Today, I had the first second and third grade students making wooden trays for dioramas. The project involved a great deal of sawing and sanding, then hammers, bent nails, nails that went in the wrong way and stuck out the side, nails that were put so far from the edge that they stuck out in the middle. So there was a whole lot of fixing going on, and after a short time they learned how to fix their own mistakes. In woodworking there are all kinds of things that can go wrong, but with the exception of one thumb hit by the hammer in the two classes, things went well. The thumb soon felt better on its own. And when the kids were finished with their work, they each made one more top, as making tops has become the favorite activity in wood shop. How is it that educators might consider a digital learning experience better than this? Know what to do about it? Best to set our children loose with hammers and saws and see what kinds of character they develop in themselves.Make, fix and create...
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