So, you have got your NSTSE results. You have seen the scores, gone through the analysis, checked your child's answers with the given correct answers and understood his/her strengths and weaknesses. Now, your question is: How can I help my child improve, given his/her strengths and weaknesses? Here are some tips to help your child improve:
General
- Help your child to understand the concepts given in the text book instead of just memorizing. If you arenot familiar with the concepts, embark on a journeywith your child to discover them.
- Subscribe to magazines, newspapers, journals that your child will find interesting.
- Subscribe to activity kits like Unified Knowledge Box, so that the child can discover and learn.
- Get good books for your child to read and learn new things. Try and spend time with him/her reading them and answering their questions.
- Attendworkshops/lectures offered by the school or otherorganisations, related to child development orother such topics.
- Encourage them to watch channels like National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet, news channels, etc.
- Watch good quiz programmes along with your child.
Encourage them to surf good sites on the net, which will improve their understanding. You can also help your child improve specific subject skills by identifying skills in which your child is weak and encouraging him to take up activities that will develop them. Some examples are given below:
Maths
- Give your child some money to shop by himself/herself (like for a birthday present for a friend) to understand the concept of budget and money.
- Ask children to look up the prices of products bought when visiting a supermarket, and make an estimate of the total amount likely to be spent.
- Give them small assignments to learn the concept of measurement - volume (amount of water a bottle will contain), length (measuring the dimensions of a window for curtains), time (time taken for cooking rice in a pressure cooker), etc.
- Help them understand graphical information in newspapers or magazines - like weather data. Science
Science
- Help children to sort and classify books, plants or other materials around the house.
- Involve your child in household tasks that help him/her understand concepts - repairing electrical items, fixing a wall hanging, fixing/changing a gas knob.
- Encourage all kinds of sensory experiences like closing his/her eyes in the early morning and listening to the sounds of nature.
- Explain everyday or routine scientific occurrences whenever you can.