I'm always thinking about questions. Not just the questions I get throughout the day, but the questions I ask students and my own son.
"What did you do today?" This is the most common questions I ask my son, but I know it is the wrong questions. I need to make sure I ask, "What did you learn today?" This question leaves open so many possibilities for him. He could talk about so many different things. Asking him what he did will limit him to actions performed, not ideas created.
This is the same idea I'm trying to bring into the Knight's Forge Makerspace at University Liggett School. Is the correct question, "What do you want to make?" or is it "What do you want to learn?" I ask students what they want to make, but I feel like I have it backwards. I should ask them what they want to learn and then help them find the tools that best support their goal.
The realization struck my yesterday when a student came in and he said he wanted to learn how to make music using code. He was focused on learning to do something, not just accomplishing something. I think that is a very important difference that people, me included, sometimes miss when want want students to create. Is it just the act of creation that we want, or is it the act of learning. If it is learning, shouldn't we frame makerspace better if that is not the message out there.
I don't have the answer to these questions, but they are questions that are bouncing around my brain and I thought I would share them here for all of you to think about and hopefully share your thoughts.
Hugs and High Fives,
Nick
"What did you do today?" This is the most common questions I ask my son, but I know it is the wrong questions. I need to make sure I ask, "What did you learn today?" This question leaves open so many possibilities for him. He could talk about so many different things. Asking him what he did will limit him to actions performed, not ideas created.
This is the same idea I'm trying to bring into the Knight's Forge Makerspace at University Liggett School. Is the correct question, "What do you want to make?" or is it "What do you want to learn?" I ask students what they want to make, but I feel like I have it backwards. I should ask them what they want to learn and then help them find the tools that best support their goal.
The realization struck my yesterday when a student came in and he said he wanted to learn how to make music using code. He was focused on learning to do something, not just accomplishing something. I think that is a very important difference that people, me included, sometimes miss when want want students to create. Is it just the act of creation that we want, or is it the act of learning. If it is learning, shouldn't we frame makerspace better if that is not the message out there.
I don't have the answer to these questions, but they are questions that are bouncing around my brain and I thought I would share them here for all of you to think about and hopefully share your thoughts.
Hugs and High Fives,
Nick
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