« Video: A Vision of Students Today | Main | Jury Rules Blackboard Has a Patent on LMS User Roles »
The Tinkering School: Helping Kids Discover Danger
By Richard Nantel | February 21, 2008
Last week, I wrote about a teen panel I attended that suggested that, except for a few small differences, today’s teens seem pretty similar to their boomer parents. Considering how differently these generations were raised, this is surprising.
When I was young, my favorite game was called stretch. My opponent and I would face each other, inches apart, and would throw pocket knives into the ground. My opponent would need to stretch one leg and place his foot where the blade entered the ground. Holding that position, it was his turn to throw a knife and make me stretch. Every once in a while, a knife would inadvertently pierce a foot, adding a significant element of danger to the game.
When were weren’t playing stretch, we were burning things using sunlight and magnifying glasses.
When we weren’t lighting fires with magnifying glasses, we were making guns out of clothespins and elastic bands that ignited and shot wooden matches 20 feet or more.
When we weren’t making clothespin guns to shoot matches, we were mixing our own dynamite and blowing things up.
When we weren’t blowing things up, we were making rafts out of non-buoyant materials to navigate rivers (even though none of us could swim).
Looking back, it’s a miracle any kid in the 1960s and 70s survived long enough to attain adulthood. Although those days were filled with danger, I think most boomers reflect on those experiences as among the happiest in their lives.
News stories of abductions and pedophiles turned boomers, who grew up enjoying unbridled freedom, into overprotective parents. “Go out and play” was quickly replaced with “shall I call your friend Sammy and arrange a play date?”
Consequently, the children in my neighborhood are experiencing a very different childhood than the one I enjoyed. I never see them running free like coyotes. They never ring my doorbell and run away, leaving a bag of burning dog droppings at my door. I suspect most have never seen a shooting star.
Gever Tulley is attempting to change all that. He’s writing a book called “50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.” He’s also the founder of The Tinkering School, a summer program where kids are provided with the opportunity to explore, build things, and learn about danger.
At the Tinkering School, kids as young as seven use power tools. In fact, they get to bring home their own power drill upon finishing the program.
According to Mr. Tulley, “if you send your kids to the Tinkering School, they’ll come back bruised, scraped, and bloody.” They’ll also be more creative, self assured, and will know how to interact safely with the environment around them.
The Tinkering School is all about discovery and exploration. It sounds like the best possible environment for learning.
Check out this presentation of Gever Tulley on the TED Web site.
The Tinkering School Web site is located here.
Topics: Baby boomers, K-12, Learning, Teens, Tinkering School |
March 5th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Sigh. I wish it were different. Can you imagine the expressions you would get if you said, ‘you kids go out and burn stuff, blow stuff up, jump in the river…’?
Our conference is a bit of a tinkering school …discovery and exploration. A place where it’s ok to create the types of experiences you might not be able to at work.
March 5th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Yeah, I agree. Somewhere in the last 40 years, whether you’re a good parent has been defined by how completely you shield your children from any risk in their lives.
Gever Tulley has become a bit of a hero to me. I’m trying to include his suggestions into my life as a parent. So, this coming Sunday, I’m taking my 14 year-old to an empty parking lot so that she can start learning to drive our car.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Yup its a pity that children are not allowed to explore their childhood as we were. We do tend to be overprotective and structured in bringing up our children. Every time I speak to my friends the fear of pedophiles does come up. The fear is usually based on media exposure and very often a personal experience.
It is rather disconcerting to learn that many of us with children today have experienced some kind of sexual abuse as children and we try our best to prevent out children from experiencing the same.
There is obviously more awareness and exposure to such topics today than there was 20- 30 years ago, but this surely prevents us from letting our children be children.
Also there are too many rules for parents specially regarding child saftey. Are parents not concerned about their children’s saftey that the government has to intervene?
Asian governments are still a bit more non intrusive than the western, but having said that my neighbour ( in HKG) recently got arrested for trying to teach his 11 year old how to drive!!!
March 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Shveita: Thanks for your comments. Goodness, if ever I find myself in Hong Kong, I’ll make sure to find a secluded spot away from authorities to teach my daughters how to drive.
By the way, my father’s approach to teaching his 16-year old son how to drive was to put be behind the wheel of our Chevrolet Belair, (in my memory, probably one of the biggest cars ever made,) and have me drive on the fastest, busiest roads.
My grandfather learned to drive when he was sent to pick up a company car at a dealership. He was handed the keys and he had to figure out how it all worked. Discovery learning!
March 9th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Fortunately, discovery learning is making a come back. The other day I went to my daughter’s school and they were talking about being open minded inqiurers,I was quite inpressed with 5 year olds trying to figure out things in a very open and inquisitive way.
In India we had to do so much rote learning that education was an absolute bore.
I am unfortunately a bit too protective of my progeny, but I guess have to let her learn to fall and recover. we all did and survived.
I did not even learn to drive. I bought my licence in India ( in those days we could!!!)and just drove out. Banged a few times but survived.
HKG, I would have been behind bars with a mug shot ….saying “dangerous driver”.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:02 am
[...] has enlisted master tinkerer Gever Tulley, who we’ve written about in the past, to help teach designers to rediscover what objects are like in the real world. “In daylong [...]