The key to your child’s academic success goes beyond reading books and memorizing lessons. It is also about knowing the best and most efficient way to learn and absorb concepts. This is where the need for academic skills comes into the picture how to build resilience in children.
Higher test scores and better grades can be achieved by helping your child develop a strong set of academic skills, including a good understanding of time management, reading and writing literacy, and teamwork skills.
As a parent, you play an important role in helping your children foster and nurture these skills. From creating a productive study routine to signing them up for camps and taking them to after-school events, there are many things you can do to support your children’s education and help them reach their academic potential.
In this article, we’ll review the key academic skills every student needs to succeed in school, along with some tips and tricks you can use to improve your child’s learning potential.
What are academic skills?
Academic skills are talents and habits that benefit academic activities such as learning, research, report writing, and presentations. These skills keep students focused and motivated to perform well, complete their projects, and manage multiple tasks at once, increasing their productivity and success in school.
For example, children with strong academic skills know how to set goals, plan, organize their time, and collaborate with peers on group projects so they don’t feel overwhelmed. They know the ideal time to study, the best tools and resources to complete their assignments quickly, and the best strategies to prepare for exams at school.
Adopting essential academic skills can also help your child make better use of their time and enjoy school more. By being efficient at school work, they will have more time for extracurricular activities and having fun with friends.
These basic skills are transferable and valuable in various situations and in your future workplace. For example, having a good understanding of time management will allow them to enjoy a healthy work-life balance. Honing their public speaking skills, on the other hand, can help them communicate better in a variety of different situations, including workplace presentations.
The 6 most important academic skills for students and how to improve them
Let’s look at the most crucial academic skills that would boost your child’s academic success. We’ve also listed some tips to help them develop these skills.
- Time management
Time management is about the effective and efficient use of time. Students with this skill know how to optimize their energy and time to ensure completion of all tasks promptly, and still leave enough time to perform other activities. With complete control over time, they can keep up with what is required of them in school without feeling overwhelming stress and pressure.
While mastering this skill can be tricky, you can help your child get started by setting a daily routine to include time for homework, play, and bedtime, until he or she gets used to it.
You can also set a timer while they work on a task. For example, have them work on a task for 30 minutes, with some breaks to help them time it effectively. This will teach them how to prioritize tasks and train their minds to think about how they can complete them within the allotted time.
- Literacy
Literacy is the ability to understand and communicate through reading and writing. It enriches the lives of students and creates opportunities for them to enjoy their educational experiences, achieve academic success, learn to express their ideas verbally and in writing, communicate with others, and become more sociable.
Children learn about literacy through everyday activities at home and at school. As parents, focus on having meaningful conversations to help them listen, understand, and ask questions.
There are countless ways to foster your child’s love of reading, writing, speaking and listening at home and develop strong literacy skills.
Introduce your children to new words to develop their vocabulary.
Read aloud and go to the library together to encourage their curiosity and desire to read.
Explore the sounds of language through rhymes.
Support early writing through doodle writing and spelling exercises.
These exercises will help your child improve their literacy skills and develop higher levels of attention and concentration in class, leading to an overall improvement in their academic performance.
- Teamwork
Teamwork is beneficial when collaborating or contributing to group activities. Learning about teamwork and working with peers on various projects helps students develop essential social and communication skills, such as active listening and effective speaking. When they work as a team, they learn to listen to their peers, explore various ideas, and consider different points of view.
Effective collaboration will make it easier for children to finish their assignments and meet deadlines. Additionally, it can be a good stepping stone that can advance their leadership and conflict resolution skills, which would greatly help them to be successful in the future.
To encourage this academic skill, you can assign simple household chores to your child and ask them to divide the tasks among everyone. This activity will help them realize how they can do more things in less time through collaboration and delegation of activities.
Another great idea is to enroll them in extracurricular activities or camps to try team sports, theater performances, or STEAM activities to instill values of teamwork and respect.
- Digital literacy
Digitally literate people are experts at finding, evaluating and using information with the help of digital tools such as social networks, web browsers and online discussion forums. Additionally, they are aware of the risks associated with technology and work to avoid them. This skill is now more essential than ever as technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives.
Start teaching your children how to be digitally savvy by showing them the ins and outs of the most common digital tools, such as Google and YouTube, and how these platforms can be used for educational purposes.
If your child already knows the benefit of these digital tools, shift your focus and guide them on how to use them safely and responsibly. Familiarize them with some of the risks involved, such as cyberbullying and phishing scams. In addition, it is important to teach them to verify information published on the Internet and become critical and responsible users of various online resources.
More advanced students should be challenged to explore ways in which emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and tools) can help accelerate learning. In the coming years, our students are expected to understand the basics of Web3, blockchain, metaverse, AI, coding, robotics, IoT, among others.
- Public speaking
Public speaking is an essential skill for children to learn. Effective public speaking skills have many benefits for students, such as the ability to connect with peers, become confident communicators, and develop leadership skills.
To hone this skill, introduce your child to podcasts, TED, and TEDYouth Talks to help them see how to present themselves in a crowd and inspire them to step out of their comfort zone.
If they have a presentation coming up, you can help ease their anxiety by rehearsing with them and recording your practice presentation. After that, review and reflect on the video to identify areas for improvement.
Another tip to keep in mind is to take them to a public event so they can see how professional speakers interact with the audience. Let your child observe her mannerisms and tone of voice so he can understand how to successfully deliver his message when he begins giving presentations in class.
- Critical Thinking
Children who think critically can differentiate between facts and opinions, analyze information, and question ideas rather than simply accepting them and dismissing any unreliable or illogical arguments. They can find appropriate and rational solutions to problems and challenges in the process.
Simple exercises, such as asking your child open-ended questions, can go a long way toward developing and honing this academic skill. Ask them what they think about their school or what will happen if they don’t finish their homework. These questions will allow your children to make fact-based judgments from their daily school experiences.
Another way to improve your child’s critical thinking is to put him in situations where he must make decisions. This can be done by giving them the choice of what to wear today or by planning how to spend their weekly allowance. As they consider the pros and cons of each solution, children learn to analyze and base their decisions on what works best.