Early Childhood Building +Talking = Engineering + Design

transcript

Building + Talking = Engineering + Design

Gabrielle LyonVice President, Education & Experience

Chicago Architecture Foundation

Opening Minds Conference, Chicago, IL1/22/16

WHY DESIGN MATTERS

CAF inspires people to discover

CAF OVERVIEW

583,00011,000

1,500180,000

annual audienceMembersstaffdocentsother volunteerssocial media followers

20,000 youth, teens & teachers

Educator Institute

CurriculumSchoolyards to Skylines, The Architecture Handbook, Discover Design.org, Architecture.org,

Mentors + VolunteersConnecting professionals with students

Professional DevelopmentContinuing Education Workshops and Resources

Teen Academy

Pursue ProgramsRodgers Teen Fellows - field-based career exploration programs for highly engaged students

Discover ProgramsSaturday Studios, Architects in Residence, E-Fest

Investigate ProgramsCompetitions, Summer Camps, Multi-week programs, After School Matters

Studio ProgramsField Trips Walking Tours + Studio Workshops

Family ProgramsCampsLego Build, Read+ Build

Family FestivalsE-Fest, Open House Chicago

FIRST – LET’S BUILD!

Structures that Matter for Learning in Early Childhood

• Curiosity• Large & small motor control• Early math

Stages of Block Play• Stage 1: Discovering blocks (very young children or

inexperienced builders)• Stage 2: Stacking blocks (rows & patterns)• Stage 3: Creating Bridges (two blocks to support a third

*technical problem solving)• Stage 4: Making Enclosures (*technical problem solving;

accessories - people, animals, food)• Stage 5: Using patterns & symmetry (complex structures,

designs, accessories)• Stage 6: Designing, planning constructing elaborate

structures (dramatic play, naming structures)

©Thirty Million Words

The Thirty Million Word Gap

Tune In• Children learn the most when you Tune In to what

they’re focused on and talk about it. • What your child is focused on is always changing.

Tune In by paying attention to what he’s focused on and change your words to match.

• Your child will learn the most when she’s engaged in what he’s hearing.

Talk More• When you Talk More and engage with children,

you build and strengthen connections in their brains.

• Don’t just do it; talk them through it! Talk More with your child about what you’re doing as you do it.

• Think of your child’s brain like a piggy bank. Every word you say is a penny in her bank. The more you talk now, the richer she’ll be later.

Take Turns• Children are never too young to engage in

conversation, or to Take Turns talking, with you. • Babies babble, cry, and make facial expressions.

Toddlers use gestures and made-up words. Preschoolers use real words. All of these are ways children communicate, or Take Turns.

• Respond with words to everything your child communicates. The more practice your child gets taking turns, the stronger talker he’ll become.

Say This….Not ThatTo Build Your Child’s Brain

You worked really hard

What should we do now that we’re done playing?

Will you be my helper?

You are so smart

Put the toys away.

Will you help?

Engineering & Design

What is Engineering?• “skillfully or artfully arranging for (an event or

situation) to occur”• Observing & testing with a purpose

Science Inquiry in Practice• Explore objects, materials, and events. • Raise questions. WONDER WHY

• Make careful observations DESCRIBE THOUGHTFULLY. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT?

• Engage in simple investigations TRY THINGS OUT. LET’S DO IT!

• Describe (including shape, size, number), compare, sort, classify, and order. USE SPECIFIC WORDS. HOW MANY?

• Record observations using words, pictures, charts, and graphs. DRAW IT.

• Identify patterns and relationships. WHAT IS THE SAME? WHAT IS DIFFERENT?

• Develop tentative explanations and ideas. MAKE STATEMENTS THEN WONDER. I THINK….WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF?

• Work collaboratively with others. • Share and discuss ideas and listen to new perspectives. MORE IDEAS.

WHAT ELSE?

http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/Teaching_Approaches/Inquiryhttp://www.discoverdesign.org/files/images/general/design_process_0.gif

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Early Childhood Science Inquiry Process vs Design Process

What’s Worth Knowing & Experiencing at the Chicago Architecture Foundation?

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLSVocabulary

ChicagoArchitectural skills

How to get to know a place, “This place"How to solve a problem; knowing there is a

process that can be usedCAF is a resource

EXPERIENCESLearning to look; seeing

Making, touching Access to experts

Design processSelf-efficacy in the built environment (“I

can affect my environment/I have agency”)Public component

Intentionality about what we do & how we do it

• Asking questions with intentionality: 'How would we get from here to there?" "What else might we need" "How will we know what this building is?” "What buildings does a city need?”

• When we ask specific questions we give young people the chance to define problems and practice describing what they see.

• These are critical skills not only for brain development for very young children but are the precursors to truly scientific & logical thinking for older children.

Building & building again

• "What if we try to build that again in another way? What else could we use?"

• When we encourage young people to think about testing (rebuilding, do-overs, etc) as an expectation we help them be comfortable that "making a mistake" isn't the end – it's just part of the process.

• Building again encourages invention –the heart of the thing we're after.

Say the words & say them again.

• "Vocabulary" is one of our education design principles.

• We use vocabulary that matters for building – arch, dome, column, gazebo, lintel, truss — challenge yourself to stretch the ways you incorporate architecture terms.

Building isn't just about buildings

• We value physical skill development of cutting, placing tape, tying string, or aligning a pipe cleaner into a hole.

• Gross motor development is critical for brain development.

• Sharing what they’ve built with each other helps form identity and self confidence

• Collaborating on where buildings should go and why fosters a shared shared sense of purpose, planning and community

Readings & Resources• Ballweg, J. “The 12 Stages of Block Play.” Math at Play Blog. 11/12/2013.

http://blog.mathatplay.org/2012/11/13/block-blog-12-stages-of-block-play/ • Collected Papers from the SEED (STEM in Early Education and Development) Conference,

May 2010. http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/beyond/seed/ • Hirsch, E., The Block Book, 1996.• MacDonald, Sharon, Block Play: The Complete Guide to Learning and Playing with Blocks.

2001.• Masengarb, J. Schoolyards to Skylines. Chicago Architecture Foundation. 2012.

http://shop.architecture.org/products/schoolyards-to-skylines • NAEYC Guide to Developmental Benchmarks.

https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200407/ArtsEducationPartnership.pdf. • Suskind, D. Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain. 2015. http

://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Million-Words-Building-Childs/dp/0525954872• Texas Child Care Quarterly. “Block play: Classroom essentials.” Summer 2009. Texas Child

Care. http://www.childcarequarterly.com/summer09_story2a.html 11/30/2011.• Thirty Million Words Initiative. http://www.Thirtymillionwords.org

Questions?

glyon@architecture.org@chiarchitecture.org

LyonGabrielle