Solve interesting problems
Solve interesting problems.
I heard this in a podcast by Seth Godin yesterday in reference to how to we help our kids succeed. And I think there's a lot to it. I'll summarize by saying that the thought is most of the learning that goes on in academia is memorizing things that have an answer that is easy to just look up and doesn't necessarily help in figuring out a solution. There's just one answer and the teacher knows what it is.
Seth's point was, give your kids problems where the answer isn't clear. Even where there might not be a best answer, but a lot of good answers and they need to be proved out. Where your kids can fail.
It got me thinking, that even with my young kids I need to give them things where the project isn't just all prescribed for them, but they have the freedom to try different ways of doing it... so they learn. I tried this out last night and asked my daughter to come up with a way to count down the days until we leave for our trip. She's only four, so maybe it's a little early. I had to give her some ideas and in the end, her grandma helped her come up with a chart with stickers.
But, she did explain to her grandma what she was wanting to do... so I'd consider that a step in the right direction.
I heard this in a podcast by Seth Godin yesterday in reference to how to we help our kids succeed. And I think there's a lot to it. I'll summarize by saying that the thought is most of the learning that goes on in academia is memorizing things that have an answer that is easy to just look up and doesn't necessarily help in figuring out a solution. There's just one answer and the teacher knows what it is.
Seth's point was, give your kids problems where the answer isn't clear. Even where there might not be a best answer, but a lot of good answers and they need to be proved out. Where your kids can fail.
It got me thinking, that even with my young kids I need to give them things where the project isn't just all prescribed for them, but they have the freedom to try different ways of doing it... so they learn. I tried this out last night and asked my daughter to come up with a way to count down the days until we leave for our trip. She's only four, so maybe it's a little early. I had to give her some ideas and in the end, her grandma helped her come up with a chart with stickers.
But, she did explain to her grandma what she was wanting to do... so I'd consider that a step in the right direction.