I watched this video on Gever Tulley’s approach to learning and quite honestly, I was VERY bored by it. I think it’s great if you have a young school aged child and would like to try this different teaching technique, but I think when you hit a certain age, say 12 years and older, this would not be the route to take for a learning course. I think most older children like to have some kind of constraints laid out for them. This kind of teaching would only bring out anarchy in a young teenager. As for trying to teach this way in college level schooling, I have a lot of doubts that this would be helpful at all. I have seen in some of my classes where the teacher is a little laid back in class and all hell breaks loose. I think this would happen in a lot classes. I’m sorry that I sound like a hard ass, but this is my opinion of it.
I think the way we are taught here at WTC is done in a professional manner. Everyone has to remember when we are out in the real world and are practicing what we have learned in school that we have been taught in a professional manner that shows some respect and wisdom. We can go to the next level and show the world that we listened to our teachers and can use our knowledge to better ourselves and the world around us.
Going back a few steps here, I will say the tinkering school would be o.k. in younger children where your imagination is at probably at its zenith. This would probably be very useful in children during the summer months where they might not have anything better to do than play video games or watch TV. So with that I will put on here the link to the tinkering school video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/gever tulley' s tinkering school in action.html.
Now, I would like to add some of my tips that I have picked up that have helped me here in school. First of all, I really use the academic success center a lot. They are really helpful in most of the classes I have had, especially anything that has to do with blackboard and report projects. The second place I spent a lot of time in was the math lab. It is right next to the ASC lab. I was getting a lot of business math homework to do and I had problems with it quite a bit. It was nice to know that they have math instructors there all day that can help you out with math problems. I got an A in my class and I don’t think I would have been able to get that kind of grade without the help from the math lab. The same goes for the ASC lab. Also, these are good places to take your tests. The ASC has private rooms with computers so if you like complete quiet while taking a test, this is the place to go on campus!
Well, I am all done raving (LOL!) I hope some of my ravings can be of some help to anyone who reads this. Chow!
