On June 1, our friends and neighbours from TEDxBrussels organised TEDxKids@Brussels. At this innovative TEDx style event, a ‘traditional’ TEDx conference was combined with hands-on workshops for children.
Over fifty ten-year-olds participated in the workshops, envied by adults who were too old to take part. Whilst the adults listened to passionate talks by experts in technology and education, the kids truly experienced learning by doing. The result was a rather unusual school day spent with toothbrush robots, soldering tin and 3d printers.
With Make magazine’s Mark Frauenfelder, the kids learned how to build a robot from four simple parts: a toothbrush, a battery, two little wires and a bit of sticky tape. The imagination and experimentation of kids was amazing to see: as soon as they got the working of the basic robot, they started to develop more elaborate models with practical applications – such as sweeping a tea table.
Joris and Franky from i.materialise demonstrated the kids how anything can be made with 3d printing. Using the online modelling tool of 3Dtin, the kids could design any object they want in 3D. As Joris Peels showed in the presentation to the adults, some of the kids desgined practical products, such as a pair of glasses or a bracelet. Interestingly, 3D printing is already used by jewellery designers.
As he kept on a child’s talent to ‘fool around’ and playfully discover the world, Gever Tulley founded a ‘tinkering school’. To make sure the kids lost any excessive energy remaining on this intense day, he gave them wood, nails, hammers and saws to build a chair. When you see him playing together with the kids, you would almost forget he has developed an own school and an extensive educational philosophy floating around exploration, expression and exposition.
Probably, the most challenging workshop was given by Daniel, Bethany and Evan of Technology will save us. In 45 minutes, they managed to teach the children how to solder a device with light and sound to transmit a Morse code. Wouldn’t you want to something like that at school every day? At least for the kids it was much more stimulating than a day with English, math and geography.
Similarly, the adults took a lot of valuable ideas homewards. The idea that education is nested in much more than traditional teaching structures clearly settled among the participants. Making by doing and the use of technology – defined as ‘anything that is invented after you were born’ can truly enhance the education experience and its output. The keyword is retinkerification: bring amazement back to school!
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Flickr