Research have shown that most children are self directed learners. They demonstrate a desire to engage themselves in situations where they can enrich their knowledge and enhance their skill sets. So what exactly is self directed learning? According to Abdullah (2001), self directed learners are “owners and managers of their own learning process”. What does that mean for a daycare teacher or an educator? To inculcate self directed learning, a daycare teacher need to offload some of the responsibilities for learning from themselves to the learner (student).
Too Teacher-Directive Is Bad
Studies have shown that too much teacher-directed activity undermines a young child’s self confidence and motivation to learn. Children are more likely to benefit from an environment where the educational activity supports their own interests and ideas.
When a child chooses his own activity, learning becomes enjoyable for him because it is based on his own interest and it gives him a sense of competence. And according to White, 1959; Yarrow and Messer, 1983; Dichter-Blancher et al., 1997, learning thrives best when there is no external pressure to improve and no feedback or reward other than pure satisfaction--sometimes called achievement or competence motivation.
How To Promote Self Directed Learning?
So how can a daycare environment encourage self directed learning? One way is to set up a few activity corners within the centre such as reading, drawing, art and craft, music and drama, etc and encourage the children to select their own corners and engage themselves in the activities with minimal supervision.
In this way, the student decides from themselves what they wish to learn at that point in time and takes responsibility for their own learning, thereby making learning more enjoyable for them.
