VERTICAL TUBES IN A BOX REVISITED - FUNNELS

Last year I wrote about an apparatus I called Vertical Tubes in a Box.

I not only wrote about it once, but I wrote about it in four consecutive posts.  I wrote how to make it here, and the subsequent play that emerged from the apparatus here, here, and here.

Because the apparatus is built so well, I bring it back every year.  Every time I bring it back, new play emerges and new discoveries are made.  This year the discoveries centered around explorations with funnels.

One of the discoveries was that static electricity is created as the sand slides down the sides of the funnel.

This picture shows how well the child is focusing.  What it doesn't show is that he is watching the grains of sand dance and hop off the side of the funnel because of the static electricity created by the friction of the sand particles rubbing against each other and the side of the funnel as the sand drains down the funnel.

The children created a new funnel arrangement in which they put funnels on top of funnels on top of one of the vertical tubes.  That led one boy to discover a form of verbal play.  Watch and listen.



At first, he may have just been explaining the set up, but at some point, he discovers he can play with the words and the play becomes generative.  Though it does not show it in the clip, he creates real enjoyment for himself with his verbal play.   Although, maybe you did notice how his body motions---especially of his head---match the cadence of his "funnel on top of funnel" word play.

One child discovered that the flow of sand out of the bottom of tube is different depending on the size of the funnel.  The smaller the funnel opening, the narrower the flow of sand.  If you look closely at the picture below, you can see the child watching a narrow flow from the vertical tube. The narrow flow is created by a funnel with a small opening.

Another nice picture of focus, no?

This year, the children discovered that at least one funnel could actually be placed on the bottom of one of the vertical tubes.

That discovery plus the desire to crawl into the tub at the side of the table

led to the discovery that it is possible to regulate the flow of sand coming down the vertical tube.



This boy is playing with regulating the flow of sand from the tube.  He uses his right hand to hold the funnel at the bottom of the vertical tube while his left hand covers and uncovers the funnel hole.  One important aspect of this play is that he senses when sand is dumped down the tube without seeing it because it exerts a sudden pressure on the funnel as it falls.  That is a type of learning that only comes from physically experiencing it.

I guess you could say we had a lot of funnel fun with the vertical tubes in a box this year.


Please note that I will not post next week.  I will be setting up a sand table display at an event organized by the Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota taking at Hamline University(St. Paul, MN) on Saturday, April 28.   The title of the event is:  Enter, Encounter, Engage: A Community Dialogue about Learning.   There will also be exploration of nature materials facilitated by Dodge Nature Center and exploration of sound and rhythm materials facilitated by Dianna Babcock. Follow this link for more details and a complete listing of the day: http://www.mnreggio.org

AXIOM #7

If you look on the right-hand column of this blog, you will find a set of axioms.   Axiom #7 states that children will create activities that are tangental to the apparatus.  Before I show you such an activity, here is the apparatus to which it is tangental.

OK, now you can forget about the apparatus because the rest of the post has nothing to do with it. (If you want to read about the apparatus, it was featured in last week's post here.)

Before I can show you the activity that has nothing to do with this apparatus, it is helpful to know that there are two additional pieces of furniture in the sensory table area.  The first is a shelf in a corner on which all the articles and utensils to be used in the sensory table are displayed and open for the taking.  The second is a mirror on the wall next to the shelf.

One of the articles on the shelf to choose from in this picture is the metal pot on the right end of the third shelf.  That pot and the mirror are central to the action that is tangental to the apparatus. In the video below, a child has placed the pot on his head like a hat.  He discovers his reflection in the mirror.  Watch how he explores that reflection.

Of course, there is nothing unusual about a child putting a pot on his head like a hat.  What is unusual and utterly fantastic is what happens as he sees his reflection in the mirror and begins to reference his actions using the mirror.  As he adjusts the pot on his head, he begins to use his reflection in the mirror to try to orient his hands on the pot.  That is special because mirror images are reverse images.   If you have ever tried to direct your hand by looking in the mirror, you know what I mean. Left is right, and right is left.  What better way to explore those reverse imagines than to use a pot on your head as a basis for that exploration.  Did you notice when he uses his right hand to follow the pot handle all the way to the mirror itself?  Think about what the child must be experiencing.  His hand is moving along the handle of the pot toward the mirror.  That means that his hand and its image are moving toward each other until they meet at the face of the mirror.  How novel is that for the child?

Enough analysis.  Watch the clip again and just enjoy a totally unscripted exploration of a boy with a pot on his head looking in a mirror.  You really cannot plan for these moments, but if you leave room for them, they will naturally surface.  

For those of you in the Twin Cities, you may want to make a note of an upcoming event by the Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota taking place at Hamline University on Saturday, April 28.   The title of the event is:  Enter, Encounter, Engage: A Community Dialogue about Learning.  I will be doing an installation with some documentation.  There will also be exploration of nature materials facilitated by Dodge Nature Center and exploration of sound and rhythm materials facilitated by Dianna Babcock.  Follow this link for more details and a complete listing of the day: http://www.mnreggio.org

CARDBOARD CHUTES-ADDITIONS

Several years ago, a parent brought in the packing corners from the box in which her new refrigerator had arrived.  They are sturdy enough that I have used them once a year every since.  I first wrote about the packing corners here and here.  I took the two packing corners and duct taped them together to form a pair of cardboard chutes that looked like a long "W"

This year, I made an addition to the cardboard chutes.  I added another set of smaller packing corners on either side of the original apparatus.

The added packing corners are like wings on the sides of the original apparatus.

Unlike the original packing corners whose ends were duct taped closed, these new packing corners were left open.  When you leave open holes on an apparatus, the children will find them and use them (Axiom # 5 on the right).

One of the boys found out that the little cars fit nicely down the holes.  Did you notice the fellow at the bottom looking up the chute in anticipation of the cars coming down?  Watch out!

I also added a new element this year.  I added sticks.  These are river sticks that look like they have been whittled.  But no, they are sticks that have had the bark chewed on by an animal.  See the teeth marks?

One of the main endeavors for the children with the new "wings" was to put the river sticks down the long, narrow holes of the hollow chutes.  Watch.



The boy in the video seems pretty pleased with putting the sticks in the hole to make them disappear.

Of course, since the sticks were different thicknesses, they sometimes got stuck and needed some problem solving to be dislodged.



The child began by taking a small stick out, but nothing happened.  She then pulled out another stick and that dislodged the rest.  She did notice another stick in the upper chamber of the chute. She tried to get it out, but ended up pushing back into the chute a bit more.

The addition of the "wings" to the original apparatus has now created an apparatus that incorporates both dimensions under #3 of the Dimensions and Elements on the right hand column of this blog.  That is, the apparatus is both open and closed.   Objects go down the chutes because of the elemental force of gravity.  That process is experienced differently by the children depending on whether that happens on the open chutes or in the closed chutes.  With the original, open chutes, all the action of objects going down the chute can be tracked visually.  The objects going down the closed chute disappear and reappear.   For some of the children it is simply a scheme to make objects disappear down the hole.  For some it is to track objects by putting them in at the top and looking for them to come out at the bottom.  And for some, it was a joint venture in which one child will put the objects down the chute and another child attempts to catch them. For the open chutes, the children do not have to imagine the motion of the objects going down the chute.  For the closed chutes, however, the children have to infer the motion because the objects disappear.  Almost sounds like a higher order thinking skill.



For those of you in the Twin Cities, you may want to make a note of an upcoming event by the Reggio-Inspired Network of Minnesota taking place at Hamline University on Saturday, April 28.   The title of the event is:  Enter, Encounter, Engage: A Community Dialogue about Learning.  I will be doing an installation with some documentation.  There will also be exploration of nature materials facilitated by Dodge Nature Center and exploration of sound and rhythm materials facilitated by Dianna Babcock.  Follow this link for more details and a complete listing of the day: http://www.mnreggio.org

HERESY?

This posting is an extension of this post that featured a simple apparatus with gems, sticks and stones.  Here is the apparatus.

Here are the loose elements offered with the apparatus

I was struck by a couple play scenarios that emerged around this apparatus that question my role as a teacher.  In the first scenario, there is one main player.   He has filled the five-gallon pail with the gems, sticks, and rocks.  He says it is very heavy, so I ask him to show me.  He finishes emptying another cup of rocks and then demonstrates how heavy the bucket is.


At first he hams it up by demonstrating how heavy it with highly exaggerated motions.  He pretends to pull really hard on the handle.  As he pulls, he lets his hand slip off the handle and jumps backward and falls onto the ground.  He does it again.  I then challenge him on his effort by telling him he did not really try to lift the bucket.  He took up the challenge and strained to lift the bucket.  This effort had the same result with his hand coming off the handle and him falling backwards onto the ground.  At the end, his sister comes into the picture and lifts up the handle of the bucket as if to try to lift it.   The boy comes back to get his cup and sees his sister lifting up the handle.  He grabs the handle, too, and gives it a good pull.

Shortly after this, I again record him putting more rocks into the bucket.  As he is pouring the rocks he states: "Nobody can ever lift it up." 


Was that his original intention or did he justify his actions because I challenged him?   I know he was hamming it up when he first demonstrated how heavy the bucket was, so the act of questioning and video taping changed his behavour.  But did my attempt to find reason in his assertion nudge him into an attempt to justify what he was doing?  Did I subtley insert my agenda into his play agenda?  As a teacher, do I always have to ask those questions that focus the child's attention onto learning something or explaining something?  What would happen if I just stepped back to observe and enjoy the children's play and asked no questions.

That is actually what happens in another play scenario that emerged with this set up.  The class began with a child having a separation issue.  Because the child needed my immediate and complete attention, I was no where near the sensory table.  When the child was settled, but still needed comforting, I noticed something was going on at the sensory table across the room.  At that point,  I began to video tape from a distance.  Watch and see if you can figure out what is going on.


What you saw was 7 children ages 3 to 5 huddled around one end of the table.  You can't see what they are doing and neither could I.  What struck me was the focus on a common goal and the cooperation between all the children.  At that point it did not matter what they were doing.  What mattered was how they came to be engaged in this all-engrossing activity.  Some of what it took was having the opportunity to negotiate and decide on a common goal and on roles of the individuals to reach that goal without an adult presence or intervention.

These two scenarios got me thinking: Is it heresy for me to question my role as "teacher" to feel the need to always come up with activities that teach something and to always ask questions that direct children's focus so they are learning something?  Can I actually allow children in the classroom their own space and time for their own agenda?

GEMS, STICKS, AND STONES

In this blog, many times there is an apparatus that takes center stage.  For this post, the apparatus is as simple as it gets.  What gets center stage in this post are the loose elements that are provided with the apparatus.  First the apparatus.  It is a wooden tray that connects two different sensory tables.

The tables are filled with a fine, white sand.

Loose elements were provided in four bins on a table near the sensory tables.  The containers held grey rocks, sticks, and gems.

Before you see what happens, you have to understand what is the first and primary operation the children have to complete: transporting all the loose elements into the sensory tables.  And the most attractive of those loose elements are the gems.

It is a guarantee, though, that before long, everything is in the table.

Once everything is in the table, then the children get down to the job of exploring and manipulating the loose elements.  So what does that look like?

A solitary gem balanced on the head of a bolt.

Gems---plus one rock---arranged on an up-turned pot.

A "house" made by balancing sticks, gems, and rocks on top of an over-turned pail.

A rock and gem forest

Besides the transportation and arrangements of the loose elements, there are a myriad of other operations the children execute.  Some of those operations are common and look similar no matter which child effects them.  

One such operation is collecting gems.  The child in the picture below prefers clear ones.

And there are common operations that can be actualized quite differently.  One of those is burying the gems.  Though most children will simply pour sand over the rocks to bury them quickly, watch how the child in the video below buries the gems one-by-one with delicate precision.

And then there is the not-so-common operation carried out by one child.  The child in the video below took a liking to one particular rock with a small hole.  In the video, she shows how each of her fingers can fit in the hole.  Watch.

What an excellent way to discover the distinctive feature of this small rock.

What she does next with the rock is simply amazing.  She begins to use it as an implement to scoop and pour sand onto a dustpan.  Watch.



She has just made the rock a tool, an operation that harkens back to the dawn of man.  Amazing!

With such a simple apparatus and these loose elements, how can the children be so creative? Look no further than The Theory of Loose Parts by Simon Nicholson (1972).  He says: "In any environment, both the degree of invention and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it."  In this case, the environment is small, the sensory table, but still fraught with possibilities when infused with "loose parts."

IS THAT ALLOWED?

My last post brought to the fore a question I often ask myself: Is that allowed?  To be honest, it is also a question my colleagues often ask me. When I look over pictures and videos taken over the last year, I see many instances where the question is front and center.

Is it OK to use a knife?

It is if he needs it to leverage the ice out of the container.  That even includes how he might use it when creating a new and novel ways to achieve his goal.

Is it OK to use an over-the-head, roundhouse swing of the hammer?

It is if he needs to use some serious force to break the ice.  Of course, sometimes a gentle tap is enough, but how else will he learn the difference?

Is it OK to put a clothespin in your mouth?

It is if that is his way to learn the mechanical principles of the clothespin.  (After the child in the video used his mouth to work the clothespin, he was able to transfer that mechanical knowledge to his hands.)

Is it OK to put sand on the floor?

It is if that is the by-product of filling your containers.  How else will he know what is full and what is not?  Besides, he has the broom and dust pan ready to sweep up when he is done.  

Is it OK to put sand on a table?

It is if his intention is to sweep it back into the sensory table.  (This boy dumped the white sand onto the table with the dust pan.  Instead of jumping in and saying no, don't put it on the table, I asked him what he was doing.  He did not say a thing, but proceeded to use the broom to sweep the sand into the little sensory table.  That was his intention all along.)

Is it OK to squirt water out of the sensory table onto the floor?

It is if they are experimenting with hydraulics, water pressure, and pumps.  The only way to stop this activity would be to take away the pumps(basters).  That was not going to happen because there was too much learning underway.  Besides, who can resist those smiles?

Is it OK to climb into the hopper tub at the end of the sensory table?

It is if he needs to explore a novel perspective on how the funnel works.  Though funnels were used on top of the tube, this fellow climbed into the tub and held the funnel to the bottom of the tube.  As he regulates the flow of sand, he queries: "What's happening?"

Is it OK to climb up on the lip of the sensory table?

It is if she has to reach up high enough to pour the pellets down the box incline.  Also, it is if she wants to increase her stretching and balancing skills.

Is it OK to climb into the apparatus?

It is if he wants to get as close to the action as possible.

Is it OK to climb on the apparatus?

That is a little more dicey.  I stayed close on this one.  I am glad I let the girl explore the apparatus with her whole body.  To understand why, reference this previous post.  By the way, I was also glad nobody else copied her.

Is that allowed?  I find myself asking that all the time.  I could set rules at the outset, but the truth is I do not know how the children will interface with any given apparatus.  And besides, I am rule adverse.  Rules tend to limit interaction and exploration.  By allowing more interaction and exploration, the children are discovering for themselves what is allowed.  As a consequence, I intervene less.  As a consequence, they develop more self-control.

Does that mean anything goes?  No.  So much of what is allowed  depends on the focus of the child.  If the focus is locked-in on the activity, I hold that sacred.  That is the wellspring of learning.  

THINGS FROZEN IN ICE - USING KNIVES

In February of last year, I wrote two posts about Things Frozen in Ice here and here.  I thought I would change it up this year.  Instead of just using a wooden tray, I wanted to connect two tables with plastic chutes.  My thinking was that the children would experiment with the ice sliding down the chutes. Here is what the apparatus looked like.

There was no sliding the ice down the chutes to speak of.  When a child would free a marble or a ball from the ice, she would roll it down the chute, but rarely the ice.  Otherwise the chutes were just used to hold the things the children extracted from the ice.  Thinking back on it, if I really wanted children to use the chutes for the ice, I should have given them more of a slant.

Since I can't talk about ice sliding down the chutes, let me talk about the use of knives to get things out of ice.  The knife is a good implement for attempting to pry the ice out of the containers.

Notice how this child has set the container with ice on the ground and hovers over it.  Whether he knows it or not, that gives him much more leverage to wedge and pry.  If he doesn't know it cognitively, he is learning it motorically.

Knives are also good for chopping.  The child in the video below chops the ice with an overhand motion of the knife.  She is able to rest the container on a section of the table that is raised and to steady the container with her left hand.  Watch how she chops, checks her progress, and then gets her knife stuck in the ice.  Can you guess what will happen?



When her knife gets stuck, she tries to pull it out.  As she pulls, she also starts to pry the ice with the knife.  All of a sudden, out pops the ice!  She declares: "Got it!"  Though she is surprised with the outcome, she also communicates pride in her effort with a hint of a smile as she gets back to her work.  Her stare into the camera after extracting the ice is priceless; it is also a request for my acknowledgment of a job well done.  I sure hope I smiled back at her.

The child in the video below has a more precise way of chopping the ice with the knife.  He is more precise because he uses a hammer to hit the knife.  That allows him to direct the knife exactly where he wants to chip the ice.  Watch as he is tries to remove the ice that is frozen inside a dinosaur cookie cutter.



The first two times he starts pounding the knife with the hammer, he takes a quick read to make sure the hammer hits the knife.  20 seconds into the video, though, he no longer needs to check the contact point of the hammer on the knife.  He is able to switch his entire focus onto where he wants the point of the knife to chip the ice.  That is impressive because if you watch, the knife is always moving as part of the hammering process.

There are definitely degrees to chopping.  The child in the next video invests more of his whole body into dislodging the ice from a truck with the knife.  He begins with vigorous overhand chops to the ice with the knife.  He then tries to use the knife as a small pry bar to dislodge the ice.  He finally goes back to the vigorous overhand chopping.   Watch.



He uses his left hand to steady the truck.  His left hand ends up to be very close to the chopping. At the same time, you can see him adjusting that left hand to make sure it out of the way of the chopping.  That is a nice example of strength and coordination.

A couple parents commented on the use of knives.  One said that they don't allow the use of knives at home.  She had no trouble, though, in letting her child use the knife in this set up.  When another parent saw the knives, she wondered out loud if that was safe.  She did notice and remark at the care and precision that the children were using with the knives and was satisfied.

The question: "Is it safe?" and this whole post will serve as a segue to my nest post:  "Is That Allowed?" Ask yourself the same question as you work with your children for the next week---and stay tuned.