The contents from my blog article College for Kids the FirstTwo Days I sent to a modeling aviation listserve and also to several
individuals. This did provoke some interesting responses which I will try to
summarize. It brought up the issues of creativity, the role of failure in
learning, and the inability of some students to make simple measurements for a
project.
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| Rubber Powered Foam Plane in Flight |
My comment: “"I would say to cut a piece 2" x
4" out of foam plate and some would cut much smaller pieces. My idea was
to give them general proportions but let them use some of their own
creativity."
Someone questioned if some kids could measure out a
rectangle 2” x 4”, I would hope by the 5th grade this would not be an issue, it
would have been better for me to work in metric but I thought that more
difficult. I think the issue is more about not following directions for
whatever reason. One person said that he gave the kids a template that
they could modify outside of the boundaries. He went on to say that kids are
desperate to modify their aircraft and try new things with it, on that I can
concur.
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| Wing is Much Too Small |
The Role of Success and Failure in Learning
One person gave a statement that I have a little trouble
with but I do see their intention:
“The number one requirement in class is that every single
airplane must fly successfully.
Creativity by the ignorant is a prescription for failure.”
I think the point here is that kids will lose interest in a
hurry and not pursue an activity further if presented with failure from the
start. This statement by a fulltime science instructor mentions the inability
to work through failure as one the largest weaknesses he sees in students:
“Students have a tough time sticking it out, especially when
it gets hard for them. The lack of risk taking and failure in their lives
lessens their ability to work through failure.”
So much to consider when teaching, my next class will be
just building the foam airplanes so I am going to trace out the pieces and see
how it goes.
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