Beginning Knowledge: The Importance Of Life Skills In Schools

Beginning Knowledge

Introduction
The Importance of Life Skills in our lives cannot be emphasized enough. They are the basic skills we need to live and interact with our environment. We might pick up these essential skills from home, from the neighborhood we live in, but sometimes that isn’t enough. That is why Life Skills is now taught at schools as well.

Life Skills is an integral part of development. It helps us to grow up, mature, to cope with life changes and deal with problems effectively (Ebersohn and Eloff, 2003:50). Life Skills helps you to develop your strengths and weaknesses as well as establishing your talents and abilities. It helps you communicate effectively with people around you; it teaches one interpersonal as well as intrapersonal

Communicate – Communicate your findings and solutions to the world.

Beginning knowledge also includes the scientific process skills, which involves observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, experimenting, and communicating.

How is beginning knowledge taught in schools:
Beginning knowledge is also closely related to personal and social well-being as can be seen in the CAPS document. I think the two are put under one heading because It’s very difficult to teach and to learn in isolation. All the subjects are interwoven for the holistic development of the learner (Alma Lawler, 2014). That essentially means that beginning knowledge is taught throughout the day, and is integrated with all the other subjects and focus areas.

Beginning knowledge, which for such young children basically entails a broader sense of general knowledge, can also be taught in a very fun filled way, instead of the boring “I talk and you listen method”. Children can be taught by playing quizzes and building puzzles (Jamie Miller, ND). Also the morning ring is a great time to teach these concepts and talk about the interesting things around us, either living or

The teacher therefore has to come up with creative and innovative ways to teach children and to always actively involve the learners for learning to be maximized. She can do this by relating the content of this focus area to the child’s actual world and also by bringing concrete objects to touch and feel, or even pictures.

The influence of Beginning knowledge on children:
This kind of knowledge can only benefit children since it forms the basics of their entire schooling career.

They start becoming critical thinkers by questioning things that happen around them, and acknowledging why things happen in a certain way. It also helps them realize what world they live in, how to interact in this world and how they as individuals fit in the world. It also increases their general knowledge, which in turn makes them more developed individuals (HubPages, 2012).
Reference:

Botha, J. Du Preez, P, (2014). An introduction to the history and nature of human rights and democracy in the South African curriculum. In: M, Nel, ed., Life orientation for South African teachers, 1st ed. Pretoria: Van Schaik publishers,