Understanding the Power of Repetitions at Kumon

Kumon is a learning method that utilizes the power of repetition as a tool to achieve mastery. We all know that. But, do we really know what exactly is the “Power of Repetition”? More importantly, have you ever asked yourself about how the power of repetition, an integral part of Kumon Methodology, helps your kids? If the unanimous answer to all the aforementioned questions is a NO, this article is for you.

 Let’s understand the Power of Repetition and its effectiveness. In one of his interviews, Jeff Weiner, CEO of Linkedin, shared a personal anecdote where his friend paraphrased David Gergen’s sayings on the subject of repetition. As he recalls, his friend said, “If you want to get your point across, especially to a broader audience, you need to repeat yourself so often, you get sick of hearing yourself say it. And only then will people begin to internalize what you’re saying.”

Remember the time in your life when you were learning to play basketball (just for understanding purposes), throwing the ball in the basket again and again, but failing miserably for what seemed like the 100th time. However, you kept practising and it was the 101st throw that the basketball landed in the basket. And it happened again in the 102nd throw, and in 103rd and every other throw ever since. Moral of the story: practice makes perfect, whether it is about basketball, maths or learning anything else.

 

How does it work: the science behind the Power of Repetition?

It boils down to neurons - the cells in our brains that communicate with each other using electrical signals also called action potentials. And the science behind the effectiveness of Power of Repetition philosophy lies in the changes that they undergo when they communicate repeatedly as we practice the same action over and over.

When we perform an action, the neurons involved start firing an electrical signal or action potentials and form a network of cells. However, when we perform an action repeatedly, the action potentials increase the myelin around the network, which leads to faster and more efficient processing of cell signals i.e. better performance.

The same science comes in effect while using the Kumon Methodology, except, the repetitions are spaced (from Spaced Repetition which promotes efficient and effective learning) i.e. the information is repeated after increasing intervals.

Power of Repetition - Kumon Methodology

 

●        The first step is always for the instructor to determine what needs to be repeated. So, when you first visit a Kumon learning centre for kids, your child is evaluated and to understand this/her learning ability.

●        Using the critical thinking Kumon worksheets, your child is assigned work based on his/her performance on the past homework and classwork. If the accuracy and speed do not meet the KUMON standard, a repetition is assigned for those sets of worksheets. These repetitions are individualised per your kid’s learning abilities.

 

The entire goal of repetition is to internalize the topic for your child. The repeated practice firmly ingrains the topic in your child’s mind, making him/her a master of the concept. To ensure results through repetition, Kumon learning programmes define the threshold for accuracy and speed for each worksheet, which, a child, can only meet if he/she has fully mastered the topic.

 

Now, this is just the gist of the Kumon Methodology. To fully understand the method or the power of repetition at Kumon, visit your nearest learning centre for kids.