Did Jesus Play with Building Blocks? Part 2

Challenges Discipling Technical Children: I closed my last blog by introducing the different kinds of learners and specifically highlighted kinesthetic or tactile learners. In this post, I will explore some of the challenges technical children have with standard discipleship techniques. Learning styles might be a new concept for you, as the theory of learning styles wasn’t something I was taught growing up. However, a few years ago, my Robotics club decided they wanted to do a research project around helping children learn math more efficiently. The following slides highlight vital points from their research.

Learning Styles

At a high level, there are three ways people learn: Visual…what you see…auditory…what you hear…and kinesthetic—tactile/touch, feel, or move it.

Their research showed that it can be very challenging for a kinesthetic learner to retain information only presented visually. Part of their research also showed that student retention improves significantly if you can mix the learning modes to address two or even all three learning styles simultaneously. 

At the same time, they found that very little home school curriculum attempts to address all of the learning styles in its construction. Their research is actually part of the reason the Towers of Light Curriculum is multi-media. I’ve just run into so many kids who needed to have the various learning modes mixed in order to learn a subject effectively.

Environment

 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Beyond how different kids learn, going to church brings challenges.

The reality is that a traditional church can be challenging for the technical child.  Before you misunderstand, I believe there is great value in a multi-generational church, where people gather one body. I strongly advocate for children to see their parents in corporate prayer and worship. Your technical child will benefit from your faithful example.  However, a large room full of people where the child is expected to sit, hands folded, and just listen isn’t necessarily conducive for them to get the most out of the gathering. At a minimum, providing a pen and paper lets them keep their hands busy while listening to the message.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

However, even smaller “kid-oriented” environments may not be the right place for the technically oriented child. They need to interact with Q&A style occasionally to get something profound in their heads. 

Additionally, it's very rare for a message in children's church to address topics like the building of the temple in the kind of detail a technical child might connect with.

 This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Finally, this is a scene I’ve seen far too often in children’s church.  The child on the side is completely checked out, and it's obvious he’s not feeling whatever is supposed to be going on.  More importantly, he’s now feeling like an outsider because everyone else appears to be “getting it” but him. Compound that every Sunday and Wednesday through grade school into Junior high, it’s easy to see where a rift might form between the child and attending church.

 2/3 of college students who grow up in the church drop out by the age 22

This leads to the cold, hard fact that 2/3 of college students who grow up in the church drop out by age 22.  There are a lot of factors to this, but you’ll see as a population, technically oriented youth are more susceptible to this than others.  They get messages like  “follow the science” without the necessary grounding to realize that God is the author of science or how their technical bent served the body of Christ.

While these challenges seem formidable, there are ways a parent can adapt their approach to discipleship to better connect their child to God's word. In my next post, I'll begin discussing the spiritual gift of craftsmanship.