Mid-term Review at ThinkersBox

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(Daddy takes stock)

Remember how we found out in November last year, that Ash's attention span was as tall as a hobbit and that Ayd's biggest weakness in completing school work was his lack of speed? It was thanks to ThinkersBox, who offered them a Full Learning Assessment where their skill sets would be assessed in order to find out more about their foundational abilities and learning profiles. Read in detail about the assessment in my previous post HERE.

The boys have started on its 10-month programme since January this year, and I was recently invited to sit in during one of their sessions to observe the proceedings.

There were 10 kids in the classroom and all were of different ages. Notice Ayd's personal workbook above? ThinksBox is unlike the usual enrichment centres, where kids are placed in a hotbed environment and constantly pushed to practice worksheet after worksheet.

Instead, the programmes that ThinkersBox offer are knowledge-driven and not product driven so each individual workbook is tailored to each child’s specific learning strengths and weaknesses. So while a child might be attempting Page 15 of his workbook, another will be working on Page 28 of hers.

And for the entire duration I was inside the classroom, I noticed that everything went like clockwork - all the kids knew what they were supposed to do! Then I saw it.

The tag that was hanging beside Ash, which every child had one as well. The tag mapped out the sequence of the three stations which each child had to complete in the 2-hour session. Obviously one of them was the workbook station where they had to complete a stated number of pages within a time limit.

The second station was computer quizzes that focused on linking themes or patterns. I would think both boys preferred this over the workbook station. Heh.

The last station was the most fun of the lot, at least to me. It was all about games that emphasized on logical thinking or quick mathematics and I would have given it a shot... if the trainers had asked me.

One particular game that Ayd was tasked to do was the red beans and soya beans challenge. The two types of beans have been mixed together and each child was supposed to separate the two kinds of beans into two bowls. Sounds easy enough right?

Well, not if the child is constantly being subjected to distraction by the trainers!

Throughout the task, the trainers will call out the child's name or attempt to speak to him/her. And if he/she looked up or responded, the separation task has to start ALL OVER AGAIN! How's that for intense concentration???

So after about 2.5 months of weekly lessons, did the boys show any improvement?

I found that Ash has been able to focus a tad better when it comes to doing his school homework, and Ayd has been picking up speed in completing his school assignments. So I would have to say progress has been steady thus far!

More importantly though, the boys are not vehemently protesting against their sessions at ThinkersBox so I would think that itself is the best testament.


For more information on the programmes available offered at ThinkersBox, kindly click HERE. Or if you are keen to send your child (5-12 years old only) for its Complimentary Learning Assessment, you can register via HERE. 

ThinkersBox
420 North Bridge Road 
North Bridge Centre 
#03-02/03 
Singapore 188727 
Tel: 6773 4886