The failing, not the succeeding

Posted by Chad Sansing ⋅ October 21, 2012 ⋅ 5 Comments

Filed Under Inquiry, math

Last time I shared out the fun we had spinning a wheel. Now we (in a small PBL group that meets twice weekly) are spinning our wheels trying to make a counter/sensor that will tally the spins of a particularly sick skateboard wheel.

Here’s a short list of our failures so far:

We could use some help with design. If you or your children and/or students can help us out, please chime in on this shared doc, which more or less lists the materials available to us. Thanks to Mike Thornton for the crowd-sourced learning example.

I really enjoy this tailored inquiry work using the stuff around us – both the stuff in our lives and the stuff in our classroom. Given that this is a small project with a mix of analog and digital resources, I’m curious about what the Coöp community thinks of such work, but I’m also curious about what educators in general make of it. Are we shaking our heads? Cross-walking this to standards? To Marzano? Where are we (big We and little we) right now as pedagogues?

What is the purpose of technology in schools? In education? In public education and its administration? What is the role of inquiry? When do you think inquiry is okay or permissible? For whom? What about design, engineering, and math with skateboard wheels?

Is this “good” teaching and learning despite “bad” policy? “Bad” teaching and learning despite “good” policy? Neither? Both? Maybe? Good for some? I know there’s not a lot of sample to code or analyze here, but I’m curious, as ever, about our beliefs and our belief in them.

What’s the difference between what we accept or profess as believable and what we actually believe? Between what we wish and what we enact? In those spaces, how do we move?

I think growth and learning are in those spaces. I wonder, as ever, if I am there, too – if I am doing enough to enact what I wish for my kids, profession, and school. What am I making?

Spin a skateboard wheel; see where it stops. Does it say that we’re failing or succeeding?

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I teach for the users. Opinions are mine; content is ours.

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Discussion

5 Responses to “The failing, not the succeeding”

When do you think inquiry is okay or permissible? ALWAYS
For whom? EVERYONE

Posted by sprite | October 21, 2012, 9:06 pm

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Chad, Lots of questions here. What are your students learning from this kind of playing and experimenting? You?

I’m with Sprite above.

K

Posted by Kirsten | October 22, 2012, 8:55 am

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- There are lots of bits of learning buzzing around us – how can we complete a circuit with a moving part? What works? What is the best way? To whom can we go to for help? What’s been done before? What can we calculate from this? What can we estimate? How can we get more accurate and precise? How much perseverance can problem-solving take? What important learning can we uncover in school by approaching it through our own stuff?
  
  I think most starkly we are becoming confident that we can move towards finding answers by finding out what isn’t the answer, which is a process and an approach and a set of habits rather than a memorized or rote selection.
  
  I’ll ask my kids, as well, and chime back in later -
  
  Best,
  C
  
  Posted by Chad Sansing | October 22, 2012, 1:48 pm
  
  Reply to this comment
  - A fascinating set of questions, and a terrific project. Completing a circuit (closing a circuit), if done mechanically, involves friction — is a lesson to be learned on this issue? Optical measurement? I’ll bet you could get the entire school involved, even the music department (if you have one) because the nature of harmonics that vibrations give off may evidence a physical design problems. Economics — when does one reach the point of diminishing returns in connection with R&D? Terrific stuff — the universe from a truck!
    
    Brent
    
    Posted by Brent Snavely | October 22, 2012, 3:07 pm
    
    Reply to this comment
    - Thanks for this, Brent!
      C
      
      Posted by Chad Sansing | October 22, 2012, 3:09 pm