The Having of Wonderful Ideas.

1. The Having of Wonderful Ideas. Eleanor Duckworth

2. Questions for Activity • Was it hard to get started? Why or why not? • Have you ever done anything like this before? • Can anyone compare what you built to something you learned about in the past? Did you build off any prior knowledge? • Who can tell me how they went about deciding what to do with your supplies? Did you look off others? • Who can point someone out who had a very unique idea? • How long do you think you could work with these materials without running out of ideas?

3. Main beliefs • The essence of intellectual development = the having of wonderful ideas • The essence of pedagogy = giving children the occasion to have wonderful ideas and letting them feel good about himself for having them

4. Criticism to Piaget • Lessons from Piaget tends to tell us that: • Before certain ages, children are unable to understand certain things. • We should not try to teach these concepts to children because they will not understand it and if left to their own devices, they will figure it out on their own • There are limits on children’s abilities to classify, conserve, order, and so forth • This must be kept in mind when deciding what to teach them • Applying Piaget to lesson planning put too much focus on what children ought to know and be able to do, rather than what would engage them in a classroom

5. Lessons Taken From Piaget • The right question at the right time can move children to peaks in their thinking that result in significant steps forward and real intellectual excitement • Although it is almost impossible for an adult to know exactly the right time to ask a specific question of a specific child, the child can ask the right question for themselves if the setting is right

6. What is a Wonderful Idea? • “Before I said a word about the straws, he picked them up and said to me, ‘I know what I’m going to do,’ and proceeded, on his own, to order them by length. He didn’t mean, ‘I know what you’re going to ask me to do.’ He meant, ‘I have a wonderful idea about what to do with these straws. You’ll be surprised by my wonderful idea.’”

7. Wonderful Idea • The child creates his or her own understanding of a task or unknown concept. • Critical thinking and problem solving • Based on prior knowledge. • But not a borrowed concept. • Must be focused, not simply creative thought for the sake of thinking.

8. What Good is a Good idea? • Confidence • “Having confidence in one’s ideas does not mean ‘I know my ideas are right”; it means “I am willing to try out my ideas.’” • Students should not be discouraged. • Ex) Hank and his circuits • Vs. Discouragement • “Why do few continue to have wonderful ideas?” • Many adults think such ideas are… • Trivial, unacceptable, silly, destructive

9. What Schools Can Do • Familiarize the students with the material word • Feeling at home with biological, physical, and technological phenomena • How things react to certain circumstances, children’s feelings about them, how they can be changed, destroyed, preserved, avoided, etc… • Make knowledge accessible and interesting • Children ask questions • Their self-confidence is built

10. What Schools Can Do • Value the unexpected • Booklets and teacher guides should be used as a jumping off point, not the goal • Teachers need to feel free to go in their own directions • Follow the students divergence and creation • Programs sometimes omit things because they are going to happen anyway

11. What Schools Can Do • Teachers should learn along with their students • May be beneficial to watch videos or live examples of this learning through exploration and stimulating ideas • Get support from fellow teachers, especially those who are very experienced

12. Evaluation