Sand Castles Go Digital!!!

I just read a thought provoking article on constructionism “Sand Castles Go Digital” By Idit Harel.

The ways in which we learn are quite complex and has been at the heart of teaching for many years, and this is what I loved about this article it took a simple sand castle, something that everyone has a child has constructed and turned into a metaphor for learning.

It is a common belief that play is good for children, and the reason why this play is good is because it allows children to drive their own learning experience. And this is what Contructionism, a theory pioneered by Seymour Papert holds that children learn best when they are in the active roles of designer and constructor.

So whilst these sand castles offer the greatest unplanned learning in the moment, they offer limitations this includes a child can’t revisit their creation the next day, add to their creation or simply show a friend. So what does this sand castle offer technology? Quite a lot really we are taking this idea of the children being in these active roles of designer and creator, giving them the web, the computer or technology which offers these children a wide-open learning environment in which children can explore the world, express themselves, save their work, revise, add or even re-create their work. I guess the most important part of technology is not necessarily the technology that we do use it is rather how we use this technology. This unplanned learning with children in control allows for the best learning experience to take place.

Reference: http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html accessed 11/04/08

Three X’s vs the Three R’s

The 3 x’S being placed on the same level as the 3R’s is an interesting topic..but I guess that is the changing way of the future. Idit Harel “ The Three Xs” talks about this ever changing world and skills children will need to have.

Everybody has heard of the Three R’s these being Reading, wRiting and Rithmetic but Harel states these aren’t the only skills that children will need now and in the future and to be honest I quite agree with her. We do live in a fast paced world where skills and knowledge are always being updated or we are always finding a better way to do something.

Harel believes children should be imbedded with the three Xs these include exploring, expressing and exchanging. Now with a first glance at these one will choose to believe that it’s no where near as important as reading, writing and arithmetic, however after reading this article I choose to differ.

The Three X’s is going to be the future. Exploring here we take children’s natural drive and passion for learning as they explore things on their own and at their own pace. And it is true learning does take place when a child can discover for themselves without being told the answer. Harel suggests the net as this open ended discovery place, and the net does create a discovery world all of it’s own and the more children discover the more resourceful they become.

Expressing, or rather learning how to use a vast range of tools helps build children’s own ideas. Harel suggests that the net allows children to create like they have never created before. With all the colour, sounds and motions children are artists they are learning to express themselves and their ideas.

The remaining X is Exchanging of ideas. Real learning occurs when we are working in a social context with the ability to share and gain other points of view. Through this exchanging of ideas Harel has a valid point children become active not passive in their learning, this is vital if we want children to remember what they are learning. Children also learn the value of teamwork an important life skill.

So do these Three X’s replace the Three R’s quite a difficult question to answer both do have their positives. We need to know our content but we also need to be able to adapt to a changing world and this is exactly what the Three X’s are doing, they are adapting to this ever changing world and giving children skills today which are going to be used today and in the future.