Tinkering School

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately, catching up on my TED Talks, and making lots of posts, but this one is the best yet!

I think Sir Ken Robinson would approve of a school like this! Creativity, communication, problem solving, real world applications!

Read All About the Tinkering School. It's in California in July usually, for 7-17 year olds, costs $1200 for a week's camp, but sounds like LOTS of fun!

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, spoke at TED. View his talk here on.... Tinkering School in Action....

He also gave another quick TED Talk on 5 Dangerous Things for Kids.

If I were a kid, this would be a great place to learn!

Actually, as a child, I was very sheltered. I was good at the "read this, and regurgitate it back to me" type of school stuff that was the "norm" for when I went to school in the late '50s and the 60's. I was afraid of being wrong, afraid of making a mistake, afraid of not knowing the answer. I would probably have been very scared in a school/situation like this.

Now as an adult, I am more adventurous than as a child, but still very cautious. When I am in the classroom, around the children, I am more adventurous, less cautious. I feel I am less judged by children than I feel I am by most adults.

I do love to use everything. Reduce, reuse, recycle is my middle name. I look at every piece of trash or things that I no longer want and wonder... What could we use that for? What could we make out of that? How could this be used in a classroom for learning? I am a very creative person, just not outwardly adventurous.

Hopefully students in today's schools are not so restricted/constricted like it was in my day and age. Unfortuneately, although there are lots of fun, interesting, and exciting things going on in schools today, too much is FOR THE TEST!

So, what would you have thought of a "school" like the Tinkering School? Would you have blossomed there or remained a wallflower? How can we make today's schools exciting and beneficial to all students? How can we make them a preparation for life, not just a place to pass the test?

In this 21st Century, what skills are needed to go out into life and be successful, to be prepared?