Monday, December 26, 2005

freedom to explore

These are annotated links to positive stories about students being given the freedom to explore. I plan to come back to it and add to it as I discover more. There is too much fear around of things going wrong when kids are allowed to explore. Of course things will sometimes go wrong!

No Two Swimmers Float Alike by Guy Bensusan.

This is his journey through two different learning styles. As a swimming coach he preferred exploration, playfulness and freedom as a style. As a University student he was initially persuaded that a serious, structured approach was necessary. But as he became older and wiser he realised that the first style could be applied to most situations. His story is beautifully written with very interesting anecodotes and detail, which make it stand out. It is also about taking taking responsibility for overcoming our fear of the deep water through empathic individualised instruction. It is obvious that he is an inspirational teacher.

Personal Use of the Internet by Doug Johnson

Libraries ought to be places where students can explore their own interests not just look up what others want them to learn. It follows that this should be extended to exploring things on the internet. Some of the benefits are: practice skills, gives internet ban some teeth(?), it's fun!

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