Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Acrylic painting- 27” by 22”: $450
Science Centers are special places for hands-on learning.
You Never Know!
While sitting in my museum office one quiet fall day, I heard the sounds of shouting voices and footsteps running towards my door. Needless to say I was worried and jumped from my seat thinking that there had been an accident. Instead, a surprising story greeted me. An autistic child had spoken for the first time and the excited observers wanted to share their wonder with me.
Both mother and teacher were visiting the science center with a class of disabled elementary age children. A young girl happened to have been left alone for a few minutes and allowed to explore the small exhibit hall on her own. The child had stopped before an oscilloscope, picked up the microphone and started vocalizing. As she made a noise, her voice pattern was displayed on the scope. Since neither adult was paying attention, the child she felt free to play with the display without having to perform for an audience of concerned educators. When the mother turned to check on her daughter and observed what happening, she grabbed the teacher, and with excitement the two ran to share the news.
The teacher later told me that the incident was a reminder of research that suggested an oscilloscope be used to help non-verbal children. Back in her school she put in a requisition for a scope to use during therapy sessions with several children.
The conclusion of this story, however, gave me pause for thought. Parent, teacher and child returned to the museum a week later. The three immediately dovetailed to the oscilloscope where the child was handed the microphone and instructed to talk. There were high expectations of a repeat performance. Instead they got silence and disappointment in the child’s reaction. I thought the experience provided an interesting insight into human behavior and I tucked it away for further analysis.
What conclusions did I draw from the incident? Several . . . first, children need a rich and varied environment within which to roam and second, they need freedom to make choices away from the eyes of overly anxious adults.
What I like about science centers and children’s museums is that they provide a safe environment for self-exploration. They are designed to enable participants to learn in their own way and in their own time scale. Parents do not need to hover over their children and teachers are not asked to comment about what should or should not be learned. The visitors experiment with the displays and form their own conclusions. Since no one is watching or testing it is acceptable to make mistakes and then try once again.
Montessori schools take a similar approach. Their educational materials are organized in such a way that the room becomes child rather than teacher centered. In a Montessori classroom the teacher shows the child how to use age appropriate equipment but then lets the child alone to use it or not. Once a basic skill is mastered experimentation with other variations is encouraged as imagination dictates.
When I was a child the neighborhood was my domaine. During vacations I often left the house early, meeting friends to ride bicycles and explore the adjacent woods. Our parents were not worried, assuming we would come home when we were hungry or tired. In this way I experienced nature, found abandoned bird nests, listened to bull frogs, tried to catch polliwogs and climbed trees. When our apples fell in the dirt we picked them up and washed them off in the nearest stream. My friends and I made up stories and played our parts as lost princesses to be found by daring knights. To experiment with outdoor cooking, I put an egg in a frying pan to see if the sun was hot enough to cook it. After three hours the fried egg was well done but not very attractive for eating.
Childrearing practices today make me concerned that parents and grandparents have forgotten that children need freedom to explore their communities and need to be allowed to make mistakes. Instead they create pristine environments for play and provide constant praise for the smallest success or inconsequential achievement, making sure that the child is are never bored. Without realizing it they are working against their child’s ability to be self- sufficient and develop confidence in their own competency.
A woman I met last week told me that her brother invited her to the Spaghetti factory for a celebration. When she asked about the occasion she was told that her five year old niece had just completed her first week at school. The woman, a teacher, was concerned that a kindergartner should be awarded for having attended a week at school and wondered how the accolades were going to continue as the child aged.
The teacher went on to say how spoiled and demanding her students were. They (and their parents) insist on being given good grades even if they were not earned. These helicopter parents hover over their children, contributing to their homework, and observing every activity. When away, cell phones put their child in regular contact, and they text frequently, remaining in constant contact. Their children are told how to behave, what to do and where to do it. And when they do something wrong there are few consequences. All of this loving attention creates spoiled children who talk back and rule the household. By the time they are teenagers they are difficult to control yet have not learned how to make sensible decisions on their own.
By not being given the freedom to experiment and fail, or allowed to experience boredom and find their own amusement, many children grow up ill prepared to leave home. Going away to college can be a traumatic exercise. I know of a single mom who went so far as to move to her child’s college town, renting an apartment in order to be near. Parents are texted back and forth throughout the day to lessen the confusion, fear and loneliness that comes from being away from home for the first time. The result of these actions denies the student the experience of joy and confidence building that comes from having to overcome difficulties.
You never really know what is going to happen in life, and there is no way to protect children from every possible disaster. The best we can do is to let them know of our love. We can help them learn to problem solve, give them skills needed for working, and then leave them to find their own way.