Sadly, an analysis of national academic achievement tests found that children from low-income households had a 20% lower success rate. Economic disparities within families create disparities in academic achievement. If poverty persists, children will continue to face various disadvantages. Lack of diverse experiences will stifle a child’s growth and academic potential. Research in the United States has shown that elementary school students who participate in club activities demonstrate a greater motivation to learn. Participation in after-school clubs such as music lessons, dance lessons, performing arts activities, and sports demonstrated greater independence and motivation in their studies. Elementary school students who participated in clubs demonstrated greater attention span, organization, flexibility, and perseverance in solving problems compared to non-participants.
While “food” and “study” are of course important factors for children, providing them with a wide variety of “experiences” is also important if we want them to grow better. In Japanese society, there are children who can do whatever they want. On the other hand, there are also children who cannot do what they want even if they want to. Children’s range of activities and imagination is influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by their past experiences. For both adults and children, the range of sports and cultural activities they can choose from is influenced by past experiences. Children living in poverty tend to have a narrower range of things they have tried in the past. This narrow range can hinder their potential for growth.
Basic movements that young children should master include standing, climbing, walking, throwing, running, jumping, and kicking. It is important for them to experience a variety of movements and create many variations in the neural circuits in their brains. It is desirable to maintain children’s motivation by continually experiencing small feelings of accomplishment. Past happy memories and successes can provide emotional support when faced with difficulties. Successful experiences from childhood build psychological resilience. In welfare facilities in Northern Europe, it is common to see people of all ages and genders making effective use of the facility’s space. A variety of recreational activities are being carried out in a fun way. This is a design approach that places a welfare facility adjacent to a school. In the shared space for seniors and children, you can see scenes of the elderly and children engaged in lively activities. This scene seems to hold clues to eliminating the experience gap.
