learning by doing...

I just spent two days with Matt Kenney, senior editor from Fine Woodworking, taking photos for an article on installing knife hinges, and a "master class" on making wooden hinges. I posed for hundreds of shots, tools in hand.

I had days of work to do to be ready for the two day photo shoot, making both a small cabinet, additional(stunt) parts of a cabinet for an alternate technique, and a rustic wooden box. These are shown in the photos above and below. All this was with the back drop of making 300 small boxes. I will be relieved to get back to a more normal schedule.

I want to remind local Carroll County, Arkansas readers of Paul Leopoulos' 1:30 PM presentation at the Elk St. Unitarian Church here in Eureka Springs, Sunday October 14. The purpose of the presentation is to introduced A+ Schools, a program to integrate the arts in learning, thus improving test scores, student engagement in learning and overall school performance.

There is an inclination to think that we can gain understanding by seeing. But gaining confidence in oneself requires that we act upon what we learn. Learning without doing is empty understanding, in the same way that many soda drinks offer empty calories and no nutrition. Life-long learning and the cultivation of life-long learners requires that we give students the opportunity to test what they have learned in real life. There is a joy that real life learning can provide. There is no better way to find it than to spend time in the wood shop.

Make, fix and create...