On 1/19/2011 1:29 PM, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
Hi all,
I just stumbled across this fascinating article called "When teaching
restrains discovery"
(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/18/when-teaching-restrains-discovery/)
Indeed such unstructured & unsupervised play (nevermind the outdoors!)
may be "obsolete" in rich, overparented societies per "Last Child in the
Woods" (Richard Louv, 336p, 2005), "Free-Range Kids" (Lenore Skenazy,
256p, 2009), "Play Again" (2010 film) etc.
But the patient (exploratory learning) won't die without a fight --
witness the ongoing backlash against last week's "Why Chinese Mothers
Are Superior" (WSJ, Jan 8 2011), "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" (Amy
Chua, 256p, 2011) etc:
The Unused Playground: Kids Need to be Out in Nature, Yet We Keep
Them Caged. By Phil Primack
...studies, hearings, and slogans ("Leave No Child Inside") won't
significantly reduce the great disconnect between kids and nature unless
parents -- many raised amid "Stranger Danger" and other media-stoked
fears themselves -- are willing to grant kids more freedom...
http://boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/09/12/the_unused_playground/
Nature Deficit Disorder: Kids Who Don't Get Outside Can Pay To Play
http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/01/18/nature-deficit
http://feeds.wbur.org/~r/WBURRadioBoston/~5/6EoG_ogxORs/radioboston_0118.mp3
(Listen from 15m40s to 35m06s)
Amy Chua Is a Wimp: "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" may denounce
soft American-style parenting, but its author shelters her children from
the truly arduous experiences necessary to achieve.
http://nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html
--
Help kids everywhere map their world, at http://olpcMAP.net
<http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://olpcMAP.net> !
which is based on a very recently published paper whose title really
says it all "The double-edged sword of pedagogy: Instruction limits
spontaneous exploration and discovery"
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T24-51WV6VK-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01/08/2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b3319a977badfb35348871b64a9e1d4c&searchtype=a).
Definitely well worth a read in my opinion. :-)
Cheers,
Christoph
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