A Wonderful Idea...Summer Studio Week 1

In the book, "The Having of Wonderful Ideas" by Eleanor Duckworth...

she states both a brilliant observation and a question, 

"What happens to children's curiosity and resourcefulness later in their childhood?  Why do so few continue to have their own wonderful ideas?"

She goes to to explain that parents and other adults in children's lives begin to Devalue intellectual breakthroughs as children get older.

How many of us have told our children that they have their shoes on the wrong feet?
Even though the child has shown quite a bit of independence and determination...we find it quite unacceptable to let the child discover for himself how it feels to wear shoes on the wrong feet.

Duckworth explains that adults discourage children from exploring their own ideas and make them feel that they have no important ideas of their own...especially, when children ask questions that are socially embarrassing, or they destroy something to see what it's like inside.

Duckworth says again and again..." Wonderful ideas are built on other wonderful ideas."

She tells us that the role of the teacher or adult is to provide materials and questions in ways that suggest things to be done with them; and children, in the doing , cannot help being inventive.

She insists that  WE must be willing to accept children's ideas.
And the other is...
Provide a setting that suggests wonderful ideas to children.

Now, I could not explain the purpose of Wonder Studio any better than that...
A Place where Wonderful ideas are both accepted and suggested to children.

So...Duckworth goes on to say that Kids must feel "At Home" with open-ended materials (materials like, Paint, cornstarch, wooden blocks, water, sand, etc...).

Through repeated experiences, they begin to know what to expect of them, what can be done with them, how they react to various circumstances, what you like about them and what you don't like about them, how they can be changed, avoided, preserved, destroyed, or enhanced.

And, once the child is familiar with a few phenomena in such a way as to catch their interest, to let them raise and answer their own questions, to let them realize that their ideas are Significant so they they have the interest, the ability, and the self-confidence to go on by themselves.

Although, there is so much more in this amazing "Wonderful" book..I'll leave you with this...

"The development of intelligence is a matter of having wonderful ideas.  A creative affair.  When children are afforded the occasions to be intellectually creative- by being offered matter to be concerned about intellectually and by having their ideas accepted-then not only do they learn about the world, but as a happy side effect their general intellectual ability is stimulated as well."

I'll be quiet now and begin to listen to the ideas all around me...