The thing that caught my attention the most was teaching children on the project. a great idea. I used this method without knowing and I just realized it. Creative Learning Spiral is wonderful idea.
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@JayElf
My beautiful mess… Haha… so much mess… so much beauty? Casino is fabulous although the place itself makes me feel a little ll…. Glazed and determined gazes…. All that loss… ugh.
One of my favorite phrases is “a climate of delight” I think its from “The Learner’s Way” when I’m in a good frame of mind, that is what I strive for…. A climate of delight. The mess is like the tide, comes in and I have to push it back, comes in and I have to push it back….
@Seangarthurs
I find it so interesting to think on what I ask of students in school and of myself in my studio around creating. I have hundreds (no joke) of works in progress paintings and layer them up until they tell me where they want to go and then I have to gather my courage (or my learning and skills and understanding) to take them there. I don’t feel that luxury of time in school to allow for that kind of iteration. That said, I have shared the idea of ‘auditioning’ cut out elements to find composition, of thumbnails to play with possibilities, of revisiting a process and medium to develop fluency. Jane Davies is an abstract painter I love. Her teaching is frank and demanding. She works in series so the one thing doesn’t become precious, but you have an expanse for exploration and possibility. I love that way of working although it is much easier to start than to finish….
@Karl
I’ve never heard the second part of that quote! Makes me think of my mom telling me “curiosity killed the cat” and leaving off the “satisfaction brought it back”. Thank you. I love that! ‘Jack of all trades, master of none, often much better than a master of one.” So going in my sketchbook!
@Seangarthurs
I find it so interesting to think on what I ask of students in school and of myself in my studio around creating. I have hundreds (no joke) of works in progress paintings and layer them up until they tell me where they want to go and then I have to gather my courage (or my learning and skills and understanding) to take them there. I don’t feel that luxury of time in school to allow for that kind of iteration. That said, I have shared the idea of ‘auditioning’ cut out elements to find composition, of thumbnails to play with possibilities, of revisiting a process and medium to develop fluency. Jane Davies is an abstract painter I love. Her teaching is frank and demanding. She works in series so the one thing doesn’t become precious, but you have an expanse for exploration and possibility. I love that way of working although it is much easier to start than to finish….
@Karl
I’ve never heard the second part of that quote! Makes me think of my mom telling me “curiosity killed the cat” and leaving off the “satisfaction brought it back”. Thank you. I love that! ‘Jack of all trades, master of none, often much better than a master of one.” So going in my sketchbook!
@MarcosBorges
I have had students very angry with me when I was not an expert at Scratch and did not have answers for them. They were quite disgusted with me. (I am still no expert although I know a lot more now and am often too quick to solve their problems for them). It makes me question our expectations and practices. How do I develop grit in a way I am not destroyed by their disgust, but able to stand my ground and point out that customs, habit and peer influence automate a lot of our behaviors - that agency does not come with given answers, but ones you forge through experience and reflection,
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Al leer al capítulo 2, me encontré con algunas frases que son un estimulo para mejorar la educación, por ejemplo en la cultura maker no es suficiente hacer algo, sino crear algo, pienso en cómo cambiaría la educación chilena, si dejáramos de preocuparnos de los contenidos, para pensar en desarrollar habilidades en los estudiantes .
También rescato otra frase " vemos la programación como una forma de fluidez y expresión, de forma parecida a la escritura". que nos hace pensar en la programación como un medio para conseguir un fin.
Aprender a programar por programar no tiene sentido, hay que estimular su uso para que los niños, niñas, jóvenes y docentes aprendan a crear algo. Vuelvo a repensar el rol que tenemos como profesores en la sala de clases.
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I use Scratch personally and with my students, but until this week, like you, never really recognized the connection to LEGO bricks. I think making this connection with kids will help them work with both platforms more effectively and efficiently.
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I wish classes for educators would be more like what we’re discussing here rather than just “sitting and getting.” Maybe if more of our adult sessions were engaging, reluctant teachers would embrace this philosophy and include it in their own classrooms?!?
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Thank you for sharing this video!
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The idea of synchronization fascinates and inspires me. It fascinates me that so many things in nature tend toward sync and I find this model to be a powerful metaphor. I relate to the idea as a teacher and creative technologist because the idea is approachable and (relatively) straightforward to apply.
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Mitch said in a week two video - “think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.” This approach is not only true in the LCL arena, but life overall. Three actions. Three commands. All powerful and seamlessly transferrable through all aspects of life. I really like this slogan/approach!
Students must be heard. Learning should be an active process.
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Being a preschool teacher I can see how the learning spiral works in so many ways helping each child decolo their strengths while learning team work, patience and being nice (when you are 3-4 years old, being nice to your classmates is something you need to learn). I have seen kids trying their best to speak and communicate, and actually improving, in order to be a part of the game. Some kids watching carefully what others are doing and then replicate it, giving the activity their own twist.
At the end of the day everybody is learning something meaningful.
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Io adoro come te quel “casino”, rumore e vocio. Io lo penso come “il suono dolce” della creatività!
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For myself, I think I need more dig deeper into more ideas or creativity while building some projects, not only focusing to complete the goals. I think I should try to explore more projects in the sample and rebuild thems by adding my own ideas.
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Hi everyone,
I came across these two amazing quotes,
The first by Joel Barker, “Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference” and the second one by William Arthur Ward, “if you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it”.
I stared reading along the lines, the wards are so inspiring. I believe there are many different ways in which I can find inspiration. Learning new things always inspire me, ideas come to me during ‘Me Time 
’, reading inspirational/motivational stories and sharing knowledge can spark it too. I have dream projects/ideas and they were bigger than my ability, but I will continue imaging and dreaming, until I have the opportunity to achieve them. 
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para establecer formas de aprender debemos interactuar con la comunidad, que la escuela no este aislada de la comunidad
Hi all,
In the process of writing my book I’m suffering to express my abstract ideas.
Last month I did the course “How to learn to learn” from Barbara Oakley (which I strongly recommend) and realized that abstract ideas should be created from the concrete and real world to be better understood by the reader. Now I’m starting to apply it and express my ideas in the same way that I would do in a normal conversation with a friend (or even my mum), using very concrete example to assure they understand me. And I think it works better.
This paper made me thought that in the way that education has overvalue abstract thinking from concrete thinking I also think that we overestimate writing in an abstract way as the “proper” way to write. And now I understand why, because we consider that if the abstract thinking is the last we achieved that should be the more valuable. Really it’s not, it is the combination of abstract thinking and concrete thinking.
As the author confessed, I force myself to keep doing things like a child, allowing me and my teams to explore (even crazy ideas in a business world). This works for me and many people who were involved but I’m a “rare specie”. Knowing better who our brain acquire the knowledge reinforce my point of view that we should keep our “kids skills”.
Have a nice week,
Mónica
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honestly, the golf course story really got me. It’s EXACTLY what I want to give my kids but I notice I’m inhibited from a lot of these types of freedom’s cause of circumstance or internal things.
So, e.g., things in the yard. We live in a rental and actually need to restore the lawn cause it’s gone extremely mossy and weedy in the last 2 years. It’s a big project, and so the kids can’t really dig up anything or whatever. On the other hand, we did dump a bunch of sand-pit-sand on the tiles in the back, and let our kids do with that whatever they like as long as they don’t mix it with the black soil the plants need. I feel I need to reflect more on what limits we’re putting on the kids’ play that aren’t really necessary …
I’ll try to take a stab at this now:
- They can stick stickers on anything they want except electronics (cause screens)
- They don’t have direct access to pencils, paints, or crayons cause we live in a rental so if they start drawing on the walls, the damage would expensive to repair.
- They can take apart the couch to make a fort as long as there is enough time to clean it up again before dinner
- They can wear whatever they like around the house, and outside they just need to wear clothes, but any form of dress up is fine.
- They are allowed to draw on their own skin (everything is non-toxic)
Hmmmm, I feel like they don’t have direct access to very much to even BE creative with. Most crafting supplies I feel they are too young for to be sure they don’t wreck the house while I’m not looking. Apart from that … I’m kinda wishing we lived out on a remote farm now somewhere so it wouldn’t matter as much haha
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Liked reading your reflections on play @Shoshannah 
Just saw a video from the Lego Foundation about Learning Through Play (which shows an experiment with a child, a roll of paper and an otherwise empty desk) where they ask “Can play really come from anywhere and anything?” : )
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Interesting! Thank you! I’ll check it out 
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I find the Creative Learning Spiral inspiring because it is different than what I have usually seen as a representation of a creative process as a cycle, or a circle.
The spiral represents a process that doesn’t necessarily has an end, and stages that are repeated, revisited, however you keep growing every time you go around!
I can connect to that as an educator, observing my learners, as well as being a learner myself.
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The idea to use project-making as the way to learn always intriguing for me. In my old days as a student, where my school still in the transition from book-based learning to project-based learning, project making seemed like a burden since it took time for brainstorming, preparation, and always have possibility for unpredictable problem. Not to mention, random team mates.
But as I entered university and work in the real workplace, I could say that project-based learning is the best learning approach that I have experienced. This way of learning not only teach me the subject, but also makes me learn about time management, team work, life strategy, and accept-and-prevent failures.
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