Group Study Guide

Session: Mental Growth in Children

Preparation

• Write each of the major characteristics on an index card:
1. Concrete operations
2. Learning by cooperating and sharing viewpoints
3. Changes in attention
4. Improvements in memory
5. Advances in classification abilities
6. Improvements in evaluation
7. Major strides in literacy.
   
   
• Write the word "Milestones" on the marker board.

Reflect and Practice

1. Begin the session with fellowship and prayer.
   
   
2. Read the story about the fifth grader who asked if Moses was dead (p. 27). Say, "During this session, we are going to discover how children think differently from adults."
   
   
3. Divide the participants into seven small groups. Give each group one of the index cards. Ask each group to reflect on what Jerry Aldridge wrote about the characteristic on the card. Prepare a creative way to engage the total group in conversation about the characteristic. Identify easy-to-use ways of using the characteristic in learning activities.
   
   
4. Let each small group make a presentation and facilitate the discussion. Give each group a time limit as appropriate.
   
   
5. Close the session with a time of prayer for personal concerns. Remind your participants to read the article(s) for the next session