{"id":604502,"date":"2026-09-18T17:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604502\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T17:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:28:17","slug":"how-children-learn-best-psychology-today-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/604502\/","title":{"rendered":"How Children Learn Best | Psychology Today New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I asked a teacher: \u201cWell, you know how students learn best?\u201d She looked stumped. Is there a best way? Of course, we all learn in different ways. But I replied, \u201cThe best way for children to learn is when they don\u2019t even realize they\u2019re learning at all,\u201d and she said, with eyes wide open, \u201cThat\u2019s good.\u201d Because when learning is interesting, engaging, and even fun, we pay attention<\/a> and absorb things like a sponge.<\/p>\n

The Big Problem<\/p>\n

Too much \u201cregular school\u201d isn\u2019t fun. Our contemporary world has created mechanisms for teaching that too often \u201cteach to the test\u201d or put an arbitrary ruler on a student that doesn\u2019t capture their full capabilities. Observing a classroom, there was a student who was a brilliant visual artist, and whether she was in math, science, or Spanish, she always started drawing. Her genius or \u201celement,\u201d as Sir Ken Robinson would\u2019ve said, was visual art. Today, years later, this student is a renowned stained glass artist.<\/p>\n

But this student suffered through the same math class two years in a row and considered herself, like others would say, a \u201cfailed math student\u201d when, in fact, it was the school that failed her. She had no interventions or extra support for learning math visually or with tutors.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this problem persists. Today, Rosie, an eighth-grade student, was sharing with me how disconnected she feels from Spanish class. She doesn\u2019t understand how Spanish relates to her life (no real-world experience) and hasn\u2019t yet found an effective way to learn the language. To say she\u2019s not enjoying the class is an understatement. <\/p>\n

One Solution <\/p>\n

While not every subject can be fun or even interesting to everyone, the more we encourage ways to engage students, whether it\u2019s PBL (project-based learning) or field trips and experiential learning, the better chance we have that students will tune in versus tune out. <\/p>\n

PBLWorks research shows that project-based learning correlates with higher student engagement and, in my observation, deeper learning. PBL centers around real-world problems that spark students\u2019 natural curiosity, thus increasing the likelihood of real interest. A 2026 Gallup survey found that nearly half of Generation Z students found experiential learning boosted their engagement.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I visited an independent K-8 school in Northern California with a marine science track\u2014you could literally go to the beach with your class, explore the tide pools, and come back to the lab to observe starfish. I was enthralled. I\u2019ve also been to public schools, which had equally impressive learning environments focused on creating the \u201cjust right\u201d environment with fresh air, flexible seating, a safe place for recess, and engaged teachers who offered novel electives like Lego Engineering and Culinary Arts. <\/p>\n

Students who are engaged, find meaning in what they\u2019re learning, and get to do it as PBL or experiential learning will have a higher likelihood of enjoying themselves. Whether the topic is learning how to code with and without AI<\/a> or reading to literacy dogs, students who forget they\u2019re learning are experiencing the best way to learn\u2014with enjoyment.<\/p>\n

But unfortunately, the Gallup survey also revealed that over 49 percent of Generation Z students (aged 13 to 29 years old in 2026) felt that in school they don\u2019t get a chance to do what they do best. Their signature strengths aren\u2019t necessarily represented in the curricula, or they haven\u2019t yet been able to express them. They could clearly be having more fun while learning.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line <\/p>\n

The better we feel, the better we can do. This isn\u2019t rocket science, but it harkens back to what Plato said, \u201cAll learning has an emotional base,\u201d and if students are feeling connected and interested\u2014we\u2019re starting to create an optimum learning environment where we nurture their enthusiasm and natural curiosity in themselves, as well as the world around them. They may not even realize how much they\u2019re learning, and this, my friends, is excellent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, I asked a teacher: \u201cWell, you know how students learn best?\u201d She looked stumped. Is there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-604502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}