The other day, we received another lovely message from a mum whose son is in Year 9. When he first came to our centre, he was disengaged from learning Maths and hated it with all his heart. His mum told us that now he understands Maths, and he loves it!
That’s exactly what we’ve been working so hard to achieve. It’s the whole reason why we are here in the first place, and what I believe AI can’t replace, at least not yet: creating an environment where students can learn with joy and love.
Why joy and love matter in learning
Because I believe every positive change starts with love, joy and less resistance to what we are doing. When students enjoy learning, they become more excited to come to class and much less tears to sitting down and doing some practice. I’m not saying they’re all jumping up and down, saying, “Yes! I get to do more work!” There are a few, but they’re rare!
But if we can encourage them to practise with less avoidance, slowly, learning becomes a habit. They begin to feel competent in understanding and doing something. That’s when they start to feel confident in themselves, and happy to see their own progress. And when they achieve great results, they get to reap the rewards of their hard work.
The important role of educators
To spread this joy and love of learning, we, as educators, need to have a genuine passion for learning and teaching, and above all, a deep sense of care for our students. Because it’s through that passion, care and human connection that we can inspire them to take initiative, encourage them to keep trying, and especially help take actions and keep them accountable. From my observation, that’s one of the biggest challenge for not only children but for us these days. That AI can give us endless information, but to make a significant improvement, it depends on how massive actions you take.
AI is a wonderful tool to help our children learn, but it cannot replace the love, passion, inspiration, encouragement and human connection that educators bring to their learning journey.