We went to a great fair yesterday focused on TINKERING! The Maker Faire in Fort Wayne was a gathering of people who enjoy tinkering, stretching their thoughts, experimenting, thinking outside the box, and playing with ideas. Creativity abounded! See our experience here.
As is my usual routine, I came home, worked on my college classes (I teach online) for a bit, wrote a blog post, and tried to go to bed. TRIED! Have you head of Multiple Intelligences and Emotional Intelligence? I have been talking about these concepts and different types of learners this week. My children happen to be in PEP classes at their school, which is a self-contained high ability program. I grew up in numerous places with pull out talented and gifted programs, though started in the PEP program in Elkhart many moons ago. In another online class I am teaching, we are discussing high ability learners as part of exceptional education (special education to most). My students are often surprised that high ability is included in special needs. Anyway, I had MI (Multiple Intelligences), EQ (Emotional Quotient)/EI (Emotional Intelligence), and IQ (Intelligence Quotient), and Tinkering floating through my mind as I went to bed and reflected on our day and children.
BINGO! Experiment Quotient! ExQ.
While we were in a HIGHLY creative place, I noticed a couple of things about these two young men!
At the end of the fair, the 4-year-old was highly involved in experimenting with his shadow. There was a willingness and interest in this. HIGHLY! We talk about our shadows when we're out walking, but he was almost being a contortionist to see how his shadow would grow and expand as he shrank and contracted. I saw his mind thinking, his body twisting and turning, and the return to thinking as he made sense of it all. Then he revised his movements and started again.
The almost 7-year-old was willing to try things he never had done before. He let his body experiment with awkward positions and tried to find balance. He WELDED his own metal sculpture (with a little help from a professional). He was willing to TRY! I'm so proud of these guys for experimenting, for trying. The older two did it with science fair projects this last year, too. They were all collaborating earlier this week as they made catapults out of loose parts. My husband joined in after the fact.
