Well, just having put a few kids through High School, comparing back to my own experiences, I have to say this kind of focus is needed. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive either. In fact, it probably is best that it not be.
One thing I've noted is attention spans appear shorter than I recall them being. Brief, productive exposure to practical things, and applied concepts learned, or to learn the concepts, is good. One day, a kid might not be in the mood. The next day, they might start really thinking about what is possible, get intrigued, and the door is open.
So there is that, exposing them to enough things for them to self-identify better, and for the educators and parents to learn where their strengths are. Once we do know something about that, it's important that the spark be nurtured some, that there are options and outlets that people can be empowered to do. Clubs, niche classes, community center learning / work areas, the neighbors garage, all qualify for that kind of thing.
My belief is the culture change needs to be holistic, not just the schools, but the communities too. The investment we make impacts the return we see in our old age, and I think often about that right now, and this spend to solve culture. Nobody fixes anything, and there is even a stigma about just using things for a full service life. Mistakes being made there for sure. Then again, how many things can we buy today that really endure like they used to? Some systemic issues contributing to this, and that's politics.
I think back to my childhood, and I was poor. Really poor. Best damn thing I ever experienced. Sure I was hungry sometimes, and I hunted sometimes to avoid being hungry! But, my school had far less emphasis on the tests, more flexibility in education, and access to stuff! Computers, shop for metals, wood, ceramics, cloth, etc.. We had the arts, music, drama, dance, band, other things... To me, that was a huge resource, because I could go and learn stuff, build things, and basically not need a lot of money, and life was good.
My own kids were not poor. In fact, I spoiled them a little much, just because I looked at my early experience in a negative way for too long --too long to grok what the value of it was. Could there be that same kind of over-correction going on a scale that's really doing harm? I think so, and it's not always being poor either. Sometimes, it's just easier to spend to solve, because we get busy, or for whatever reason.
The primary goal, in my eyes, is to find out what kind of people the kids are gonna be. Often we can know, and once we do, it's foolish not to build up the strong bits, so they get the maximum benefit of their early years. That is what my experience basically was. My own kids didn't have the same thing, and experienced a much sharper, less robust focus on basic things, with no where near the hands on, applied kinds of time I got, and it shows. As a parent, I exposed them to things, and sometimes saw that spark, but here's a worry: I sometimes saw it killed in "the grinder" that many schools are.
You know, knowing how to build stuff, ask hard questions, and generally explore isn't always looked at in a favorable way anymore. Can't get a good chemistry set anymore, and the school labs are seriously diluted, and can you imagine the insurance today for a metals shop. Heck, ours had a full on forge in it! We would save up forge projects for winter, where it was cool enough to want to pound red-hot steel.
I'll wrap it up with the solution not just being some process. This is a cultural thing, where we put the emphasis on building the best, most potent, capable people we can, because they will be caring for us, when we can't, and we go from there. Lots of ways to do that, with the only real problem being the motivation to do that, in my eyes, for lack of value perception the return on that effort would have. Fix that, and these kinds of ideas will blossom, compete, and we will see some great solutions to basic, growing, and increasingly expensive problems.
One of the biggest obstacles for kids learning about science and technology is that we science and technical people are very often wretched communicators. Generally speaking, we tend to be "off in our own worlds", unable to detect clues to the emotions of others, and have a hard time expressing ourselves, especially in person. So it's not unusual that we mangle an explanation, then do not detect that our students are lost and confused, then we grow impatient and angry that the dolts have drowned, or that they just seem to refuse to be the it-getters we insist they be.
There are examples of communication problems all the time on the forums. People plead for help, posting their problems in ways that border on the incoherent. And yet half a dozen good people might jump in and try to offer suggestions... never to hear a word of thanks or feedback of any kind from the original poster. Others start discussions, then follow up with dead air. I'm not complaining. It's just a phenomenon I've grown used to on this and other technical forums. And I think it's one of those reasons average people have a hard time picking up on technology. Of course, there's that "nerd pride" thing, too: we all like to swamp the average guy with how much we know, and the temptation too often spills over into situations where we really need to back off a bit.
Having vented that, here's a suggestion for water rockets. I think I'll give this a try myself. They look safer than the solid-fuel rockets, at least insofar as setting things on fire goes.
The primary goal, in my eyes, is to find out what kind of people the kids are gonna be.
This is the most interesting insight I've seen for awhile on this subject. Not everyone is going to be an engineer, and my efforts are focused on potential engineers. So my task is tofind the proper audience. Thanks potatohead, this will help a bunch.
Word painting. Ever take long car rides with kids? That's talking time, and it's really good teaching time, because you have a nice, captive audience. Get them to leave their phones, and toys at home, and go somewhere that's gonna take a while.
As a parent, that is quite possibly the best place ever to really talk and teach, and discover some of who they are going to be.
So I used to, and still do make up games. Can't wait for the grandkids! There are common ones, like dibbs and slug bug, where you call out VW beetle cars. I'll write that up in my blog, because our family took that game to a level that's unbelievable. We still play it as adults, and it's a special bond we have.
Then there was word painting. So, I would paint them a picture with words. If you can find the book "On Writing" by Stephen King, get it, and read the last chapter where we word paints with such clarity, I can't even describe. King calls it a form of telepathy, and he's right about it. Powerful stuff.
Paint them a picture, then talk about what everybody sees. Then have them do it. Like they would with other media, they will express themselves, without even really being aware they are doing it. Pay attention.
This opens a door to the kids that's really hard to get open at times. You can slip stuff in. Once the door is open, and you are really talking, encourage them to wonder a little, and pay attention again. The questions they aslk about, you can give answers for, and those questions speak right to who they are. Build on that.
I adopted 4 special needs foster kids. I had no idea how difficult that would be. Reaching them taught me more about who I was, than I knew myself. A whole lot of good parenting and discovery happened in the car.
Prof, that's one technique you can use to find and nurture your audience. And or, you may well find another audience you can work with, just due to understanding them well enough to add value.
Comments
One thing I've noted is attention spans appear shorter than I recall them being. Brief, productive exposure to practical things, and applied concepts learned, or to learn the concepts, is good. One day, a kid might not be in the mood. The next day, they might start really thinking about what is possible, get intrigued, and the door is open.
So there is that, exposing them to enough things for them to self-identify better, and for the educators and parents to learn where their strengths are. Once we do know something about that, it's important that the spark be nurtured some, that there are options and outlets that people can be empowered to do. Clubs, niche classes, community center learning / work areas, the neighbors garage, all qualify for that kind of thing.
My belief is the culture change needs to be holistic, not just the schools, but the communities too. The investment we make impacts the return we see in our old age, and I think often about that right now, and this spend to solve culture. Nobody fixes anything, and there is even a stigma about just using things for a full service life. Mistakes being made there for sure. Then again, how many things can we buy today that really endure like they used to? Some systemic issues contributing to this, and that's politics.
I think back to my childhood, and I was poor. Really poor. Best damn thing I ever experienced. Sure I was hungry sometimes, and I hunted sometimes to avoid being hungry! But, my school had far less emphasis on the tests, more flexibility in education, and access to stuff! Computers, shop for metals, wood, ceramics, cloth, etc.. We had the arts, music, drama, dance, band, other things... To me, that was a huge resource, because I could go and learn stuff, build things, and basically not need a lot of money, and life was good.
My own kids were not poor. In fact, I spoiled them a little much, just because I looked at my early experience in a negative way for too long --too long to grok what the value of it was. Could there be that same kind of over-correction going on a scale that's really doing harm? I think so, and it's not always being poor either. Sometimes, it's just easier to spend to solve, because we get busy, or for whatever reason.
The primary goal, in my eyes, is to find out what kind of people the kids are gonna be. Often we can know, and once we do, it's foolish not to build up the strong bits, so they get the maximum benefit of their early years. That is what my experience basically was. My own kids didn't have the same thing, and experienced a much sharper, less robust focus on basic things, with no where near the hands on, applied kinds of time I got, and it shows. As a parent, I exposed them to things, and sometimes saw that spark, but here's a worry: I sometimes saw it killed in "the grinder" that many schools are.
You know, knowing how to build stuff, ask hard questions, and generally explore isn't always looked at in a favorable way anymore. Can't get a good chemistry set anymore, and the school labs are seriously diluted, and can you imagine the insurance today for a metals shop. Heck, ours had a full on forge in it! We would save up forge projects for winter, where it was cool enough to want to pound red-hot steel.
I'll wrap it up with the solution not just being some process. This is a cultural thing, where we put the emphasis on building the best, most potent, capable people we can, because they will be caring for us, when we can't, and we go from there. Lots of ways to do that, with the only real problem being the motivation to do that, in my eyes, for lack of value perception the return on that effort would have. Fix that, and these kinds of ideas will blossom, compete, and we will see some great solutions to basic, growing, and increasingly expensive problems.
One of the biggest obstacles for kids learning about science and technology is that we science and technical people are very often wretched communicators. Generally speaking, we tend to be "off in our own worlds", unable to detect clues to the emotions of others, and have a hard time expressing ourselves, especially in person. So it's not unusual that we mangle an explanation, then do not detect that our students are lost and confused, then we grow impatient and angry that the dolts have drowned, or that they just seem to refuse to be the it-getters we insist they be.
There are examples of communication problems all the time on the forums. People plead for help, posting their problems in ways that border on the incoherent. And yet half a dozen good people might jump in and try to offer suggestions... never to hear a word of thanks or feedback of any kind from the original poster. Others start discussions, then follow up with dead air. I'm not complaining. It's just a phenomenon I've grown used to on this and other technical forums. And I think it's one of those reasons average people have a hard time picking up on technology. Of course, there's that "nerd pride" thing, too: we all like to swamp the average guy with how much we know, and the temptation too often spills over into situations where we really need to back off a bit.
Having vented that, here's a suggestion for water rockets. I think I'll give this a try myself. They look safer than the solid-fuel rockets, at least insofar as setting things on fire goes.
[url] http://www.aircommandrockets.com/index.htm[/url]
This is the most interesting insight I've seen for awhile on this subject. Not everyone is going to be an engineer, and my efforts are focused on potential engineers. So my task is tofind the proper audience. Thanks potatohead, this will help a bunch.
@ElectricAye - thanks for the tip!
Word painting. Ever take long car rides with kids? That's talking time, and it's really good teaching time, because you have a nice, captive audience. Get them to leave their phones, and toys at home, and go somewhere that's gonna take a while.
As a parent, that is quite possibly the best place ever to really talk and teach, and discover some of who they are going to be.
So I used to, and still do make up games. Can't wait for the grandkids! There are common ones, like dibbs and slug bug, where you call out VW beetle cars. I'll write that up in my blog, because our family took that game to a level that's unbelievable. We still play it as adults, and it's a special bond we have.
Then there was word painting. So, I would paint them a picture with words. If you can find the book "On Writing" by Stephen King, get it, and read the last chapter where we word paints with such clarity, I can't even describe. King calls it a form of telepathy, and he's right about it. Powerful stuff.
Paint them a picture, then talk about what everybody sees. Then have them do it. Like they would with other media, they will express themselves, without even really being aware they are doing it. Pay attention.
This opens a door to the kids that's really hard to get open at times. You can slip stuff in. Once the door is open, and you are really talking, encourage them to wonder a little, and pay attention again. The questions they aslk about, you can give answers for, and those questions speak right to who they are. Build on that.
I adopted 4 special needs foster kids. I had no idea how difficult that would be. Reaching them taught me more about who I was, than I knew myself. A whole lot of good parenting and discovery happened in the car.
Prof, that's one technique you can use to find and nurture your audience. And or, you may well find another audience you can work with, just due to understanding them well enough to add value.