of providing your kid with hands-on learning opportunities, science camps bring together hundreds of young scientists who can influence your kid positively through one-on-one interactions. When kids come together to explore and analyze science, learning becomes fun. Science camps are easy to find within your locality but in case you have no idea where to begin, you can visit one of the universities in your hometown. Most science camp organizers liaise with local universities to run science programs.

2. Allow them room to explore

Many parents don’t warm up to this idea because of the mess kids make when they explore, but there isn’t any way around it if you want your kid to love science. Even the greatest scientists became who they are today through experimentation, sometimes through trial and error. Allow your kids to try things out on their own. If they want to observe a pool of water under the microscope, let them be. If they want to build something using dirt and water, the best thing to do is to dress them appropriately. Make it acceptable to get dirty in your household and while at it, buy them a science kit in order to make their work easier and more fun.

3. Allow them to play video games

Video games such as Minecraft will introduce the virtual world to the kid and nurture their interest in the science of coding. Not all games will teach your kid the language of programming, but there are many that will. Help the kid to choose the right ones.

Video games come across as an excellent way of enhancing your child’s problem-solving skills. Skills such as negotiating, customizing player qualities, and different game levels equip children with the needed skills for progression to higher levels. Such qualities come across as necessary in later life.

4. Help them keep up with the latest discoveries

Kids are naturally eager to learn about how the earth came to be and how it operates. Topics such as Earth’s rotation and how day/nights came to being are very interesting for everybody. Now build on that interest by letting the kid follow breaking news about major scientific breakthroughs. Now build on that interest by letting the kids follow breaking news about major scientific breakthroughs.

5. Go hiking

By walking through nature, you will be igniting the kid’s curiosity in regard to the world around them. You will create a terrific environment for the kid to bring up scientific questions on their own. For example, hiking can arouse the kid’s curiosity about photosynthesis, how plants eat, breathe, and grow. Besides, you will be seeing lots of animal species, birds, and insects, all of which you can photograph and try to research their adaptations. Your kid will love doing that. He won’t even realize he is learning.

6. Quash science-related stereotypes

Many kids have the wrong impression of science, especially girls. Make it your job to demystify these stereotypes and change your kid’s attitude towards science. Explain to them that physics is as simple as building with blocks, or that chemistry is as basic as baking or doing laundry, or that the simple act of breathing and excretion is biology. The key here is to make the kid see that he/she uses science every second.

Conclusion

We cannot emphasize this enough: Learning, especially in science, is founded on curiosity. It is your job to create a climate for discovery for your kids. Don’t force the kid to love science. Just answer their questions and stimulate curiosity. Everything else will naturally fall into place.

Distance education is new to many who are now having to teach kids at home due to recent school closures. Some students are be already receiving online classes from their teachers. In other cases, parents are left to teach their kids using provided lesson plans provided by their school. Whatever the situation, here are some tips to help you enhance your child’s “at home” learning experience.

Teaching at home management strategies are different than a teacher in a classroom with thirty students. Nevertheless, teachers themselves continually wonder if there is another way to present information because a student just doesn’t seem to be interested or doesn’t understand a concept being taught.  Whether in a school or at home, this is a universal challenge. 

Some Learning Strategies Happen Naturally at Home

Providing quiet areas for independent older students who need to work on a paper is important, especially when younger siblings are being loud.  Making the environment more conducive to study can also help.  Using music, games, role playing or charts to present information are excellent ways to engage students. You can take it one step further by having them help create the games or make the charts to further engage through in active learning. Explore available STEM Books for Kids.

Breaking up the lesson into twenty-minute segments can help.  Before returning to the lesson, review what was learned before moving on to new material.  And of course, one should always give prompt specific feedback about a student’s work.

Allow for Flexibility Within Structured Learning

Interacting with adults is much easier to do at home, but teachers in classroom have also seen success in allowing students to move away from their desks and interact with classmates.  This can be done in a form of activity or allowing the student to freely go for a drink of water throughout the day.  At home, this is a good example of keeping things free flowing within a structure.  Getting up and moving around allows for blood to flow and keep the mind alert.

This brings up another important point about exercise. While you may not be able to have structured sports daily, make sure to include some kind of exercise routine throughout the day. It can be simple floor exercises or going for a walk.  If you find that your kids are having trouble paying attention, it may be a good time to stop the lesson and so some kind of physical activity for five minutes.   

The Importance of Asking Questions

There are other strategies that might not occur so naturally at home, such as allowing three to five seconds of wait time after asking questions throughout the presentation.  These pauses allow students to process the information before, during and after the presentation of the new concept.  It will also help you determine what the student knows and correct any misunderstandings.  Don’t be afraid to adjusting your presentation to re-teach anything that needs clarifying.

As kids get older be sure to ask questions that involve critical thinking, such as…

Do you agree with why or how something happened or is the way it is?”

How would you prove is there a better solution?

How would you rank the importance of various situations or options?

This helps students develop critical thinking skills.  Using words like “evaluate, justify, support and critique” when discussing material can help them make judgments about reality.

Remember too that the high school student is naturally interested in questions that challenge the status quo. In subjects such as Social Studies, kids care about whether a proposed course of action was expedient or inexpedient.   They care about whether someone deserves praise or blame.

If any of these suggestions are making you feel overwhelmed by the sheer notion of having to supplement or replace the teaching your child was receiving in school, start with the fundamentals; Language, Reading and Math.

The Importance of Open Discussion

Whether or not asking questions leads to a discussion about a topic, creating an environment for open discussion throughout any lesson is vital to keep students engaged and even excited about what they are learning.   Discussions can help participant learn and stay interested in a way listening to a lecture doesn’t.

A focus on starting a discussion can also be what it takes get the ball rolling into kids asking the questions they may not even be thinking about.  While this is going on, students are working out what they believe about ideas and concepts while being an active participant in learning.

Whether kids are receiving online teaching or tutoring through distance learning, parents can always enhance the education of their children.  After all, the most important reason we educate our children at home is to form their minds and hearts. This can’t be done without conversation, so the best learning strategy is to talk to your children.  It can often be easier to begin any discussion within an educational framework as simple as when you are helping them with homework. 

Educational Resources for Parents and Teachers

Evan-More specializes in teaching resources for those teaching at home.

They also have a complete online resource called TeacherBox, which has something every child with activities from over 600 Evan-Moor books.  Including hands-on learning games, reading activities and mini books, an simple STEM and Science projects.  You can make learning fun with ‘ready to go’ arts and crafts, puzzles, games and fun projects.  There are activities for every subject area.

Easily print pages so your child can complete worksheets independently or they can complete online through the TeacherBox interface.  See visuals of some of the available resources in the video below.

Stuttering is a socio communicational problem which is a common problem among adults and children. Undoubtedly, it has negative effects on individuals’ mental, social and emotional aspects. Its causes are often numerous but mainly they are precipitated by accidents or head injuries or are simply presented during childhood.

Due to its effect on social life, it is advisable to seek help and overcome the issue as its damages become more severe. Stuttering is very common in kids, but it is not entirely in-existent in adults. This involuntary fluency disorder is known to precipitate socio communication problems in toddlers. The question many people ask, however, is whether or not the disorder has an impact on the Quality of life (QOL) in adulthood. What is its effect on individuals’ mental and emotional health?

To answer this question, we must look at stuttering from a multidimensional perspective and we must look at different aspects of a stutterer’s life. Of course, there are tons of studies that try to investigate and estimate the impact of stuttering on QOL, but most of them have registered little to no success.

One thing is certain, though: Stuttering has a negative effect on most quality of life (QOL) dimensions in adults. It is important that additional research is done in order to get the exact extent of the negative impact for better treatment planning. This will also be instrumental in preventing any future mental, emotional, or social disorders that could stem from adult stuttering.

Causes of Stuttering In Adults

Understanding the causes of stuttering in adults is the key to understanding a stutterer’s quality of life. Some speech issues start in childhood while others are precipitated by head injuries after an accident or a prolonged illness. People who suffer from neurological diseases sometimes find trouble producing sound and developing speech. They often find themselves making a slurred speech or lacking the right words to form complete statements.

There are qualified speech and language pathologists who help such people to improve speech. You can sign up for speech therapy for adults, for example, to have a professional help you deal with language issues. Speech therapy for adults also applies to patients with cognitive difficulties, particularly short-term memory.

The Impact on Socio‐Emotional Development and Quality Of Life of Language Impairment

•           Adults with severe speech impairment tend to have a worse QOL compared to those that stutter just a little. Research shows that as an individual tries to regulate and manage his/her speech impairment, his/her quality of life improves.

•           People who struggle with speech problems right from childhood have a normal QOL. Studies show that such people get used to the life of stuttering, since they know no other life, so they don’t really care how others think of their stuttering. That is different from people who develop speech impairment in adulthood, say due to stroke or any other illness.

•           Poor social interaction skills sometimes precipitate shame, embarrassment, and frustrations. People with speech impairment are easily irritated and are more vulnerable to depression. Note that speech impairments can be very isolating, so you must do all you can to prevent that from happening.

•           Studies also indicate that many people who struggle with speech issues through school are affected negatively in their academic life. Without positive emotions towards their time in school, such kids have problems making friends and establishing healthy relationships with teachers. If not addressed early enough, this problem can adversely affect an individual’s later life, say in terms of limiting their career options.

•           Speech issues can also affect your ability to obtain work or to relate well with colleagues, bosses, and clients. That can reflect in a bad way your work performance, hampering your chances for promotion. The good thing is that with speech therapy for adults, you can successfully reverse the effect of speech impairment on your professional life.

Problems with stutter are problems that also impact the student’s academic and social life within the school premises. Especially for teenagers, such a problem may impact their social life considerably. Thus, it is very important for teachers to know how to behave in such cases and help the student overcome the challenges.

There are several steps that teacher can do to help students such as:

• Talk slow so that the student feels comfortable when he then speaks slow.
• Do not tell the student to relax or slow down.
• Convey to the student that you are listening to the content said rather than the way it was said.
• Look at them with interest when they are talking.
• Repeat and rephrase what the student said to let them know your understood what was said.
• Research new technology available for students who may need additional resources.

As well, if the student is already visiting a speech therapy specialist, the teacher must coordinate with the speech therapist and let him/her know where the student is struggling most, so that practices are made in that context. Provide the speech therapist with classroom materials so that they can use them as part of the practice sessions.

The speech therapist and teacher must also coordinate on the technique they want to follow to push the student because it would be confusing, ineffective and unsuccessful to use different approaches to push the children to talk normally.

Final Thoughts

It is advisable that you seek medical attention as soon as possible in case you experience a sudden onset of impaired speech as that could be a sign of an underlying health condition. As we have mentioned, impaired speech in adulthood is in most cases a product of illnesses such as stroke, or severe head injuries. These conditions can be life-threatening if not addressed early enough.