ImaginationGYM® in Education

ImaginationGYM® is designed to be self-paced to integrate and assist with a child’s current level of education and emotional development. It can be used in the elementary/ primary school sector as an integrated part of the mainstream curriculum. Areas include

• S.P.H.E.
• Media Studies
• Nature
• Global Studies
• Religious studies/ Reflective time

ImaginationGYM® is a valuable tool for

• Teachers
• Special Needs Assistants (SNA’s)
• Resource teachers
• School counsellors/ Psychologists
• Home/ school liaison officers (both in mainstream education and as part of early intervention programs)

Separate training modules are provided for teachers, resource teachers and SNA’s. These training courses cover the detailed implementation of the programs in the different education settings. This allows the facilitators in each setting to implement ImaginationGYM® in the most beneficial way for themselves and their students.

Examples

ImaginationGYM® will allow hyper-active children to develop concentration, focus and self-regulated behaviour skills by building up their listening skills over a period of time. Although, initially, a listening session may only be between 5 and 10 minutes, over the course of a school year it can grow to between 30 and 60 minutes depending on time and resources available to the teacher.

A recent study (Scientific American Mind, volume 18, number 4) carried out by Psychologist Clancy Blair (Pennsylvania State University) which focused on three to five year olds has shown that children who learn self-regulated behaviour skills will do better at mathematics, reading and writing than children who have not developed these skills. Teaching self-regulated behaviour is a core principal of ImaginationGYM®. In fact the study was completed on two sets of children who were divided up according to their IQ scores. The group with the lowest IQ were taught self-regulated behaviour skills similar to those taught through the ImaginationGYM® Methodology. This group actually went on to outperform the children with the higher IQ.