Raising Successful Children in the 21st

Century

Dr. Shen-Li Lee

Who am I?

How Would You Define a Successful Child?○ Intelligent○ Creative○ Resourceful○ Straight A’s○ Sociable○ All-rounder○ Diligent○ Responsible○ Resilient○ ...

FailureAdversity builds strength of character

Link: The Growth Mindset in Education

Social Skills

Let’s Talk: How do you help your child develop social skills?

Social Skills Development○ Neuro-dramatic Play - Sue Jennings○ Mindfulness Meditation○ Sports○ Music○ Play - especially mixed ages○ Reading Fiction

Dysrationalia

○ Not being able to think rationally despite being intelligent.

○ Affects even people with high IQ scores.○ Result of: poor thinking strategies, lazy

thinking, personal biases.○ Teach children “how” to think not “what” to

think○ de Bono Thinking Hats○ Critical thinking - RED (recognise

assumptions, evaluate arguments, draw conclusions)

Link: Why children need to be taught thinking skills

“With many students, it’s not like they can’t remember the material. It’s like they’ve never seen it before.” Henry L. Roediger III, a psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis in reference to students moving on to a more advanced class.

Making Learning Count

Let’s Talk: How do we help children learn better?

Enhancing Learning and Performance○ Power posing○ Spaced learning○ Interleaving○ Handwritten notes○ Gamefication○ Critical Thinking Skills○ Sleep○ Nutrition○ Brain breaks○ Avoid multi-tasking

What is more important?

High IQ

or

High Creativity?

Write down as many uses as you can think of for:

A Brick

1.2.3.4.5.

A Blanket

1.2.3.4.5.

Answer from a prodigy with one of the highest IQs in his school:

Brick

1. Building things2. Throwing

Blanket

1. Keeping warm2. Smothering fire3. Tying to trees and

sleeping in (as a hammock)

4. Improvised stretcher

Answer from a top student:

Brick1. To use in smash-and-grab

raids2. To help hold a house togetehr3. To use in a game of russian

roulette if you want to keep fit at the same time (bricks at ten paces, turn and throw – no evasive action allowed)

4. To hold the eiderdown on a bed tie a brick at each corner

5. As a breaker of empty Coca-cola bottles

Blanket1. To use on a bed2. As a cover for illicit sex in the

woods3. As a tent4. To make smoke signals with5. As a sail for a boat, cart or sled6. As a substitute for a towel7. As a target for shooting practice

for short-sighted people8. As a thing to catch people

jumping out of burning skyscrapers

Creativity Trumps IQ

Testing academic performance on individuals with:

○ High IQ High creativity○ High IQ Low creativity○ Low IQ High creativity○ Low IQ Low creativity

Getting Creative

○ Sleep - dreams○ Down time - day dreaming○ Nature - increases creativity by 50%○ Play○ Socialising - “creativity does not exist in a

vacuum”

Creativity is not an “aha” moment - it is a process.

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” - Jack London

To Sum it up

1. Social Skills2. Failure3. Dysrationalia - Thinking strategies4. Learning Practices5. Creativity