This is a fascinating topic for me because I believe kids are over-educated in this country, meaning they are force-fed an educational system. For at least six hours a day, most kids in the US sit at a desk, supposedly doing something educational that someone else directed them to do. They wait for the sound of a bell to release them, and then they go home to do a few more hours of teacher-directed homework.
Peter and I had an interesting discussion yesterday. He is helping in a fourth grade classroom near his campus for a few hours a week, generally working with small groups on reading or math. Yesterday he took groups aside and helped them learn about magnets. A main component of the lesson was reading a chart about the properties of magnets, but none of the kids could interpret the chart. He thought maybe the terminology was tripping them up, so he created his own silly chart of food items, asking the kids to plot points related to tasty and "nasty" food combinations. They understood the concept a lot better after that, but were still not able to translate the chart reading skill to their magnet lesson.
I asked him if he knew how he learned how to plot points. "Battleship," I said. "I'm sure you don't know this, but I purposefully bought Battleship
so you kids would learn about coordinate planes and how to plot points." And many times over the years I've said, "It's just like Battleship," and they nod their heads and move on. Most games are like that. Monopoly is great for money skills, addition and subtraction, economic concepts, etc. Yahtzee is good for multiplication and division. But I didn't force them to play games like these--if they were bored, I'd suggest one.My kids got to play and explore on their own, and it built up their problem-solving muscles. Like those kids in India with a computer left in their village, they are excited to figure things out. They are active, not passive learners. They aren't waiting for someone to tell them what's next in the scope and sequence, and their knowledge is not limited by what's on the educational menu. As a result, they aren't flustered by the unknown. Instead, the unknown becomes part of the learning game, the one we are born to play.
11 comments:
Your posts are always so encouraging, since you are much further ahead in the journey!
Thanks!
That was such a brilliant video. Our kids each have a computer and often work together to do things online, learning things that we didn't even realize they knew how to do. Games and crafts are also a big part of that learning (as is conversations). Today my oldest designed and is now waring a pair of shoes she created from cardboard and duct tape. I suggested she try it when she complained that her sandals were too small and she then proceeded to create them on her own and then make some for her brother. I think maybe, in general, children don't need teachers but instead need facilitators and challenges to overcome.
Great post. I also love games and all kids learn from them. Often my husband knows information I am unfamiliar with and I always ask how it knows it. Never has he said he learned it in school - it has all been from life learning.
As always, tahnks for this.
I'm going to take all these posts and frame them in various places in my house before next school year. You dare me?
Great post! Clearly, the short answer to the question, "Can kids teach themselves?" is, "Yes!"
In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, one of the most memorable passages for me was the one where, watching African (I think?) children at play - pounding roots, hunting bugs (for food), imitating the behavior they see in their elders - the American girl who narrates realizes that here in her new home, the kids' play incorporates useful tasks, things they will need to know as adults. I think about that passage often as I watch my kids learn through play; they are learning what will be important for them to know as adults in our culture.
I've watched the video in the past. Loved it! Some older kids at church were asking me how much time my kids spent doing school. I told them about an hour or two. They were floored. I loved the look on their faces but felt bad for them. My neighbor complained that she spent 3 hours on MATH homework every night with her child. But my kids get excited about learning about horses, pigs, playing Monopoly, knitting, spinning, cooking, playing Webkinz(there is a money management aspect that I love - they have to have enough money to feed their pets in addition to buying fun things), reading and so many other things we do together.
Not only can kids teach themselves, but they can also teach their parents a thing or two. Now that my girls are older, I'm finding that they are learning things on their own and giving me lessons in how to do things. My oldest has to help me with photoshop and the new camera we are sharing. My youngest always has new info. about horses.
I love learning from them!
Fabulous post!!!
And I am so buying Battleship this weekend- I had forgotten how much I used to love playing that as a kid!
Not to mention the joy that comes part of the package.
The joy!
Jena, I just choked up seeing the video and all those beautiful intelligent children who just aren't given a chance! I hope he was successful in implementing his computer outdoctrination theory!! What a lesson for all of us!!
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