Skip to main content

Classes for anything and everything?

 If everything is taught, what remains? How does a child learn to be spontaneous and learn by serendipity if everything is taught?

I recently saw an ad for Lego classes and it left me wondering. 

My EO learnt Lego by going through the "idea book" - often as father and son. We started off by making Legos as mentioned in the idea book, but very soon, the Lego was dismantled and became a part of his imagination. This was the fate of every set - except the railway set (I got only the locomotive and the tracks) and a set which had Gandalf. 

And then what we made became a story. This is a creative process I have enjoyed much and we created vehicles like a snowpusher (no it doesnt exist) or an ice jeep or gliding horse or a double decker with 4 decks or a vehicle that was made every brick we had. We made endless towers that stretched from floor to ceiling and airports and cities that spanned our entire room. 

And that was the extent of my expertise - He outpaced me very soon. As he grew he learnt the rest, via YouTube and learnt techniques, DIY and many other things. And became a virtual Lego fan and he might well go on to become an AFOL. He could wax eloquent on every brick and every curve and every idea. 

This is a self learning process. 

I learnt Lego facilitation and in that one of the assignments was to build something. There was a distinct difference between someone who knew to build and someone who did not. Someone who knew it had to unlearn and relearn spontaneity. 

So thinking aloud, what is the space for self learning if everything is taught?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The power of jotting down ideas

 Long long ago, I always used to carry a small letterpad with me. To jot down ideas that might occur. Over the years, it has changed from a notepad to evernote to google keep, but the power of jotting down ideas is immense.  Small ideas go into keep.  Anything to be quickly typed goes into whatsapp as a self message.  Bigger or better formed ideas go into Google docs A few are still written, but I manage to copy them into a digital format sooner rather than later.  But the power of jotting down is immense. My google keep is an encyclopedia of ideas - most of which may never get implemented. 
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

No conferences

Decided not to attend any conferences this year. Atleast not the typical ones I have often ranted about here. Will be both choosy and intentional about which ones to attend.  The ones to attend are the ones put up by practitioners of a craft. The rest is marketing one way or other. 
Post a Comment
Read more