Rarely has quality education and skill development been mentioned. In recent years, quality education has been increasingly emphasized, with infants being sent to early education centers like "Oriental Love Infants" and "Gymboree," and many parents buying into Montessori's theories. Parents of slightly older children, after reading books like "Carl Witt's Education" and "Harvard Girl Liu Yiting," become ambitious, hoping to raise a prodigy themselves. I am very supportive of quality education, but it is often just a concept without consistent action or perseverance. For parents, the entire environment is also crucial. Are the elderly family members on the same page? What about the schools? Are they aligned in their views and directions? If one emphasizes quality while the other demands scores, wouldn't there be conflicts? Here, we welcome insights from domestic student parents, as I currently have no opportunity to delve deeper.
In the U.S., quality education and skill development are naturally implemented in both small and large environments. In my School=Fun series, I mentioned some teaching characteristics of schools. Here, I want to tell an extracurricular activity story that made me reflect deeply.
One day, we received an email from a parent named Tim, inviting 6-9-year-old children to form teams for the Statewide Lego League Team competition to be held in late January 2009. The format involves six-person teams creating themed works using Lego toys without ready-made blueprints, accompanied by poster presentations, aiming to cultivate team spirit and basic design skills. This year’s theme is to create a tool for studying weather, which needs to include a Simple Machine setting. For elementary school students, this is undoubtedly a challenging "big project."
My son once attended a Lego class at the Youth Palace in Guangzhou when he was four. His ability to follow diagrams and assemble is fine; he can spend two or three hours assembling one of the tri-mode Legos suitable for 7-12-year-olds. The next day, he dismantles it and assembles another. However, for this "big project," merely copying isn't enough. We were glad for the opportunity to let him experience teamwork and originality.
We replied to Tim's email and followed his suggested schedule, attending the Kick Off Meeting at his house on time. Tim, around forty years old, is very capable, patient, and humorous. He has four children (!): his eldest daughter Grace is in third grade and has participated in the Lego League twice, his second son Grant is in the same class as my son, his third son Michael is three years old, and his youngest daughter Christine is one year old. All the children are very polite, indicating that Tim is an expert-type parent in child education.
I soon realized that Tim is also a good career manager. His methods of managing this project and guiding the children reminded me constantly of the best managers and training experts in the company. The only difference is that these listeners are not yet of working age.
Seeing that everyone had arrived (12 people, over 20 including parents), Tim began his meeting. Today's topics were: 1) What is the Lego League Competition, and what is this year's theme? 2) What is a simple machine? Tim asked his daughter Grace to help, taking out previous posters and placing them on the table for her to present while he supplemented. The children sat on the floor, listening intently. Then he asked, "Do you know what weather is?" The children rushed to answer, "Windy!" "Rainy!" "Seasons!" "Temperature!"... "Very good, do you know what is used to observe weather?" "A thermometer!" "My hair!" (Saying it can feel wind direction) My son boldly said, "A computer!" (Before I go out every day, I check the updated weather forecast online first, so he thinks computers can also observe the weather.) After a round of brainstorming, Tim summarized the children's ideas, explained what weather is, clarified the competition requirements, and then let the children warm up with the three large boxes of Lego toys on the three big tables.
After a lively fifteen minutes, Tim gathered the children again, asking them to introduce themselves—what their names are, which school they attend, what they like to do in their spare time, and what they like to build with Legos. The children seemed accustomed to speaking publicly, standing up confidently to introduce themselves. After each child spoke, Tim would ask, "Do you remember his/her name?" Everyone together would say the new friend's name. These children are all in grades one to three, coming from several different nearby elementary schools, one of whom is homeschooled. After everyone introduced themselves, Tim randomly pointed to different children and asked, "Which school does XX attend?" "What are XX's hobbies?" "What does XX like most about playing with Legos?" Everyone's memory was good, and they answered one by one. After a round, the children became familiar with each other.
At this point, Tim moved over a flip chart and asked, "Who knows what a simple machine is?" This time, the children had to think harder to come up with answers. Grace was more trained, leading the way by first mentioning pulleys and explaining what a pulley is and what it can be used for, as required by Tim. Other children then mentioned wheels and axles, levers, and Tim added a few more, such as screws. I noticed that Tim did not explain any physical principles but instead let the children disperse and play for fifteen minutes, each making something containing a simple machine.
After fifteen minutes, Tim conducted a debriefing session to deepen the children's understanding of simple machines. Each child had to explain what simple machine they used, how they thought of it, and where this work could be applied. Although the children hadn't created anything fully formed, it was mainly to hear their thoughts. Several children used wheels and axles, and Tim guided them to think divergently about how wheels can be used in cars, planes, skates, drawers, and carts, etc.
In this round, Tim required the children to form groups of four and make something containing a simple machine. My son and three other boys were in one group. At first, they all worked separately without discussing what to do. Tim came over and asked, "Do you all know each other?" After everyone shook hands, Tim said, "Don't start building right away. First, discuss your ideas. Each person should share their thoughts, then discuss and reach a consensus before starting to build together." It seems none of the partners in my son's group naturally excel in leadership. After a while, they agreed to make a thermometer, but they all scrambled around without much progress. Tim came over again, sitting them down to discuss: "What do you want to make? A thermometer? Good, what parts do you need? Can you and he form a small group responsible for finding the parts, and you and he form a group responsible for assembly?" Fine, the goal is refined, "Karl, tell Alex and his group what you need, and they will be responsible for finding and providing it." The two subgroups within the team cooperate with each other. Next, Alex's group searched for the required parts according to "four red long strips, six white square blocks," etc., and Karl's group assembled them. Soon, they had put together a thermometer model that looked quite realistic.
During the subsequent debriefing, Tim required each group to send a representative to explain, focusing on how they thought and divided the work. One child said, "At first, our opinions were all different, but it was me who unified everyone's opinions!" Apparently, besides experiencing teamwork and cooperation, the children also experienced persuasion and compromise. Moreover, for parents, observing their children's strengths and weaknesses, and the emergence of little leaders, becomes more evident during team collaboration.
The two-hour first activity ended, and Tim assigned the task for the following week: find twelve ways to measure weather. How should parents and children complete this assignment?
Late at night on December 20, 2008
Friday morning was filled with snowfall. People didn't have time to shovel the snow, and it was hard to distinguish between streets and roads underfoot. Knowing it was Chicago, others might think it was a snowy forest.
As I mentioned last time, the two-hour first activity ended, and Tim assigned the task for the following week: find twelve ways to measure weather. How should parents and children complete this assignment?
The launch of a project means support from much knowledge. We certainly realize this is an opportunity to guide our son to see the world. The purpose of the project design and Tim's coaching method fully embodies the essence of "teaching someone to fish rather than giving them a fish." We highly approve of this educational approach and continuously explore how to "teach someone to fish."
First, guide our son to deeply understand what a simple machine is. In China, simple machines and their applications are only introduced in higher elementary grades. Now, how can we introduce the seven types of simple machines to our son and teach him to express them in English? The father found a few American children's educational websites online, carefully studied them, and then began guiding our son in the following order:
1) Introduce the names
2) Let our son think about what things he knows contain simple machines.
3) Draw what he believes are correct simple machines.
4) Analyze with him how the simple machines he drew work.
Finding another website online, designed to help children become familiar with simple machines (actually a flash-based test bank, very interesting), our son needed to find tools and equipment containing the seven types of simple machines in the garage based on English prompts, while analyzing how they work. Soon, our son passed through several levels of this game, deepening his understanding of simple machines.
After the joint efforts mentioned above, our son became very interested in online information and how to look up materials online. He skillfully found web pages specifically introducing climate knowledge to elementary school students and quickly learned how to mark on maps:
1) Cold fronts
2) Warm fronts
3) Calculating rainfall
4) Cloudy, sunny skies
5) The relationship between temperature changes and cold/warm fronts
6) The impact of high/low air pressure on the weather.
After putting in a lot of effort, our son independently thought of 12 ways to measure climate and recorded them with drawings:
1) Measure rainfall and snowfall with measuring cups
2) Observe the shape changes of snowflakes with a microscope
3) The time of the first snowfall (continuous observation for 20 years)
4) Measure wind speed
5) Measure air pressure
6) Measure wind direction
7) Measure temperature
8) Measure the acidity and alkalinity of rainwater and snow water
9) Measure humidity
10) Observe dirt in the rainwater
11) Measure ice thickness
12) Use X-rays to measure fossils (the result of years of climate effects)
Preparations are complete, and in the next session, we will see how Tim guides these kids to use simple machines to study the climate (to be continued).
Recorded on January 6, 2009
High Fahrenheit 35 degrees, low 21 degrees (high Celsius 2 degrees, low minus 6 degrees). Two snow showers occurred, probably lasting about ten minutes, leaving a thin layer of snow on the ground.
(3)
In the sections (1) and (2) of the "Big Project" for elementary school students, I talked about the story of my son participating in the Illinois Statewide Lego League Competition. The rules of this competition involve forming five-person teams to design and originate weather measurement instruments using Lego toys that contain simple mechanical structures. For this, a parent named Tim took the lead in organizing, and more than ten families encouraged their children to participate to experience innovation and team spirit (possibly some children actively requested to join). Tim held a profoundly memorable kick-off meeting at his home, followed by two more activities.
Later, we learned that this year's state competition does not have an age group for 6 to 9-year-olds, meaning that these more than ten children won't participate in the competition this year. But since everyone wasn't originally focused on the competition results, they still continued according to the plan. Tim continued to fulfill his promise, and in the latest arrangement, he took the children to visit the WGN TV station in Chicago, directly going to the live weather forecast broadcast site, and meeting the weather program host who appears daily on TV!
Once again, I admired Tim's sense of responsibility and selfless dedication. Actually, these children are mostly around 6 or 7 years old, primarily focused on play, but Tim never slacked off in giving them diverse experiences to broaden their horizons. Moreover, if he had to change the activity time due to business trips, he would always send emails to everyone to reschedule. The visit to the TV station was mentioned in the kick-off meeting. Even though they aren't participating in the competition now, he still contacted the station, ensuring they would seriously receive this group of little ones.
It might seem that meeting the weather program host doesn't have a direct connection to designing weather measurement instruments with Lego toys. But such activities can indeed spark the children's interest in weather research. Leaving the classroom and home to go to a novel place for fun is already very appealing to them. Additionally, we always hope that children can see more of the world, learn to think big and think outside the box (break conventional thinking, consider issues from a broader perspective). Such activities accumulate impressions and experiences, helping children apply knowledge flexibly in learning and creation. Furthermore, the importance parents place on the entire activity gives them the impression that they are engaged in a meaningful project, and every step must be taken seriously.
At 3 PM on Sunday, February 8th, we gathered at the main entrance of the WGN TV station. Not only was my son excited and curious, but even us two adults were too. Some family members in Guangzhou work in television, but we've never stepped foot into the news broadcast production site. Coming to America shortly, we now have the chance to visit this station we watch daily—how interesting is that?
In the corridors of the TV station, posters of some programs currently airing on WGN were hanging,
along with photos of the hosts. The one receiving us was a weather forecaster from the morning news. In his photo, he was dressed in a neatly tailored suit, a handsome man, but off-screen, he was casually dressed, just an ordinary person.
He first led us into the news studio, where the children's curiosity and surprise were beyond words! Their questions included why there were so many lights and cameras, and since the morning news started broadcasting at 5 AM, what time did they have to arrive at work, etc.
This morning news weather forecaster named Paul spent over an hour introducing the children to live TV news and weather forecasts, sharing his own story of entering the field, and answering every question posed by the children and parents, sincerely and honestly.
Children asked whatever questions they had, and those who didn’t ask were captivated by him. This is Tim's eldest daughter, nine years old, who loves to ask good questions. This time she asked what the station name WGN stands for. Paul said it represents World Great News (Global News Highlights).
This is the live weather forecast area. He explained that the background would turn blue under lighting effects, and the TVs on both sides connect to computers, allowing him to move around while explaining.
In fact, the U.S. weather forecast programs are much more detailed and frequent than those in China, especially in Chicago. Due to the influence of the Great Lakes, temperatures and wind speeds vary within a ten-kilometer radius, so their weather reports include multiple areas, multiple times, and multiple indicators. For instance, apart from the known weather indicators, they also report an indicator called windchill.
Demonstration
You try too
Paul took us into the WGN Weather Center (the station's weather center)
Actually, this is his office and also the live broadcast site.
Behind him, screens showed news and programs from their station and others.
He explained to the children where the data for the weather forecast comes from, and sometimes he needs to decide which data to broadcast within 45 seconds.
These are the more familiar weather indicator graphics
Children felt that weather research and forecasting were so close to them
Isn't it pretty warm today?
Paul answered all questions patiently and explained them in great detail
He said that before computers, they used such resources
A child discovered a microphone on the desk and asked what it was for
Turns out they also serve as radio station weather broadcasters
Paul didn't forget the support staff behind the scenes, telling the children that teamwork here is very important. These two colleagues were just beyond the half-wall, equally patient and serious in answering the children's questions.
This kind and conscientious grandfather is the head of the weather center, hired back after retirement to continue contributing his expertise. His job is to make specific and localized predictions based on purchased meteorological bureau data and manually draw weather maps.
These materials are also used in the newspaper's weather forecast column, almost covering the whole page.
This young assistant is responsible for digitally processing the hand-drawn weather maps produced by the elder and laid out that newspaper page.
Equipment for receiving satellite signals, surely one receives weather information
The news team's office
Summary and farewell, the tall man in black on the left is Tim
We also tried the live broadcast room's lights and cameras...this was truly a rare experience!
Recorded on February 9, 2009
Reposted from http://deskbylakemichigan.blog.163.com
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The above netizen comments represent only their personal views and do not represent the views or positions of Sina.com. Related thematic articles: This diary will continue its continuation. Most highways in Liaoning are closed due to snowfall. Snowfall is expected to end today.
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