The Having of Wonderful Ideas

I have recently been re-reading a favorite series of essays by Eleanor Duckworth called The Having of Wonderful Ideas.  In it, Duckworth asserts that:

the development of intelligence is a matter of having wonderful ideas. In other words, it is a creative affair. When children are afforded the occasions to be intellectually creative-by being offered matter to be concerned about intellectually and by having their ideas accepted-then not only do they learn about the world, but as a happy side effect their general intellectual ability is stimulated as well. (Duckwort, 1987)

I have been thinking about this a lot as I worked with the Herons in the past week.  When I looked, I saw that our days are filled with discoveries.  Mind you, Duckworth is not talking about "new to the world" discoveries but those "aha" moments in which one feels one has discovered something.  As adults, we realize that we are probably not the first person to make such a connection but children are less cynical and their discoveries are more thrilling for it.

As a teacher, I try to remember that discovery takes time.  For it to be authentic, one can't simply give an answer.  That does not count.  Nor does it make for deep learning that will be extended and generalized.  It is hard to hold back -- I am sometimes tempted to say, "Here...this is how you do it!"  Instead I take a deep breath and posit a few more questions that might get us on a productive pathway.  In Ducworth's words, I strive to "afford occasions."

Here are some of the recent occasions in the Herons:

Sue VanHattum, an educator and writer from California, visited the Herons and brought with her a game called "Spot It"  This game has 55 cards and each card shares one and exactly one image with each of the other 54 cards.  Instantly, the kids asked, "How did they do that?"  "Wait...how many pictures are there?"  "How would you keep track of the matches?"  "It's like a fractal...it keeps breaking down into new sets..." 'There has to be a pattern."  We have yet to come up wtih a solution (or a single question, for that matter) but the kids made some great discoveries along the way.  (We don't have the game and Sue had to take hers back to California so we are putting this exploration on a shelf for now)

 

Last Friday, just as the day was ending, an incredible discovery was made.  Our chairs were Leyden chairs.  The Leyden jar was invented in the 1700s as an interesting scientific toy.  It could store static electricity and release it all at once in a single shock.  We have one in the Herons right now as part of our Industrial Revolution work.  We were in the meeting area when a child on a chair discovered that he could get off of the chair and touch the metal leg and receive a shock.  The Herons were off, "Hey, it didn't work for me!"  "Hmmm...Oh!  You're not wearing shoes, you're grounded so you loose the shock!"  "Does it work better on the carpet or on the floor"  "It works both places"  "Wait, I'll scoot back and forth..."  Note:  The Leyden chair has not made a re-appearance since last Friday and this teacher is not saddened by that fact.

 

Finally, we had a joyful morning on Wednesday when Richard Schulte and his wife ReJean came in to share their collection of working minature steam engines with the Herons, again as a part of our theme.  He drew out the basic diagram of a steam engine and the Herons drew a version in their notes (I find that the act of drawing engenders a lot more understanding than looking at a picture.)  Then, Mr. Schulte put some fuel into the first engine and we watched as the pressure built.  Once again, the questions and the discoveries began.  "Oh!  So the steam only goes through there when the valve is on."  "The whistle let out all the pressure!"  "What's the fuel made of?"  "The piston moves the fly wheel!  But the piston jerks and the fly wheel is smooth."  "Oh...something that goes around is more useful than going back and forth."  "That makes the fly wheel reverse."  "That could be useful for a car!"  "Or for running two machines!"  "Or for running a machine in the oposite way...like a sewing machine!"

 

Comments

[jana]

I am soooo glad you guys played Spot It. My little Heron and I were playing a few weeks ago, and neither of us could figure out how the computer would actually set up a pattern to create those cards. I'm still not sure we've figured it out, but at least it peaked her interest enough to challenge me to a rematch.