There is this dilemma about teaching. If you teach too explicitly you end up brain-washing kids. The fear is they will end-up drones. On the other hand, if you teach them abstract (at a high-level) then the kids may never get the point. They may end-up being slackers. So how does one "not" program them yet convey the higher principles of learning.
Consider English writing as an example. If we dictate the work too closely then they may never learn to write well on their own. And if we give them high-level guide-lines then also they may never learn to write well. So how do we proceed to educate them in creative writing ?
I think that if you do enough of high-level work, then children eventually figure-out the core principles of good work. i.e. They get it ! However, you need to do a variety of work with them so that they start seeing the high-level organization of the activity.
I have been doing 'writing skills' for age 9 kids, where I lay-out very high-level principles of good writing and set them off on some writing of their own. Today, I got the first convert in my class. One student complained to me that the English teacher asked them to do the character sketch but asked them to look into the book and copy. "It was unfair for teacher to give such a short-cut, when we wanted to do the character sketch", the student said. "This wasn't much fun as it is in your class". So the kids are learning the high-level message in my activities. And when they do, they are disappointed by the drone-work -that is neither fun nor education.
The lesson is, do a variety of high-level academic activities and kids will assimilate the core academic principles, may it be creative writing, listening or doing science experiments.
Consider English writing as an example. If we dictate the work too closely then they may never learn to write well on their own. And if we give them high-level guide-lines then also they may never learn to write well. So how do we proceed to educate them in creative writing ?
I think that if you do enough of high-level work, then children eventually figure-out the core principles of good work. i.e. They get it ! However, you need to do a variety of work with them so that they start seeing the high-level organization of the activity.
I have been doing 'writing skills' for age 9 kids, where I lay-out very high-level principles of good writing and set them off on some writing of their own. Today, I got the first convert in my class. One student complained to me that the English teacher asked them to do the character sketch but asked them to look into the book and copy. "It was unfair for teacher to give such a short-cut, when we wanted to do the character sketch", the student said. "This wasn't much fun as it is in your class". So the kids are learning the high-level message in my activities. And when they do, they are disappointed by the drone-work -that is neither fun nor education.
The lesson is, do a variety of high-level academic activities and kids will assimilate the core academic principles, may it be creative writing, listening or doing science experiments.
