How to improve your child's IQ

Author: Yezi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
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3. How to Enhance a Child's Thinking Ability
Generally speaking, one common mistake parents make is frequently noticing their child's lack of knowledge and poor memory, actively seeking ways to improve these issues, yet rarely paying attention to their child's thinking ability, let alone cultivating and enhancing it. In reality, during the process of problem-solving, thinking ability is more important than knowledge and memory. So, how can we cultivate and improve our children's thinking ability?
First, we must stimulate children's curiosity and cultivate their ability to discover and ask questions. Under normal circumstances, active thinking is only triggered when children encounter a problem and feel the need to find a solution. To this end, parents should consciously "pose questions" to children during their learning, daily life, and other activities, based on their actual situations, to draw their attention and encourage them to think about the issues. For example, children often enjoy watching fish play in water. At such times, to guide them to think, parents can ask questions like "Why can fish swim in water without drowning?" or "Why does a fish's tail swing left and right when it swims?" and so on. This can stimulate children's curiosity and cultivate a strong interest, effectively encouraging them to think and seek answers, thereby achieving the goal of developing their thinking ability.
Meanwhile, when inspiring children to think about problems, the "posed questions" should be appropriately challenging and thought-provoking.
Second, adopt various methods to broaden children's knowledge while helping them master knowledge and develop their thinking ability. Knowledge is the foundation and source of thinking, and the basis for developing it. Without rich knowledge, a child's thinking ability cannot be fully demonstrated or developed. For example: In American history, the respected President Lincoln once worked as a judge. During one trial, the defendant was charged with murder. During the interrogation, the defendant insisted he was innocent, while the witness firmly claimed to have seen the defendant commit the crime. The witness's testimony was: "On October 18th, at 11 PM, I stood behind a haystack and saw the defendant commit the crime by a large tree 30 meters away to the west. The moonlight was shining on the defendant's face, so I could clearly see the face of the criminal." As soon as the witness finished speaking, Lincoln stood up and accused him of lying. The witness believed his testimony was flawless, but Lincoln quickly exposed the lie. Lincoln's ability to make a swift and correct judgment was due to his extensive knowledge of natural sciences. On the day the case occurred, October 18th, it was the waxing moon in the lunar calendar, and by 11 PM, the moon had already set in the west. There would be no moonlight. If the witness had mistakenly recalled the time and pushed the crime forward, the moon would still be in the sky to the west. If the moonlight came from the west and shone on the defendant's face, and the defendant faced west while hiding behind the haystack to the east, the witness would not be able to see the criminal's face. If the criminal had faced the witness, the moonlight would have hit the back of his head, making it impossible for the witness to see who the criminal was at a distance of 30 meters. Lincoln used the laws of the moon's rise, fall, and phases as the basis for his judgment, cleverly resolving this so-called eyewitness case. From this example, we can see that if Lincoln had not known about the moon's phases, he would not have been able to make a quick judgment. His ability to reach the correct conclusion was directly linked to his knowledge in this area.
Third, teach children the correct methods of thinking. We know that when people think about problems, they must follow a clear and specific line of reasoning. Therefore, the key to cultivating a child's thinking ability lies in helping them master this line of reasoning. Generally, the process of thinking about problems involves first identifying the issue, then grasping the key points for analysis and argumentation, and finally drawing a conclusion. For example, forming words is an important part of primary school Chinese language learning. Some students rely on rote memorization, resulting in repetitive and low-quality word formation. Sometimes, even after straining their brains, they still cannot form the required number of words. Experienced parents, when helping their children learn to form words, often teach them thinking methods to broaden their perspective and fundamentally master the skill. For instance, when forming words with the character "table," one can consider different angles such as usage, shape, and color, which can lead to words like "desk," "dining table," "office table," "round table," "square table," "long table," "yellow table," "green table," "red table," and "white table." Thinking from aspects like usage, shape, and color is a specific line of reasoning.
Additionally, when educating children, we should break free from the constraints of traditional education. Parents should not merely impart fixed knowledge but focus on inspiring and guiding children to explore, research, and discover on their own. Only in this way can we help children integrate and apply what they have learned, gradually improving their thinking ability.
P15-18