Subject: Creativity, innovation, intuition and discovery

Posted by Warren Farr on 10/13/2010
In Reply To:Creativity, innovation, intuition and discovery Posted by Connie Woodberry on 10/13/2010

Message:

"A question: Can mathematics be taught/learned this way? Without all the repetition? For example, without the forced march to memorize the times tables? I've been told the open classroom went down on mathematics and handwriting."

A most interesting question and one that I have struggled with in my own educational development. For me, I am more willing to spend the time memorizing the times table when I have a compelling reason to use it. With this in mind, one answer to your question could be: Create the opportunity/resource of a compelling problem. Allow the student to explore and subsequently realize that to wrestle with the problem in a satisfying way, s/he will need to obtain some basic (math) skills. When s/he asks for help with the times table, you have them motivated to learn it. This is an idealistic answer from someone who is mostly familiar with adult education and understands little about K-12 learning.

Example: I teach a 5th grade "rocket science" day at our local public school. With the support of the science teachers, the kids build and fly small model rockets. I provide a class about rocket stability and supervise the safety of the rocket build and launch. It has been a great way to get the kids (boys & girls) engaged in a tangible and engaging situation that generates compelling questions. One class a student asked me if a lighter rocket would go higher than a heavier rocket. In response I asked her which object she could throw farther, a golf ball, or a ping-pong ball? The student responded with: "so a heavier rocket flies higher!" Then I asked which object she could throw farther, a golf ball, or a shot-put ball (think track and field)? The students quickly come to the conclusion that the answer is: "it depends" and they have an immediate curiosity to find out more about why and what. These questions generate great dialog which can lead to kid-designed experiments where they place different amounts of weight on the same rocket to test their hypothesis, all teacher guided without answers provided.

Warren