Gever Tulley’s presentation at Ted Talks demonstrates how much kids can learn and accomplish when they are not limited to a teacher-selected, teacher-directed curriculum and classroom discussions. Many teachers may fear to give up “control” of their classrooms. What about your entire curriculum? Your traditional modes of assessment? Your power tools??
But in Tinker School, students are granted freedoms that might have more than traditional teachers cringing at the thought—and what they come up with as a result are pretty amazing. Rollercosters, tree houses, bridges made of plastic bags, boats and gas-powered go carts. Who had any idea that kids—YOUNG kids in many cases—could come up with this kind of thing? It just goes to show that kids, when given the right tools, the right inspiration, the right motivation, and the right guidance, are truly amazing. Tinker School is very consistent with many of the other demonstrations for schools that support Project-Based Learning in favor of traditional curricula. The biggest problem with PBL, however, is that it seems to only be supported in our most non-traditional settings (e.g., charter schools), which tend to have complete freedom in what and how things get taught and also tend to have significantly more resources, smaller class sizes, and—I assume—less bureaucratic red tape than traditional high schools. While I love these examples of PBL and find them incredibly inspiring, what I have yet to see are examples of PBL-type curriculum being implemented in our more traditional comprehensive sites with class sizes of 40-45 being the new norm. If PBL, as wonderful as it is, is going to gain enough traction to impact these traditional school settings, (which make up the majority of all school settings), we need to see how to make it work when you are operating under traditional restrictions. [Ted]. (2009, Jul 1). Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvHViFc0ekw&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp&index=16
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May 2016
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