Addicted to questioning

In a study of owls in K-1 the curiosity is palpable.  Is this owl alive?  How did it die? Why are the feathers so soft?  Why is it called a barred owl, or a horned owl?  How do the wings work?  Can I touch it?   The questions rule the day.  Observational drawings come next.  Students are developing the skill of noticing details. And asking even more questions.  And then the teacher brings out...the owl pellets...!

In this article in MindShift, How to Bring More Beautiful Questions Back to School, Katerina Schwartz  contends that after about age 5 or 6, questioning falls off.  Yet a questioning mind is a highly desired skill in any modern work place - it's the value added in the technology age.

For questioning minds to thrive, children need lots of time - not a curriculum that "covers" material. They need a culture that rewards intellectual risk-taking - not one that penalizes wrong answers.  

Schwatrz says, "Kids are lighting up their pleasure zones and getting dopamine hits every time they learn something that solves something they were curious about."  Sounds addictive!

Effective teachers set up a topic and trigger questioning - then find ways to follow where kids' curiosity takes them.  They allow for a deep dive into a juicy problem or topic.  What's the result? A classroom filled with knowledge addicts - confident kids who crave to question and to learn more.

Vera's drawing of the barred owl's wing

Dissecting owl pellets

Asking the right questions

Three great dinner table questions for kids of any age come from writer Meg Conley in Huff Post -

How were you brave today?
How were you kind today?
How did you fail today?

The fall back parent question, "What did you do in school today?" often elicits the fallback kid response, "Nothing." or "Stuff."  I can only imagine what kind of discussions and conversation could come from these far more revealing questions, and also the opportunity to talk about failure as a positive consequence of trying something new or taking a risk.

I'm going to give it a try when school starts, and see what responses I get from Parker kids.  I think I'll also try answering these for myself!

The glow of learning

Have we forgotten how children learn?  Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post thinks so.  Her article, What the modern world has forgotten about children and learning  has much terrific food for thought and discussion.

She says, Watch your child's eyes, what makes them go dull and dead, what makes them brighten, quicken, glow with light.  That is where learning lies.  That can be our guide for every day at school - the glow in children's eyes tells us how we are doing as educators.  

Talk to gifted scientists, writers, artists, entrepreneurs. You will find they learned through keen observation, experimentation, immersion, freedom, participation, through real play and real work, through the kind of free activity where the distinction between work and play disappears.

When I watch children at Parker, I see the brightness of excitement and I hear and feel the energy and passion.  It is the secret of an effective school - one where people say "your graduates are the best, brightest and most interesting people!"

 

The sound of gravitational waves

I am so excited!!!!  The report today in the New York Times of scientists hearing the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, that proves Einstein's theory of gravitational waves, is just phenomenal!

It took one hundred years, including 40 years of scientific exploration and $1.1 billion investment by the National Science Foundation, to test and prove what Einstein predicted in 1915.

Using two 2.5 mile long "antennas" ending with mirrors hung with glass threads, the LIGO team of physicists detected changes smaller than one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a proton.  And they recorded it.  So you can hear it.  That. is. amazing.

The questioning, striving and passion to continue this work over time; the dedication to an idea and the curiosity and determination to follow through; the serendipity, cooperation, invention and creativity of a team of physicists working together - it is the perfect example of what we are teaching our students to do and be.  Our school's mission  - our equation for education - is to inspire curiosity and a passion to achieve and to cultivate purposeful action. This equation has lead to exciting and wonderful achievements by so many of our graduates.

I love this phenomenal example of the quest to answer questions about the nature of the universe.  I hope you will be as inspired by it as I am!

Playing with questions

As the world rapidly changes, parents and educators are in a constant process of examining what skills children need for their future success.  It feels ever more important that we get it right.

Last spring, we gathered a group of scientists and college professors to pick their brains about this topic.  The skill that they felt was most important - and they were adamant about this - was the ability to ask good questions. Without a questioning mind, they asked, how can people bring passion, energy, or innovation to their work?

I just read two great articles - one about how to best educate preschoolers and the other about teaching kids how to ask questions and I think they both are spot on.

The first article is about Erika Christakis and her new book, The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need From Grownups.  Erika's main thesis is that play is how children learn and we desperately need to make it the centerpiece of their school and home lives.  I am so gratified that the education we  have here at Parker is steeped in rich, complex play experiences.

The second article talks about Warren Berger's book, A More Beautiful Question.  He suggests that questioning is a highly valued skill in today's innovation based work world, and is essential for an informed citizenry.  "We want children's questions to be large and expanded instead of being diminished and eventually going away," Berger says.

I was interviewed by two Parker middle school kids yesterday and we got talking about the importance of questions, play and hands-on learning.  They had terrific questions for me, and expressed how much they valued exploring through hands-on experiences as a way to learn, especially in science class.

So, check out these articles, play around with the ideas, and send me any questions you have.