I was at the CEB conference in Helsinki yesterday. Presented my paper titled "Play and Learn" (ofcourse following our tagline) and talks about early age exploration and getting children interested in science fields through exploration and a little about how technology should be used as a tool rather than a way of life (for children ofcourse). I think the paper is going to be published online on their website soon and as proceedings in a couple of months.
Didn't realize I will be the first presenter for the morning session:) The time got shortened 17 minutes with questions at the end of all presentations. I talked for the first 10 minutes about early age exploration and why its important and got little time left to talk about Discovery Museum. I missed most of School age children (middle school and high school) part of the presentation but overall it went good.
And its the first public statement about opening a discovery museum in Tampere. Yay!!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Playtime everyday
I was reading an article this morning that was posted a couple of days ago in NYtimes. http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/let-the-children-play-some-more/?th&emc=th . The title of the article is "let the children play (some more). this article is based on US schools ofcourse and talks about how recess and play times have been cut down in most schools to give way to more intense education. The article mentions how more children are getting into depression and having obesity and behavioral disorder problems.
Coming from India, I am familiar with no downtime in school problem. We had one recess i.e. lunch time and once a week PT (physical training). But atleast once the school is done, however much stressful it was, we were free to go out and play (ofcourse once homework is done too..) but these days with so many electronic media all around us, favorite pasttime is not playing games outside but rather watch tv or play video games or chat on internet. Its not just India and US...more and more countries are facing the problem..balancing between the higher demands of education and childrens well being.
In that aspect, Finland seems to be very consistent and insistent on having breaks between classes, give enough downtime for kids to rejuvenate their brains and have more playtime outside (even in the middle of winter). They start school late but catch up with their peers around the world pretty fast. In surveys done with children around the world, Finnish children often come in the top5 in math, science and reading abilities. They attribute this to giving more time for children to be children, uniform core curriculum and high standard of teachers.
When I talk about "play and learn", people here immediately get it. They understand it very well. Recently I was talking to the headmaster of one of the schools in Tampere about the museum and she said they believe and try to get their children especially lower than sixth grade to play and "invent" rather than just teach them theories behind everything. Wow! what else can we ask for:)
--sheela
Coming from India, I am familiar with no downtime in school problem. We had one recess i.e. lunch time and once a week PT (physical training). But atleast once the school is done, however much stressful it was, we were free to go out and play (ofcourse once homework is done too..) but these days with so many electronic media all around us, favorite pasttime is not playing games outside but rather watch tv or play video games or chat on internet. Its not just India and US...more and more countries are facing the problem..balancing between the higher demands of education and childrens well being.
In that aspect, Finland seems to be very consistent and insistent on having breaks between classes, give enough downtime for kids to rejuvenate their brains and have more playtime outside (even in the middle of winter). They start school late but catch up with their peers around the world pretty fast. In surveys done with children around the world, Finnish children often come in the top5 in math, science and reading abilities. They attribute this to giving more time for children to be children, uniform core curriculum and high standard of teachers.
When I talk about "play and learn", people here immediately get it. They understand it very well. Recently I was talking to the headmaster of one of the schools in Tampere about the museum and she said they believe and try to get their children especially lower than sixth grade to play and "invent" rather than just teach them theories behind everything. Wow! what else can we ask for:)
--sheela
Thursday, September 3, 2009
you know you like a museum when..
you catch yourself talking about a particular museum to 3 different people in the same day:) Today, in different meetings, I mentioned the Tom Tits Experiment (http://www.tomtit.se/) thrice and how great it is...It does have a great collection of experiments for kids of all ages. And the great thing is they give you a book with all the great experiments with a picture and description not only to guide you through them during the visit but also to take home and remember. I haven't seen any other museum do that and I think that's the coolest thing.
while I talked about Tom Tits thrice, the only other museum I talk about (apart from Discovery Museum of Tampere ofcourse) is The Exploratorium in San Francisco. Lot of science museums around the world including ours used/will use their proven recipes for exhibit building. And they have the most amazing online presence including great resources for teachers.
With such great museums to inspire, I am sure Discovery Museum of Tampere will become childrens favorite place locally..
while I talked about Tom Tits thrice, the only other museum I talk about (apart from Discovery Museum of Tampere ofcourse) is The Exploratorium in San Francisco. Lot of science museums around the world including ours used/will use their proven recipes for exhibit building. And they have the most amazing online presence including great resources for teachers.
With such great museums to inspire, I am sure Discovery Museum of Tampere will become childrens favorite place locally..
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