This article reminded me deeply of my childhood self. I have vivid memories of entire school years of recess periods spend on the fringes of our playground on our muddy hillside digging into the craggy roots at the bases of trees making fairy houses, or constructing dolls out of mud with snail shells for eyes and grass for hair. Even building forts was something we would occasionally work on or contemplate, but because I was usually working with only one or two friends we would usually focus on smaller more detailed projects.
The second project of mazes
also reminds me of things I have done on school time, to help me concentrate
better. Rufo muses, “I also began to wonder if drawing in the margins was a way
in which some students processed information and if certain students were able
to better concentrate while ‘physically moving or doodling’.” I would agree
with this notion in a heartbeat, as I spent the better part of my 10th grade
year, as well as various weeks even as early as elementary or middle school
making paper cranes. I learned how to do this as part of a unit on Japan in 3rd grade,
when we also read the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I took on
the task myself and indeed did complete 1,000 tiny paper cranes my sophomore
year of high school. I am sure I annoyed my teachers to no end, but the size of
paper I used was just bigger than my thumbnail, so if I folded with my hands
just under the desk (I didn’t really need to look at what I was doing, I had
the steps memorized not just visually but also physically) I wouldn’t disrupt
the classroom. In the weeks while working on this, I discovered my ability to
concentrate on the lecture material (as most of my classes were lecture by that
point) was much greater, because with this small task occupying part of my
mind, I couldn’t daydream and had to actually listen to the material that was
being presented.
The doodling reminded my
vividly of youtube channel host Vihart- who is educated in both mathematics and
music and makes wonderful videos pertaining to these and other topics. This video is
particularly relevant to the idea of drawing fractals in math class, and this one has much
visually similar to the maze concept.
Hey Laura, I have to say your dedication to making 1,000 cranes is very commendable. My sister and I together barely managed about 700, but then again, we did try to do it all in one night. It was for my grandma for Christmas, we got kinda tired though. That video on the fibonacci sequence was really interesting, I remember briefly learning about it in either art or math class(?) I can't recall which one. I didn't think I'd watch it for so long but it was actually really interesting, and makes me wonder that maybe math would be more interesting if the teachers could relate it to art or just things in every day life. I remember a lot of us in math class would always think, "When will we ever need to use this stuff in real life?" In my geometry class in high school, we had to make polyhedrons in any creative way possible. I had a blast making mine because I found a tutorial on how to do it with origami, and in the end, mine was ranked most durable. My teacher said you could chuck it at someone's head and it still wouldn't break. I'd like math a lot more if we got to do more projects that involved fun art activities. It also made me learn the concept better, just from repetition and constantly making sure all the pieces were exactly the same.
ReplyDeleteYenni, you bring up an important point: the relationship of learning to life application. Some critics of K-12 education worry that what children learn in school may not be "essential" knowledge for life skills later on in adulthood. I think it's a slippery slope trying to teach only what we predict children will need in the future. For instance, just because I don't use Shakespeare for practical daily application in my job doesn't necessarily mean I didn't gain a broader and enriching appreciation for language and writing through studying his work in high school. Another point you raise that bears consideration is the process of tying abstract concepts with concrete application projects and how it changes the way we remember information and apply it to our life (as in your geometry project.) The way you remember geometry was altered by your multi-sensory engagement with creating your polyhedron, in much the same way that Laura was able to pay attention in class differently as a result of her secret origami project. These are two separate but important issues we need to think about as educators, thank you for raising them!
ReplyDelete