With an approximate thirty to forty percent drop out rate in American schools today, parents need to be creative to keep their middle school/high school age child engaged in learning even through summer time (Thronburgh, online, 2006). How can you as a parent help your child stay academically engaged without causing a family melt down? The key to answering this question is to understand that everything we do in life is a learning experience. As adults we use higher-level thinking/ reasoning skills every day without giving it a second thought. Those skills were not inbred they were learned at some point now it has become second nature. We use those skills without thinking. Here are some of life’s everyday higher level reasoning skills and the educational equivalent:

Bargain hunting = Compare and Contrast

Budgeting time = reading, prioritizing, evaluation and preparing a time line

Planning a trip = Research and analytical thought

Finding a good mechanic, plumber etc. = research, evaluation, analysis

Monthly budget = synthesis and analysis

I could go on and on but I believe the point has been made. So the question is how do you, as the parent/teacher, involve your child in this educational process?

A simple way is to involve your child in the household decision making process, such as the purchasing of a new household appliance. You want to get the most quality for the dollars that you have to spend. Have your child do the research. Tell them the amount you have budgeted for and what options you want in an appliance. This one simple process, that we as adults take for granted, has multiple learning lessons from which your child can benefit. The goal here is to increase your teenager’s critical thinking skills. By giving your child the responsibility of finding the right product for the specified amount of money you have to spend will engage all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

What is Bloom’s Taxonomy you ask? Dr. Benjamin Bloom developed Bloom’s Taxonomy in the 1950’s and it classified educational objectives into three domains: Affected, Psychomotor and Cognitive. (Johnson,L; Lamb,B. 2000/2007). What schools use today to teach your child is the Cognitive domain. This domain is divided into the following six levels:

1. Knowledge: Basic recall of learned material facts terms concept.

2. Comprehension:Understanding of facts and ideas demonstrated through organizing, comparing , translating, interpreting, giving descriptions, and stating main idea.

3. Application: Solving problems to new situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniquies and rules in a different way.

4. Analysis: Examine and break information into parts by identifying motives or causes. Make inferences and find evidence to support generalization.

5. Synthesis: Compile information together in a different way by combining elements in a new pattern or proposing alternative solutions.

6. Evaluation: Present and defend opinions by making judgments about information, validity of ideas or quality of work based on a set of criteria. (Johnson,L; Lamb,B. 2000/2007).

By developing questions based upon Bloom’s key words, you can create an in depth learning experience for your child that will develop critical thinking skills and build self-confidence.

The first step in planning a lesson is the objective. What is the objective of the whole lesson? What do you want your child to learn? The next step is to set up a goal for the lesson. What essential thing or things do you want your child to learn from this lesson. Finally, what teaching strategies will you use in the lesson. To create and write a complete lesson plan with rationals, format and teaching stratigies i.e. individual, group, classroom and differentiated lesson plan would take up too much space for this article, so I have listed some helpful websites that you can explore at the end of the article.

A good example lesson, to engage all the skills listed above, can be the purchase of a household appliance. The objective will be to teach research skills, analitical thought and evaluations skills. The goal will be for your child to select the most reliable product for the money you have budgeted through reasearch of various similar appliances. The analysis of these appliances will be for quality, durability, warranty, available options and price. This will be done through simple compare and contrast methods. Your child will then pick the best product based on his/her research and analysis through evaluating the data collected. Once your child has completed the research and analysis you can have ask for a written report detailing their evaluation of the products. Once you have read the report you can then question your child as to why he /she pick that particular brand. This is where higher level questiong comes into play using Bloom’s Taxonomy key words.

Once you have figured out the objective, goals and overall lesson, you now must gather all the materials you will need to teach the lesson. Learning can become concrete and permanent when the lesson is taught with physical props. This seems daunting but in fact it is not difficult, for instance the lesson plans for buying a new appliance such as a new washer can be accomplished very simply with minimal preparation and material set up.

The first thing you will need to do is introduce your children to the new vocabulary they will encounter. Make a list of all the unfarmiliar vocabulary words you feel your child will have a problem with. Next gather up all the Sunday paper ads and find the sections on household appliances to use as a starting point for research. You should also review and list the manufactures websites so your children can review each brand name product’s specification. Once you have gather all the information you believe your child will need to make an informed analysis, sit down with your child and review the vocabulary words and there meanings. Depending on what grade level your child is in you might want to demonstrate a compare and constrat between a sample items, using a venn diagram, so your children will see what you are requiring (see Venn Diagram). Never take for granted that the concept is so simple that it is understood. It might be simple to an adult but to a teenagers it could be very confusing.

Once you have reviewed the vocabulary words, demonstrated the compare and copntrast element and given your requirements for the washing machine have your children begin the reasearch to complete the assignment. The final part of the assignment is a writtten report that explains which product is better. The report should contain a venn diagram, a well thought out essay detailing the findings, one paragraph for each important item, and a strong concluding statement recommending the final choice (see The Owl at Purdue). With the report done have your child give an oral presentation at which point you can now ask questions, using Bloom’s, concerning specifics about his/her findings.

This is a simple and effective way to keep your child educationally enaged over the summer. You will be developing critical thing skills, oral communication skills, research skills, math skills and formal writing skills. Skills everyone needs to be successful in school and life. This type of lesson can be adapted to buying a family car, planning a family vacation, buying a family computer, anything that involves spending money. The main thing is to engage your child in learning and to build his/her selfconfidence to learn and make decisions.

SOURCE:

1. Thornburgh, Nathan. “Dropout Nation.” Time.com 9 April, 2006. 19 April, 2009 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181646,00.html>
2. Teacher Tap. Larry Johnson & Annette Lamb 2000,2007 19 April , 2009 <http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm>
3. Teacher Tap. Larry Johnson & Annette Lamb 2000,2007 19 April , 2009 <http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic69.htm>
4. www.fsu.edu. “Charting a Course; How do I use VennDiagrams<http://www.lpg.fsu.edu/charting/InstructionalStrategies/howto-tactics/ht-k1ccvenn.asp>

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/