On the lesson on 20.3. the teacher started talking about toothpicks. At that point we were quite confused since we were supposed to be learning about didactics; how was that supposed to help us learn about didactics? The teacher started to tell us how a magnificent invention a toothpick is. After that it started to get clear what we were supposed to do: first, we were told to form groups of 5-6 persons and our task was to build figures out of toothpicks that we had to get from the teacher’s table. We were told that we had 10 minutes to finish the task. Six persons were chosen to be observant of collaboration, creativity, and quality of our works.
One of our group members happened to have a smooth surface we could stick the toothpicks into, so we had a different kind of a surface than the others, and the implementation was also different. Our group started with an idea of a house, which transformed into a school, with two students playing in the yard. On top of the school, we formed the letters A, B, and C and also formed a sun shining.
It turned out quite a few groups had the idea of the house. We think that it’s because that’s the first form that comes to our minds when told to form a figure; it’s quite easy to make as well. All of the final products were also different, obviously, and we thought they were really great.
We also had a final discussion on the task, where we learned the didactic part of the lesson. We were discussing on how we need to count the time and really plan the lesson carefully to be able to hold a good lesson for the students. We were also discussing if the task or the final results would have changed if we had a different kind of an introduction and/or instructions. For example, when the teacher was excited about the invention of the toothpick, it somehow made us excited about the task also. What comes to instructions in this task, we were only told to build figures out of toothpicks, and all of our questions were answered the same way: “Build figures.” It gave us free hands to use extra materials also, which all of us except for one group used. We think that this was a way to build our creativity also. Usually, at school, we are used to having really precise instructions on how a work should be done (this goes at least in Finland and Germany).
We think that children’s growth of creativity could be helped by giving out more tasks like this. When children are little, they need more examples of how a work can be done, but when they get older, this model should not be used anymore.
What do you think? Is there aby object that can help us to learn more than one subject? Do we all have the basic resources to learn?
One of our group members happened to have a smooth surface we could stick the toothpicks into, so we had a different kind of a surface than the others, and the implementation was also different. Our group started with an idea of a house, which transformed into a school, with two students playing in the yard. On top of the school, we formed the letters A, B, and C and also formed a sun shining.
It turned out quite a few groups had the idea of the house. We think that it’s because that’s the first form that comes to our minds when told to form a figure; it’s quite easy to make as well. All of the final products were also different, obviously, and we thought they were really great.
We also had a final discussion on the task, where we learned the didactic part of the lesson. We were discussing on how we need to count the time and really plan the lesson carefully to be able to hold a good lesson for the students. We were also discussing if the task or the final results would have changed if we had a different kind of an introduction and/or instructions. For example, when the teacher was excited about the invention of the toothpick, it somehow made us excited about the task also. What comes to instructions in this task, we were only told to build figures out of toothpicks, and all of our questions were answered the same way: “Build figures.” It gave us free hands to use extra materials also, which all of us except for one group used. We think that this was a way to build our creativity also. Usually, at school, we are used to having really precise instructions on how a work should be done (this goes at least in Finland and Germany).
We think that children’s growth of creativity could be helped by giving out more tasks like this. When children are little, they need more examples of how a work can be done, but when they get older, this model should not be used anymore.
What do you think? Is there aby object that can help us to learn more than one subject? Do we all have the basic resources to learn?
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