essay of TEYL Assignment

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III/C 10.1.01.08.0042

Teaching for Young Learners (Children are Forgetful)

Children have short memories to remember what they have learn. They usually remember the last activities in the end of their study. That’s why teachers give repetition for many times to help them to remember what they have learn. In this implication teachers should have a good strategy for them. One of this strategy is using Mystery Objects. Here are some explanation about this strategy. 

Mystery objects

Creativity involves developing ideas through suggesting hypotheses (‘What if …?’) and applying imagination. This activity encourages children to develop ideas that are original and have a purpose, which is to improve or add value to something. It encourages children to ask themselves the creative question: ‘How can this be improved?’

Show a box that contains an unfamiliar or interesting ‘mystery object’ (or a picture of an object). Without showing or saying what it is, describe the object’s appearance (or ask a child to). Ask children to try to visualize what is described, to hypothesis what it might be and then ask questions to try to identify the object. The child who identifies the object must also describe it. Show the object and ask children to reflect on the description given and their ability to visualize it. Discuss what it was made for, and its possible uses. Ask for suggestions of how it might be improved. Encourage creative suggestions.

Here are some questions for stimulating creative ideas about any topic, grouped under the mnemonic CREATE:

C ombine :Can you add something else to it? Can you combine purposes, ideas?

Rearrange: Can parts of it be moved or changed?

Eliminate :What could you remove or replace – in part or whole? Can it be simplified?

Adapt: Can it be adapted? What else is this like? What ideas does it suggest?

Try another use: Can it be put to other uses – or given a new use if you changed one part?

Extend: What could be added - words, pictures, symbols, functions, decoration, logos?

Children could select or be given one object to study with a partner

1. They think up as many uses as they can for the object.

2. Their ideas are listed and shared with a larger group.

3. They think of ways to change and improve the design or function of one object (using the CREATE questions above)

4. The group assesses what they think is the most original idea.

5. They draw this new object and prepare a presentation to describe or ‘sell’ it to others.

Children can be invited to assess the value of their own and others’ ideas. Questions might include:

• Were any good improvements suggested? Which were the best?
• Did they find it more creative to work on their own, with a partner or a group? Why?
• Is it important to try to improve things? What should be improved? Why?

Fisher R. & Williams M. (eds) (2004) Unlocking Creativity, London: David Fulton

Fisher R. (2005) (2nd ed.) Teaching Children to Learn, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Fisher R. (2005) (2nd ed.) Teaching Children to Think, Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes