麻豆精品

The 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds at at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh had a problem. They had blocks to move on the playground, but they didn鈥檛 have the wheelbarrows necessary to get the job done. So they got one of the teachers to help them write a note.

Dr. Sharon Carver, who has been running the Children鈥檚 School since 1993, did not just chuckle and tape the request to the refrigerator. 鈥淲e ordered the stuff they asked for,鈥� she says.

The wheelbarrows arrived, and there was another problem: they were not assembled.

In most places, staff might get out the tools and read the instructions for assembly while the children played, but that鈥檚 not how it works here. 鈥淭hey immediately understood that they were responsible for putting their own wheelbarrows together,鈥� Carver says. 鈥淭hey couldn鈥檛 necessarily do it entirely themselves, but they did what they could and asked for help with the parts they couldn鈥檛.鈥�

Once the wheelbarrows were put together, the children encountered yet another obstacle. There were different levels on the playground, and the wheels of the wheelbarrows weren鈥檛 big enough to get up and down.

So they built ramps.

That鈥檚 just how they roll at the Children鈥檚 School. Guided by highly trained educators and supported by design choices, the play here is pragmatic. Carver, who admits that she gets bored easily, likes it when the children surprise her with new ideas and projects.

Demographically, the Children鈥檚 School is a mirror of Pittsburgh as a whole, with about 30% multilingual, the full range of income levels and 15% having special needs. The school arose in 1968, the same year as another Pittsburgh institution, the long-running TV show Mister Rogers鈥� Neighborhood. Like Fred Rogers, founder Ann Baldwin Taylor built upon the influence of John Dewey (1859-1952), who famously wrote, 鈥淕ive the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.鈥� Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), who declared, 鈥淧lay is the work of children,” was another inspiration.

According to Carver, Taylor and Rogers were part of a generation trying to understand and respect children for who they are and the way that they think. Everyone here makes mistakes, deals with it, asks for help and tries all over again.

Many of the lessons Carver uses from Rogers come from by Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski. The authors show how his principles have been proven effective by learning sciences research and in in varied contexts for learners of all ages.

Around the world, she notes, young children do things like tending livestock, chopping wood and washing clothes, but in many parts of America, they have none of these responsibilities, and as a result, play and learning fall into different, artificial categories, with work being something that awaits in the distant future.

Carver says, 鈥淲hen we give them the skills, they’re actually capable of doing a lot more than you鈥檇 think. What you should do when you’re four is going to depend on what you did when you were three.鈥� Rogers, she notes, loved to show children how things are done and made. Famously, he took his young audience on tours of farms, factories and restaurants. Besides landscaping, children at the Children鈥檚 School get involved with activities like cooking and woodworking. The curriculum conforms to individual interest.

As a laboratory school 鈥� 鈥攖he Children鈥檚 School has a second, equal responsibility to facilitate research into child development. Carnegie Mellon psychology, computer science, and robotics researchers and students, sometimes in conjunction with the , observe the children and set up experiments and experiences. Carver refers to the school as a 鈥渟andbox鈥� where undergraduates and graduates get to 鈥渕ess around before going out into the world.鈥�

A recent project investigated how children interact with marble mazes. 鈥淭hese are computer science students,鈥� says Carver. 鈥淢any know nothing about children.鈥� In September, they observed the school, and they returned in November with their prototypes involving chutes and various gizmos for controlling the marbles. It was immediately apparent which projects engaged the children and which didn鈥檛. 鈥淐hildren vote with their feet,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty easy to tell if they鈥檙e engaged or not.鈥� Students in a Music Entrepreneurship course collaborated with children with an interactive workshop inspired by an exhibition celebrating author and illustrator Mo Willems.

鈥淲e take the same approach with staff development as we do with the children,鈥� she adds. When they experience the joy and power of such learning at their own level guided by their own interests, they are better able to design similar opportunities for the children. To that end, educators will soon take a trip to Pittsburgh鈥檚 , an 鈥渋mmersive work environment鈥� where new products are designed.

鈥淲e have no idea what鈥檚 going to happen,鈥� enthuses Carver. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes it play. Whatever we鈥檙e doing, all of us are approaching it playfully, within the structure of the activity.鈥�

With the lines between work, play and learning permeable, the experience is always unpredictable, which is something the children, the educators and Carver herself appreciate.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.