Water Cooler: Do something different for summer learning

The loss of academic progress for students during summer break, commonly referred to as “summer slide,” “summer brain drain” or “summer setback,” continues to be a hot topic year after year.

The concept rose to prominence in the 1980s thanks to a John Hopkins study on students in Baltimore ranging from first grade through the age of 22. The data collected was used to formulate a conclusion that summer learning loss was responsible for ninth-grade test-score gaps among low-income and wealthy students.

Recent research on the topic, as well as a better understanding of the way social status can impact academic performance, has put these conclusions under scrutiny. Flaws have been pointed out in the methodology of this Baltimore study, and researchers now generally agree that it is more accurate to describe the effect of summer break more so as “summer slowdown” or “summer stagnation.”

Although summer learning loss is still agreed to be a legitimate and prevalent concern for students, the concept is less alarmist and more nuanced than it used to be.

Learning over the summer is still considered to be important for students of all races and social standings, but the best part about learning outside of the school system during summer break is the ability to personalize for kids with various learning styles and interests. It gives caregivers and children the time to explore learning outside of the standard curriculum.

Here are a few ways to engage your children in learning while taking advantage of the flexibility of summer break.

Read for fun – Reading and comprehension is a huge part of standard curriculum, but summer is a great time to allow your young learner to read whatever they want. It might be silly, escapist or just for fun, but any reading that captivates your child’s imagination can help them build a passion for learning instead of it always feeling like a chore. Ask them questions about what kind of stories they like or what subjects they would like to read more about. If your child responds well to some friendly competition, consider enrolling them in a summer reading challenge or creating your very own challenge at home.

Incorporate movement – In order to get through all of the required material for a school year, students are naturally pretty desk-locked. Take summer as an opportunity to incorporate more active learning to change things up and foster more engagement. Consider taking a nature walk to learn more about sciences like geology, biology and ecology. For a fun math challenge, you can roll two or more dice, have your child find the sum and have that correspond with a fun physical activity, such as doing a cartwheel when you roll an 8 or having a foot race when you roll a 10. You could also use learning a dance as a way to teach a child more about music and keeping time.

Get hands on – Summer is a great time of year for conducting all sorts of science experiments that can help young learners get a better understanding of a scientific concept and have something to remember it by. Or you could learn more about the arts by making hands-on projects such as painting your own version of a famous painting, getting outside to paint landscapes, practicing photography on a camera phone, choreographing a dance to your favorite song, or learning a new musical instrument.