About Ms Katherine Law – Chief Curriculum Developer at Guru Kids Pro
She operates an enrichment centre in Singapore focusing on the thinking needs of young children between 4 and 12 years old.
Her Belief
Research clearly demonstrates the strong impact of early environment on cognitive development. There is also clear evidence from research regarding the need for early concentrated involvement with their child for the full development of both the child’s language and nonlinguistic abilities (that is Science, Maths, History, Geography etc).
It has also been shown that when parents or educators structure problems and then permit the children to derive their own solutions, they will learn to relate parts of the task to the goal. It is therefore important for children to gain early experience in independent thinking and problem solving.
About Her Work
She has been working with children, gifted/high ability and mainstream, for over 18 years. Being an MOE-trained teacher and a mother of two, with both her kids in our local Gifted Education Programme (GEP), she understands the constant worries parents have with regards to their children’s education & wellbeing. Everyone wants the best for our kids. Thus, NURTURING them is one of utmost importance. In recent years, she has shifted position, from one who educates the young to one who passionately NURTURES the young, as well as sharing useful information, ideas, resources, & her vast experiences with parents. She has also earned herself a Master of Education, specialising in Gifted Education, from NIE.
She strongly believes that it is a much faster process to learn parenting skills from experienced parents and she is constantly learning from other parents as well. On completing her Master’s course, her critical inquiry paper was focused on the research question ~
Is there a consistent parenting style that exist among parents of high ability children in Singapore in terms of parental perception of academic achievement, level of involvement in supporting academic instruction, ways of managing their children’s behaviour in terms of their academic school work, their role in school work, and ways of communication between themselves and the school teachers?
“I remember Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, who once said “Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” If my own kids have to spend all or almost all his/her time doing academic work just to be good enough, then it’s truly sad. They wouldn’t be able to have the luckiest thing in life – a happy childhood. Thus, from a very young age, my two kids would enjoy purposeful play which helped in many areas of their cognitive development. I would also remember to let them have free playtime to stimulate their planning & organising skills.
Being an MOE-teacher & started teaching the upper levels, I saw the constant struggles most children had in their upper primary years, and this would continue into their secondary school years. Hence, I wanted my own kids to do well in their primary school years without the high stress. I read up on proven, well-researched pedagogies on childhood parenting, motivation and pre-school education, and as time progress, on gifted education pedagogies. I have written Guru Kids Pro’s curricula for the young minds based on all my extensive readings and collections over the last decade.”
Ms. Katherine Law,
M.Ed (Gifted Ed), PGDE, B.A.
