Ken Robinson on Education Reform, Animated

Why Kids Can't Sit Still in School

There's a article by a pediatric occupational therapist making the rounds about the way that the normal, sedentary school day contributes to a host of problems including childhood obesity, sensory integration difficulties, lack of core body strength, balance trouble, and learning difficulties.  Parents, not surprisingly, have jumped to the task of finding solutions to the problem the author lays out.

In a follow-up piece, the author addresses those solutions.  Are exercise ball seats or brief exercise breaks throughout the day the answer?  In a word: no.  These quick fixes are cosmetic solutions for a bone-deep problem.  Exercising a minute or two out of every hour is not enough.  Children need to run, roll, spin, swing, and play for hours every day in order to develop normally.  Our schools, unfortunately, don't support that.  Actually, the number and length of recess breaks have done nothing but decrease in the last few years, and the few recesses allowed to our kids are routinely cancelled due to inclement weather and replaced with alternate sitting still activities.

Ask at your local elementary school how many minutes of recess children receive a day.  Ask what happens instead when it rains or when the temperature is below zero.  The answers will not reassure you.  As the article so memorably puts it: when the bum is numb, the brain is dumb.

We can do better.

If you're new to Kids LOVE Learning, start here to see the BIG idea.
If you want to get involved, get in touch!

The Problem with a Narrow Education

The handful of politicians and business people making decisions about the future of education in our country would like parents to believe that the key to success is laser-like focus on a handful of subjects.  They have declared that in the earliest grades, our children should focus on literacy and math six hours a day, to the exclusion of the arts, the humanities, and science.  In the later grades, these self-styled experts have decided that our children should focus on both literacy and the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M.) to the continued exclusion of the arts and humanities.  

This laser focus approach does a disservice to our children.  First of all, because we cannot know for sure that S.T.E.M. careers are in fact the jobs of the future.  More importantly, however, because such narrow focus impoverishes education.  

Allow me to illustrate with a story.  My good friend Elizabeth has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry.  During her post-graduate education, Elizabeth was performing research that built on previous studies in organic chemistry.  Unfortunately, the original research published on the specific area of her work was written in German.  In order to succeed in her S.T.E.M. field, Elizabeth needed to understand German so she could read the original papers.

An education with a narrow focus on literacy and S.T.E.M. would not have prepared her for the learning she needed to do later in her life.

Our children need the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects.  Project-based learning is ideal, because it allows for the student to find every type of knowledge and form of expression grounded in the topics they love most.

If you're new to Kids LOVE Learning, start here to see the BIG idea.
If you want to get involved, get in touch!

Kids Talking About School

Perhaps you've seen the article recently posted on Huffington Post recommending 25 ways to ask your kids about their school day.  The premise is that, if you can somehow ask the right question, your child will share with you all of the things that happened to him during school.  Do you think the author ever considered that maybe kids say "nothing" happened at school because, as far as they are concerned, nothing happened?  

In most traditional classrooms, the child is intended to be a passive recipient, soaking up knowledge poured out by the teacher.  If he's not soaking, he's doing nothing, and it isn't much fun to tell your parent about nothing.

How excited would you be to talk about the time you spent standing in line at the bank, waiting in line at the drive through, or sitting on hold with the utility company?  Maybe the way to get your child to talk about school isn't to ask silly questions.  Maybe the way to get your child to talk about school is for him to actually do something at school.

When your child is engaged in deep learning about topics that truly interest him, he won't be able to help talking about his day.  His interests and the learning, building, and doing he has accomplished around those interests will be on his mind.  He'll want to tell you about the meaningful work he has done..  

You won't be the only one benefiting from that talking, either.  Clear verbal communication is one of the twenty first century skills that leaders in the worlds of business and government agree future workers will need.  Telling you about his interests will help your child strengthen his communication skills.

If you're new to Kids LOVE Learning, start here to see the BIG idea.
If you want to get involved, get in touch!

But what if he just wants to play Lego Batman all day?

Any interest can lead to real learning.  The key is to dig deeper: past the surface-level consumption of that interest, into the creative space of making and doing.  Maybe his interest is Lego Batman.  Learning visual spatial reasoning, hand-eye coordination, and real-time problem solving by playing the game are good.  However, once he gets past the level of simply playing the game, what else might he do with that interest?

Maybe he'll create a youtube channel to review the game.  Then he'll learn to operate the camera, write the review copy, edit the videos, post the code online, embed the music, and animate the credits.  He'll learn to build an audience, interact with commenters, and network via social media platforms.  All of these things are transferable skills!  When he moves on to a new interest, and he will move on eventually, he can use these skills to support something else.  

There's something your child wants to learn because it's fun.  There's also something your child needs to learn because he is motivated to take his interest deeper.

Jump on over to Lori Pickert's blog to read more on wanting vs. needing to learn.  

If you're new to Kids LOVE Learning, start here to see the BIG idea.


If you want to get involved, get in touch!

How a Child-Led Education Might Look

Teacher Tom is a preschool teacher, but he paints a beautiful picture of child-led education here.  I'm excited for the future.  I'm eager for my children and yours to be part of this movement!

Are you new to Kids LOVE Learning?  Start here to see the BIG idea.
Want to get involved?  Get in touch!

Why Kids Need a Hands-On Approach

There are as many learning styles as there are children, but the one constant is that playing is the beginning of true understanding.  A baby playing with sounds learns to form meaningful words.  A child playing with blocks learns balance and proportion.  A cook playing with ingredients learns to create her own recipes.  A carpenter playing in the workshop learns to visually construct before committing his resources.  Our children need to play to understand.  They need to tinker to learn. 

Are you new to Kids LOVE Learning?  Start here to see the BIG idea.
Want to get involved?  Get in touch!