This 4min talk by the founder of "Tinkering School" for kids is inspirational. What's more, though, the comment thread that follows is full of great feedback, suggestions, and commentary by the speaker, Gever Tulley.
Are Ted Talks blocked by K12 firewalls?
I love the replies from Robert Cockey Jul 7 2009: "Unfortunately we teach to avoid failure instead of setting up failure situations to show how to analyze why it failed and how to solve the problem. Technology is built on a road of failure."
ReplyDelete... And Tulley's reply Jul 8 2009: 'I love that statement of yours: "Technology is built on a road of failure."'
Tully is promoting the term "failure-positive" to describe the power of failure as a self-teaching tool. Failure is inevitable, we need to practice overcoming it, working through it, and getting past it.
This last sentence is powerful - I was lucky enough to have Dad's garage to tinker in - no lessons, just answers to questions and letting me do it myself. I believe it's why I can work thru problems and issues as an adult.
Here's a thought - why can't we use words and technology as a 'tinkering tool'? There is no 'failure', just collaboration and problem-solving. Hmmm... something to think about.