Even individual teachers, parents, and researchers can and do make a difference. Over time I have seen some efforts and good examples big and small. I think the key is to find a system that scales and a mechanism design the lets it grow.
Example 1: Kids as researchers:
We discovered that bumble-bees can use a combination of colour and spatial relationships in deciding which colour of flower to forage from. We also discovered that science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before.
-- Blackawton bees (original scientific research by 25 8-10 year-olds)
Children need a school that I like to go to myself, Fee Czisch said to herself when she became a primary school teacher years ago. And over the course of two decades, she carried out her own personal school reform—right in the middle of the existing school system. The overriding criterion: the children. Their curiosity, their desire for the world, their questions, their abilities. Open lessons, weekly plans instead of learning by the bell. Experience instead of instruction; independence, cooperation and communication instead of the pressure of grades and early selection. In the classroom, a colorful world of plants and animals, of books, sofas and shelves full of attractive work materials is created. Learning can be a pleasure if you don’t make it a chore. If you really take children—their needs as well as their abilities—seriously, you don’t need to wait for the big reform from above to offer them a fundamentally different school. A book that encourages teachers and parents alike to start tomorrow.
Even individual teachers, parents, and researchers can and do make a difference. Over time I have seen some efforts and good examples big and small. I think the key is to find a system that scales and a mechanism design the lets it grow.
Example 1: Kids as researchers:
Example 2: Teachers as facilitators for learning:
Kinder können mehr—Anders lernen in der Grundschule (Children can do more—learning differently in primary school) by Fee Czisch
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