Here at Tinkering School headquarters, we’re in the process of creating illustrations for the long awaited “Fifty Dangerous Things” book. The process involves figuring out what we need to show in the illustration that accompanies each topic, and then hunting through Flickr and the rest of the web to find inspiration for the actual drawing. Julie found this photo while researching carboard-tube sword fighting:

(click through, it’s worth it)

There are five really great things that can be seen in this picture. I’m not talking about the beautiful cars, or the natty clothes – I’m talking about five great creative play things.

Find yours, and read on to see mine.
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My friend Dave Nelson put me on to this project which (despite being a little over-thought) seems to share some of the ideas we explore in Tinkering School.

I was, initially, dismayed to see that they had already glommed onto the “thinkering” term, but I’ve learned to let go of the “I thought of that first” impulse. Then I read that Michael Ondaatje gets credit for the term having coined it in 1992 in The English Patient:

Thinking while tinkering inevitably leads to “thinkering” a semantic conjunction noted in the work of Michael Ondaatje. In The English Patient, Ondaatje uses the term “thinkering” to “suggest collecting a thought as one tinkers with a half-completed bicycle.” Educational theorist Eleanor Duckworth (1996) observes that: “Making new connections depends on knowing enough about something in the first place to provide a basis for thinking of other things to do – of other questions to ask – that demand more complex connections in order to make sense.” As one tinkers and begins to make additional and more complex connections, building on one’s current knowledge base, the original query is likely to be replaced by more advanced initiatives that are more meaningful to the tinkerer.

They are a little bit Exploratorium in that they are trying to create a space where kids can follow their own creative impulses, with a heavy dose of “library” in the way that they provide/allow access to materials.

I like their (formal) description of the benefits of Tinkering:

Tinkering for the sake of one’s own discovery promotes more than just learning about the topic of inquiry. Tinkering further promotes the development of critical thinking skills that will prepare kids as they encounter future, more-complex scenarios. The trends resulting from the digital revolution indicate a demand for all kids to develop more progressive skills for future success. In particular, the following list of competencies, formerly seen as niche skills sets, is forecast to be of major importance for today’s kids in their adult futures:

1. - Creative Thinking (developing intellectual independence and multiple perspectives)
2. - Systems Understanding (seeing meaningful relationships in complexity)
3. - Innovative Problem Solving (framing problems in unconventional ways and connecting ideas through lateral thinking)
4. - Information Management (knowing how to find, organize and use resources)
5. - Interdisciplinary Teamwork (collaborating effectively across disciplines)

Thinkering Spaces

We are all pleased to be able to announce the dates for this year’s sessions:

Session 1 (ages 7-12) – July 29th to August 4 Submit Application. Session 1 is all booked up.
Session 2 (ages 12-17) – July 22nd to July 28 Submit Application

Based on the results of last years experiments in Session 1, we are going to be returning to the large (as in size) project types that we explored in the 2005. Of course we won’t be building the same things, but we will be emphasizing construction projects that are larger than we are.

As ever, if you are interested in having your child attend, please click on the appropriate Session link above to send us an email. Keep in mind that we have very limited space, that selection is not based on date, and that we try really hard to make everyone happy. Please include the age and sex of your child in your email, as we attempt to ensure the sessions are always evenly balanced between boys and girls.

I’m very excited to be speaking at TED University this year. My presentation is called “Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do,” based of course on my ongoing book-in-progress “Fifty Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do.”

In support of my presentation I reproduced the brand/culture hacking labels I wrote for Make magazine earlier this year. I’ve printed them up as labels and will be giving them away at my TEDU presentations (hopefully they will find their way to the aisles of a Toys-R-Us near you – hee hee).

And here’s a couple of different PDF versions in various layouts if you want to print them out yourself: Labels, Labels2, Labels3

Oh, and big thanks to Ted Byfeld for all the label encouragement.

Session 2 – Ages 11 to 18

Sunday – Sorry for the delay, had some issues getting the media uploaded on Sunday (Flickr is getting hammered by the folks trying to fill up their end-of-the-month quotas), so, now I’m behind… Here’s the few shots that got uploaded before I gave up.

Monday – Behold! The magnificent row-carts. Due to massive incompetence on my part, I have deleted all of the video from today of the row-carts. My apologies to all concerned, and I’m sure the tinkerers will be fooling around with the carts tomorrow so there will be opportunity to get some then.

Tuesday – Updated! A fine day of row-cart upgrades and seashore carting (with lots of video).

Wednesday – a long day (1am now) due to some unexpected night-time row-carting. Enjoy! Tomorrow we start our boats, so stay tuned and read up on lateen sails.

Thursday – can you build an actual sailboat in one day without any plans? “Yup,” says Hanna. Updated! – now includes a moment of zen (Youtube outtage prevented the upload last night).

Friday – avast! Today we challenge the mighty Pacific.