We as educators should simply provide the paths, but let the students “right the ship” for the opportunity.
I was 12 years old and with my friend Ryan. Every day after school would be our own adventure time. Both of our Dad’s were always at work, and our Mom’s were busy with our sisters, in which case we would entertain ourselves with everything and anything around us. We were living the high life as a couple of young bucks with a swamp, forests, and a small lake with a couple of tiny islands and a river running through it. We had a blueberry farm in the back of the neighborhood which of course we would play Ninja trying to stuff our faces with blueberries before the old man came chasing us out. There was even a “Duck Farm” further down the street, which was more of a place to feed the ducks than anything else, and of course to buy our candy.
One day we both made the natural decision of typical 12-year-olds, “We should make a boat.” But of course, we said make, not buy or purchase. It was a simple lesson of buoyancy, surface tension and swimming lessons wrapped into one! It was a simple plan, grab things that float, tape it together, we have a boat. No problem! We spent hours grabbing logs, which of course needs to be on the bottom and center; smaller branches above and around the logs; hey! There is some styrofoam being thrown out from some people up the road, and that floats! We taped that flawless stellar boat together and, voila, we have a boat. Drop it into the lake, and what do you know, it floats! As I wonder; scratch that, I never even hesitated to think about it, I jumped on that pile of floating beaver dam thinking there was nothing wrong with it! That piece of art rolled so fast I might as well have been jumping on a greased pig!
The first lesson learned was some things float differently, the second lesson, surface tension needs to be distributed evenly and a bit flat to hold stability. Did we quit after getting all of my school clothes wet? Of course not, I mean I was already wet, and we had plenty of duct tape left from our Dad’s tool sheds. We flatten the boat out, switched the styrofoam to the perimeter, and made the large logs in the shape of a U on the underside. We handled our boat nice and gently into the water as if it was flawless, and of course, it floats again. This time I get a large long branch from the nearest tree and I begin to push on the boat to see if it would hold me this time. Why of course this simple scientifically proven method was an accurate way to test the boat, and I trusted my methods of safety first… I jump on! This time I crashed right through that boat. Pieces went everywhere, one of the logs rebounded up right into my face, and I scampered everywhere trying to get the styrofoam. Lesson three; adhesive tape is less effective when reused.
The question is, why not let our students be creative enough, fail enough, problem solve enough to make their own opportunities in the applicable purposes of extended learning? We as educators should simply provide the paths, but let the students “right the ship” for the opportunity. Homework should be for students to apply their knowledge in their own unique ways. This will provide an atmosphere for students to be creative, stimulate their own cognitive and meta-cognitive curiosity, and most importantly the students will establish self-efficacy towards their work. A sense of pride of their own accomplishments can go a long way in intrinsic motivation which can easily be carried over into the classroom.
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