Kids use their behavior to show how they are feeling and what they are thinking. Often, they communicating something through their behavior that they aren’t necessarily able to verbalize. When determining what discipline strategy to use, consider the possible underlying cause for the behavior problem. A child might misbehave because: they want attention, they are imitating, to test limits, they lack skills, to show their independence, they have big emotions, they have underlying mental health issues, and to exert power and control. A child`s behavior can affect her ability to learn as well as other students` learning environment. Bringing in the pastoral side of the curriculum, schools can provide activities and opportunities for students to learn more holistically to develop both resourcefulness and independence.
learning. This is seen in pivotable research from Jean Piaget’s four stages of development:
The Sensorimotor stage: where the learning takes place through touch and feel; The Pre-operational stage: where the ability to arrange objects logically starts to develops; The Concrete Operational stage: where the ability to think logically about objects and events starts to become structured and The Formal Operational Stage: where abstract thinking and verbal reasoning starts to develop. Bates (2016, p.48-49).
Piaget’s theory explains people learn differently in relation to their stage of cognitive development and argued that learning takes place through touch and feel and the rational arranging of objects, leading onto thinking about those objects in a more structured way for advanced verbal reasoning. When applying these theories in classroom settings, we can implement stimuli that will encourage the development of ideas through structured, guided thinking for pupils to consider and have learning and outcomes take place, tying in with the national curriculum. ‘’Investigation and discussion of the objects provide practise in oral language and stimulate questions and interests which may be used in future activities’’ Grant (1983, p.174) mentions here that concrete tangible example objects that pupils can relate to, expands pupil knowledge building a bigger picture for them through allowing critical discussion and investigation to take place, in addition to specific language and questions explored during initial handling of objects.
Museum visits/learning is another type of active/object based learning that provides a learning experience through all the senses as well as generating a direct link to the past (Fig. 1) from the object source. This learning creates stimulation in young minds about a concept, supporting the development of collaborative discussions as well as the promotion of further learning of museum visits. A recent workshop visit held at the V&A museum provided this rich learning experience through having a well thought out activity (Fig. 2), with instructions and a selection of objects (Fig. 3). This effective object based learning allowed the exploration of topics such as aesthetics, social impact and mechanisms which inspired individual responses and outcomes (Fig. 4), [which is not limited to adding more topics going forward, in or outside the classroom].
Although, Christodoulou (2014, p.101) states,
Consider the English lesson on Romeo and Juliet, which involves making puppets. This involves pupils spending time thinking about the mechanics of puppet-making. That is not to say that colouring in or the mechanics of puppet-making are unimportant. The problem is that the lesson was an English lesson that was supposed to be about Romeo and Juliet. If the aim of the lesson was to teach pupils how to make a puppet, it would have been a
