As a parent in today’s world, you are probably wondering how to make your child successful in life, given a changing world and an economy that looks very different from those of previous generations. New perspectives on education and finances can certainly help. Learn how developing problem-solving strategies, cultivating creativity, and foundational personal finances could help prepare your child for success.
How to help your child succeed
According to the World Economic Forum, critical thinking and problem-solving top the list of skills employers believe will grow in prominence in the next five years.1 While you may have read that schools do too much “teaching to test,” many educators recognize the importance of problem-solving as both a life skill and a job function.2
Preparing kids for the future
Fostering an environment of creative problem-solving is an ongoing challenge for many schools. Students need opportunities to think creatively, experiment, and work with data throughout the year.3 What can we do to encourage children to develop necessary skills for the future? Here are two key places to start:
- Invention education or invention-based learning is a proven way to teach disciplined inventive thinking in the classroom. Inventive thinking is necessary to build an innovative, entrepreneurial, and diverse workforce to meet our country’s future needs. Invention education puts science, engineering, robotics, coding, building, and other skills into action.
Students might, for example, pair up to build catapults that knock over a pile of blocks, learning not only some physics, math, and engineering but also how to problem-solve and work with a group. At home, you can supplement their school-based learning with activities to further help prepare them for the economy of tomorrow.
