Category Archives: For Parents

Wading through Complexity

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry
The riverfront museum I spearheaded opened thirty years ago.
 Impression 5, in Michigan, celebrated its fiftieth year.  It is hard to believe.

Wading Through Complex Thoughts

Analyzing your way through complex situations is not easy. On a rainy day in 1972, I was in Lansing, Michigan with four rowdy children and challenged with keeping them from tearing the house apart. So, I started a science museum in my basement. At the time there were only twelve science centers in the United States. Exhibits were push-button displays that mixed chemicals and asked yes and no questions. Fanciful walk-through hearts on Oregon, descent in into the depths of a coal mine in Chicago, fighter jets, and locomotives in Philadelphia covered the floors. What they lacked were interactive activities that called on visitors to experiment and think. A white paper was written pointing fingers at how the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry was a pawn of corporate America.

Public education was also under attack for the way children were held hostage for hours each week. Being pinned to their seats and made to memorize historical facts and formulas was not the way to inspire minds to greatness.John Holt, Howard Gardner, Piaget, and A.S. Neil were among those promoting child-centered ways, age-appropriate ways of teaching.

The table-top exhibits built in the basement of my home with my son recognized that children were not little adults but instead were youngsters with unique ways of learning. Science, engineering, and psychology professors at Michigan State University contributed exhibits and guided me through the learning process. The scientific method became my platform for conceiving interactive displays. 

Scientists approach problems through a seven-step process: make an observation, ask a question, from a hypothesis or testable explanation, make a prediction based on the hypothesis, test the prediction, and use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions. It is the way research progresses.

This way of thinking made sense to me and today is embedded in my psyche as a way to tackle life’s problems and idiosyncrasies. When ASTC, the Association of Science and Technology Centers started, science centers exploded throughout the world. I suddenly had company and reached out to seven small museums, including OMSI and the Pacific Science Center to secure a National Science Foundation grant to study visitor interaction with displays that required them to solve problems. We built exhibits that traveled to each other’s sites. Our staffs met to study hands-on education philosophies and to critique how  we tackled interactive construction techniques. 

We, and the other science centers introduced visitors to computers, technological innovations, and discoveries in genetics, and bio-engineering. What we learned by experimenting with hands-on learning techniques, was incorporated into the teacher education and outreach programs. Our museums became a model for the free school movement. They were places where visitors moved freely through displays, learning in their own way, at their own pace.  

You might ask, why I am saying something about this now. I am still involved with the education of young children and am more concerned than ever. The reliance on the computer for teaching has gone ballistic. Children no longer see that moss prefers to grow on North-facing surfaces. They don’t know how to use a hammer and nails to build a birdhouse. They don’t know how to change the oil in their car or sew a seam that burst on a dress. They don’t have the patience to build a balloon-powered card using cardboard and bottle caps to see how far it will go. They are too hyper to start a grow box and watch the way seeds turn into plants. They would rather play computer games than construct a solar oven to cook marshmallows while exploring thermal energy, reflection, and convection. 

All of our activities were designed to help young experimenters question and think. They require patience, dexterity, and a willingness to try and at times fail.  These are basic needs that adults as well as children need as they conduct their lives. 

When I moved to Oregon to run a science museum with greater resources, I was more determined than ever to show visitors how the scientific method is useful when tackling everyday problems. We built a new waterfront museum where people could satisfy their curiosity by conducting experiments on the floor of our exhibit halls. When designing Busy Town for young children, for example, we included a component for parents that focused them on observing their children so they could question their preconceived ideas about the way they learned.

As the world grapples with environmental change, economic challenges, and pandemics, we need clear minds, and a citizenry willing to dig into issues and think problems through. Analyzing these issues can be great fun if we put our heads to it. It calls for more feet on the ground stomping through communities and parks—putting more hands on binoculars, hammers, saws, needles, and thread as a complement to eyes on the computer screen. It requires reading, discussing, arguing, and coming to conclusions you are willing to test. The scientific method provides a way to proceed. Practice solving little problems so the large ones will fall into place.

For a behind-the-scene look at science centers and how they influenced education read Lives of Museum Junkies.

Art is always for sale. Check out my new cart-enabled website eichingerfineart.com to purchase the painting of OMSI or any other that tickles your fancy. 

Please share your thoughts below. What do you do when you escape the computer and remember that the physical world is filled with beauty?

Steve Johnson – Hopscotching Through the Age of Bots

The Estate (NFS) 
While I created homes on my easel, Steve Johnson built structures on his computer. Our hobbies evolved and we began selling our creations.

Steve Johnson – Hopscotching Through the Age of Bots

He discovered his passion, not once, not twice, but many times over the course of his 62  years. What fascinates me is how Steve Johnson, former NBA All-Star, grabbed on to his dreams and turned enthusiasm into paying ventures.  

Being the third of six children in a family headed by a disabled vet on disability and a school bus driving Mom was not easy. Poverty led them to a cinderblock  apartment house in Watts, California, with bars on the windows and the sound of gunshots outside the front door. Fortunately, they moved to San Bernardino one year before the Watts riots. 

Mom was a Seventh Day Adventist who insisted the children attend private Adventist schools and attend prayer meetings several evenings a week. Dad buried himself in their garage practicing for hours in his music studio though, according to Steve, he never managed to play one song all the way through.  He insisted the children play an instrument and though Steve could play several horned instruments by ear, unlike his brother, he never took to it. He had other things on his mind, especially after discovering his first passion.

At the age of fourteen, his father took him to watch his cousin in a practice basketball game in L.A.  At the end of the session he was introduced to the man who later become his coach. That evening his cousin joined the family for dinner. The boys went to a playground afterwards to shoot baskets. His cousin showed him a few moves and advised him to learn the hook shot, advice that made him unstoppable on the court. By the end of that eventful day, Steve knew what his future would be. 

Academically he was an underachiever. School didn’t interest him so he struggled. But, he was a thinker and a planner capable of developing goals in his early teens. They were;

  1. Get to a public school
  2. Get noticed in high school and receive a scholarship to college
  3. Become an All American
  4. Be a first round NBA draft pick
  5. Become an All Star.

His first goal was the most difficult to achieve. Since Adventists didn’t play team sports, he had to battle his parents over leaving school for an out of district public education. He ran away several times hoping to establish residency but failed repeatedly. He wasn’t successful until the summer before his senior year when the high school coach introduced him to a man who let him stay in a condemned house he owned.  Steve used a coat hanger to enter. To eat, he pilfered food and other items he could sell for cash. He avoided prostitutes and the gambling room at the back of his house, and convinced the board of education to let him transfer in despite a ruling that kept seniors from doing so.

That fall, without ever having played on a team, the coach took a risk and let the 6’10” athlete join. Half way through the season, the starting center was hurt. Steve played in his place, made 25 points, and earned a permanent spot in the game. During the rest of the season he stacked up enough points for six colleges were interested in giving him a scholarship. He chose Oregon State University and played basketball for four years under Naismith Hall of Fame coach, Ralph Miller. There, as a record breaking athlete, he became All-American and PAC-10 Player of the Year in 1981, eventually being inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

Playing for the Blazers

Upon graduation, Steve was the seventh pick in the first draft of the NBA. Over the course of his career he played for Kansas City Kings, The Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle Supersonics and The Portland Trail Blazers. Ten years later Steve was ready to retire after living with the pain caused by years of wear and tear on his feet.

In retirement he undertook several entrepreneurial ventures, that flourished and sputtered in the recession of 2008. He remained self-confident and driven and stayed focused on the idea of being successful-this time, as a businessman. His present undertaking fascinates me for it shows what a person can do who is willing to take a calculated risk and embrace change. His passion started with a computer came he played for fun. He became as absorbed in this new hobby as he did playing basketball.

Not a strong reader, Steve relies on YouTube Videos to teach him what he wants to know. He sees himself as a self-taught natural problem solver who knows how to mine and analyze social media for data. He is a planner and a goal setter who doesn’t give up.

The Sims is a computer game that allows players to explore a digital world where they buy property, design and build houses, and furnish them to their taste. When the game became internet connected, players could communicate and share information but The Sims had drawbacks. Steve’s son introduced him to Second Life, a more sophisticated game offering better tools and a marketplace for players to sell their designs. One day, with the help of his Avatar, Steve took a world tour and discovered a man building virtual boats. Rather than pay $40 to purchase the design, Steve started building his own yacht. When the president of Christensen Yachts discovered similarities to their boats, Steve was given permission to use their name. His virtual yachts sold for $175.

Millions of dollars are spent and made on  simulation games. Some players move on to well paying jobs in the real world. Virtual players become racers, drone and robot operators, marketers and fashion designers. Many tech companies are attracted to entry-level job candidates who cite playing or developing video games as a hobby. According to Ashley Deese of the Smithsonian Institution’s science education center in D.C., “They (gamers) tend to be problem solvers, organized, and adaptable.”  Law student Aylmer Wang, said gaming taught him “leadership, entrepreneurialism, dedication and organization.” Gamers are motivated and determined says Christopher McKenna, head of a student recruiting for the law firm Bennett Jones LLP.

During the 2008 recession Steve realized that when the economy returned, yachting would not be the same. New customers with money would come from high tech, yet they were unaware of yachting. Rather than purchase boats, Steve imagined them more willing to charter them. The going rate to charter a 100 to 160 foot yacht is between $100,000 and 300,000 a week, plus expenses. There was money to be made and he wondered how to turn his hobby into a lucrative business in the real world.

Under the name of Monaco Yachts, Steve created virtual experiences for potential customers by placing them on yachts and take them to places they might visit on a chartered boat. Final contracts are often signed at yachting conventions taking place around the world. His web site, yachtinglifestyle365 is basically a marketing brochure–a very successful one that writes about the yachting lifestyle.

Steve’s story is an example of why our current system of education needs to be improved to help students survive in the age of bots. Workers of the future will need to be flexible, team oriented, determined and confident of their ability to learn on their own. They will skills that enable them to adapt to change and hopscotch across occupations.

A goal of the education system should be to help students find their passion. To do so, vocational options, exercise, crafts, the arts, and computer games need to be blended with academics to insure graduates develop meaningful leisure time activities. High school students should leave with enough self-esteem to enable them to shift confidently as the economy changes. Letting students pursue activities they passionately embrace, teaches them what is involved in setting goals, acquiring skills, and achieving a modicum of success.

Resources:

Needleman S. (2019) When a Passion for Videogames Helps Lad a Job. Wall Street Journal. retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-a-passion-for-videogames-helps-land-that-job-11551888001

Molloy,D.(2019) How playing video games could get you a better job. BBC News. retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49317440

A Sneak Preview

Last week I announced the launch of Over the Peanut Fence: Scaling Barriers for Homeless and Runaway Youth. It is a hopeful book about  adolescents  overcoming childhood abuse and about professionals and volunteers who help street youth  succeed. Following is a sneak preview from The Story of Zach, Chapter I.

Getting around

The Story of Zach

Cory and I are life partners, sharing a home in Portland, Oregon. In 2011, I owned and operated Museum Tour, a national education supply catalog and Cory was employed in a handful of ventures that used his engineering and carpentry skills. Under our house in the woods, he set up a shop and outdoor area to carve totem poles and Northwest coast masks, which he sells to a burgeoning clientele. When not at work, I spent my hours painting in a sunlit studio located on the lower floor of our contemporary seven-level house. The two of us had few encumbrances as we freely traveled, worked and made art. 

All that changed one blustery November day when Cory noticed a youth pass in front of his car while waiting for the light to change. When the boy stumbled, he caught Cory’s full attention, for he recognized Zach, whom he knew as a child from a troubled family who lived in his old neighborhood. Pulling over to greet the youth, Cory immediately saw that the lad was ill. Fearing pneumonia, he phoned me and after a short conversation we invited Zach for dinner in order to assess his well-being. Within an hour of his arrival and learning that he lived in shelters, we suggested he stay for a few days to be nursed back to health. 

Zach quickly improved after sleeping in a comfortable warm bed and eating nutritious meals and by the end of the week was ready to return to the streets. Winter started early that year, the weather was wet and bitterly cold, and we were reluctant to send 

him back only to become ill again. Zach appeared to be such a young, lost and confused youth that I felt tenderness for him. 

It was an emotional week, for Cory and I were uncertain as to the role we wanted to play in his future. Friends feared for our safety and were quite worried about us getting deeply involved. A few neighbors watched Zach moving about our yard and called to warn us of a vagrant trespassing on our property, advising us to call the police. 

Zach certainly looked like a street transient. I must admit to my middle-class bias in that I did not like his appearance. He wore ragged clothing and had plugs in his ears. His reddish hair was greasy, straggly and unkempt, and he gave off a strong body odor. He walked hunched over, with a shifty look in eyes that never seemed to focus. Zach’s appearance spoke emphatically of a downtrodden boy. Speaking softly when queried, his responses were a short yes, no, or I don’t know. Though we certainly tried, it was difficult to get a complete sentence out of him. 

Knowing that he came from a family that pilfered from one another, we feared he might steal so when we decided to let Zach stay we kept a constant vigil as he moved about the house, insisting he go to his room when we went to bed. My purse was always stored safely in our bedroom at night. This decision proved wise, for we suspect he took money one time when it was unguarded. 

Once Zach agreed to our conditions, which required a haircut and removing the plugs in his ears, we let him remain for the winter. Zach was not happy to lose his straggly locks, but we insisted that if he was going to live with us he had to look like he belonged to our family. We took him to Goodwill and Ross Dress for Less to be outfitted from his feet up. Zach needed everything from undergarments to jeans, a warm coat, gloves and hat. 

House rules included a daily shower, cleaning his room, and making the bed. As time went by, a daily exercise routine was added, and Zach was occasionally asked to help with chores such as shoveling snow and chopping wood. Our goal was to break up the hours he spent lounging aimlessly around the house or watching television. 

One activity he participated in without being asked pleased us greatly—he continued to attend a drug rehab program. Thankfully, Zach had never been addicted to opioid drugs but was a light pot, molly, meth and occasional shroom (psychedelic mushrooms) user. While he was enrolled in the drug program, we never worried about him backsliding, and our trust has since been rewarded. We were concerned about his finances, however, because he had a large fine for possession of marijuana that had to be paid to a municipal district, and we wondered how Zach was going to meet his obligation without an income. 

We decided to lend him money to keep the judicial system from compounding interest, but he needed to find employment. Fortunately, I was able to help, for my catalog company was in the middle of its busy retail season, and we needed workers to ship warehouse products. It was easy to provide a six-week seasonal job, though to keep it, Zach had to pass a drug test and prove he could do the work. He was somewhat concerned about the test. When we discovered there was a pill he could take that would purge his body of narcotics, we took him to a head shop to purchase it. Before we spent a lot of money, the proprietor suggested Zach be tested and thankfully the results showed that he was clean. I was especially glad of the outcome because I was uncomfortable with the idea of helping him disguise an addiction. In addition to becoming an enabler, I would have been a hypocrite for ignoring my own employment requirements. to read on . . .

Why do some youth overcome abusive childhoods while others do not?

Currently available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Go to AMAZON.

Please rate on Amazon after reading to bring attention to the plight of homeless youth.

Internationally in bookstores and other internet sites April 22nd.

For speaking engagements contact eichingerbooks@gmail.com.

Over the Peanut Fence

Be First to Review

“A powerful glimpse into the trauma and abuse that forces young people to run to the streets. Their stories are a call for action to libraries, government, youth agencies, universities, parents, and volunteers to work together to solve this national problem.” —Pam Sandlian Smith, Public Library Association

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Provide a bravo launch for Over the Peanut Fence, a book aboutscaling barriers for homeless and runaway youth.Currently available on Amazon in paperback ($14.99) and on Kindle ($6.99) versions, it will find its way to other e pub sites and bookstores internationally in approximately three weeks. Help attract attention to youth homelessness by purchasing today and commenting on Amazon’s website.

My goal in writing this Over the Peanut Fence was to discover if psychological problems caused by early childhood abuse can be overcome. Four years of interviewing homeless youth, research into why they run to the streets, and studying interventions used by caregivers, gave me much to consider. The following Kirkus Review summarizes the book well.

A blend of memoir and sociocultural commentary analyzes the problem of teenage homelessness. Eichinger had known Zach when he was just a child, the victim of his parents’ chronic “negligence and abuse. The author divides her book into several distinct parts: a remembrance of her experience with Zach; a reflection on the root causes of homelessness in the United States; a synopsis of the latest research regarding the functioning of a youth’s brain; an homage to organizations that make a positive difference; and two short stories that dramatize ways in which adolescents can be effectively assisted. While always pragmatic and rigorously empirical, Eichinger finds considerable cause for cautious optimism, especially given studies demonstrating the deep resiliency of youths’ minds to overcome their early traumas. The author’s account is lucidly written, both intellectually thorough and emotionally affecting. In addition, this isn’t a work of ax-grinding political partisanship—Eichinger prefers cool-headed analysis to grandstanding. Further, at the heart of her ‘part memoir and part storybook’  is a profound reflection on the ailing condition of American society, withering from the widespread disintegration of the family and the grim plague of ‘lovelessness.’ An astute and moving assessment of an urgent societal problem.”—Kirkus Reviews

To Purchase advance copy go to AMAZON