pedagogical thoughts
what does it mean to teach and learn at the idea school?
Frequently, when a kid transfers to our school they don’t want to do much of anything beyond a lot of observation and little bit of experimentation. This transitional period can last for months depending on the amount of trauma the child has felt as a result of force, coercion, manipulation, bribery, or punishment at the hands of teachers and other adults. These children don’t seem to get why they would do anything if not extrinsically motivated through the use of either reward or punishment. This time can be torture for parents and collaborators alike. It is so hard to resist even gently nudging our kids on their path to product, but here’s the thing: every time we dictate what they do, how they do it, and when they should do it by, we damage their intrinsic motivation to engage and commit deeply. While the damage may only be minimal, over time, we run the risk of damaging our children’s drive to independently seek out answers to the questions that are important to them. It can be an extremely difficult thing to watch your child stumble during a presentation because they didn’t take the time to adequately prepare or to let them fail when their hypothesis was wrong or the goal they set too general or too lofty, but these are opportunities for them to learn to self-evaluate. These are opportunities to “fail” when the stakes are low, and to learn from the authentic, real-world feedback they receive. Don’t get me wrong – there are many times in the course of a day when our kids have to do what we say in regards to health, safety, or respecting others’ right to learn.
We know that because of the agency our kids feel over their projects and other work, they feel a great satisfaction and ownership of the work they produce. Currently, all of our kids are in process. They are practicing all of the competencies, learning from each other and from the experiences we offer. They are spending time learning what it means to craft thoroughly researched, detailed, interesting work. Given the space and time to develop their own interests, self-direction, focus and control our kids will do the work they are meant to do without the need for force and coercion. As we work to keep intact their intrinsic motivation to learn, we prepare them for a world in which the most important thing is not a set of facts or formulas; it is knowing how to solve problems creatively, explore questions deeply, and share ideas passionately. For more on this topic: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/23/harnessing-childrens-natural-ways-of-learning/ Jaime and David
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