precious imperfections

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precious imperfections

There are a lot of things I love about wood.  I read a great essay on wood some years ago by Buckminster Fuller.  The gist of it was something about how wood, biomass, is a translation of sunlight, pounding at the earth, year after year.  Instead of just bouncing off or getting absorbed and becoming heat, a portion of that light gets grabbed by the little greens.. and those little greens use the energy to make stuff, real stuff we can touch.  And over the years it builds up to the point where we have whole ecosystems with big trees and animals too.  His point was that it's not just some big tree... the tree actually represents decades of stored energy, like a massive biochemical spring that’s been wound up, season after season.  And all the more with the coal and oil underground.  And so we shouldn't be surprised by some pretty dramatic effects when eons of stored energy are released in the space of

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pulling back the curtains of the hidden curriculum

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pulling back the curtains of the hidden curriculum

Students' schooling experiences are some of the strongest forces in their development.  These experiences result not only in the learning of explicit subject matter associated with formal curricula, but also in a great deal of informal or tacit learning (Goodlad, 2004; Snyder, 1970).  This tacit learning is more a function of cultivation or socialization than teaching in the colloquial sense, and has been described as a hidden curriculum (Jackson, 1968).  While such learning is seldom mentioned in explicit goals (Apple, 1990), it has a profound and lasting impact on students (Ghosh, 2008; Posner, 2003), as it helps to conditions students to certain patterns of behavior, manners of thinking, deeply held beliefs, and dispositions (Burbules, 2008; Snyder, 1970), and even their underlying assumptions about the world (Apple, 1990; Bowers, 1993).  In short, “Children learn what they live” (Nolte, 1972).

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montessori and the genesis of environmental design

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montessori and the genesis of environmental design

Montessori, Environmental Education, and the Educative Context

Maria Montessori should be considered among the first "environmental educators", but not in the conventional sense.  Her concern related far more to the development of children's individual autonomy than the natural environment; however, her method was very much focused on the environment--the environment with which children are immersed day after day, the environment with which children interact, and hopefully, learn and develop.

In Montessori's view, children construct their understanding through interaction with their environment.  She believed that young children have an innate drive towards development, and that freedom within a carefully prepared environment would allow them to maximize their developmental potential while cultivating their intrinsic drives (Kramer, 1976; Standing, 1957).  Montessori observed that free choice played an

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aroundsquare's bogo shop

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aroundsquare's bogo shop

aroundsquare's online shop is now live.  ao2 prefers neighbourhood toy stores, and we encourage you to get our blocks through one of our retail friends.. and if your local shop doesn't have our toys, put them in touch with us, huh.  but we recognize that for some people, the easiest way to get our blocks might be online.. so, welcome. 

aroundsquare believes in the power of play, and thinks that children everywhere deserve the opportunity to enjoy the benefits that real creative play has to offer.  for this reason, our shop is exclusively "bogo".. buy one, give one.  when you buy directly from aroundsquare online, your purchase will be matched by a donation of an equivalent set to a childcare facility where the toys will be enjoyed by children in need.  aroundsquare partners with a variety of orphanages, nursaries, and kindergartens in countries around the world.  living up to their name,

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gallery of playthings

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gallery of playthings

The gallery of playthings has photos of all seven designs in the goodwood deconstruction blocks range.  

Goodwood deconstruction blocks are a system of innovative wooden blocks, designed to invite real creative play. The beautiful, precisely crafted blocks are intentionally packaged without instructions or other prescriptive guidelines, in order to cultivate truly open- ended exploration. Unlike most modern toys, this puts the child in complete control of the child-toy relationship, and encourages them to come up with their own ways to play. The different shapes allow for building outwards in every dimension, and the creation of structures which are both architecturally and geometrically interesting, as well as aesthitically pleasing. They are suitable as a

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benefitting the beneficial

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benefitting the beneficial

aroundsquare is committed to conducting business in a way which delivers benefits at each step.  to that end, we're constantly reflecting on questions like who we should be doing business with, from manufacturing partners all the way through to our retail partners.  the store that you might see our products in.. those are no accident.  we like to support good independent stores, stores which contribute something to the community, stores which care about quality, and care about play.  

in addition to making donations of our products to education and childcare centres in the developing world, we also provide special pricing for children's museums, and benefit-driven business which are doing something more than just trying to make a buck.  

in keeping with this spirit, we are launching a new program to extend our hand to non-

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head, heart, and hands

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head, heart, and hands

the best creative play engages the child comprehensively.  i've been reading recently about waldorf education, and rudolf steiner's work more generally.  one of the themes which comes up regularly with waldorf is the development of the child through head, heart, and hands.. cognitive, emotional, physical.. or some variation on that.  i think back to my own childhood, and my favorite toy over the years was the yo-yo.. and why?  it rewarded me incrementally and grew with me, as my skill developed my tricks became more sophisticated, it was very open-ended and allowed me to come up with my own variations and modifications.. my own style of play.  it was a personal expression, and it fits nicely with the idea of engaging head, heart, and hands.

aroundsquare is best known for wooden blocks--twig (through fat brain toys), and the

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why goodwood?

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why goodwood?

why does it matter what we let our kids play with? at one level, the answer is obvious... isn't there a big difference between army guys and huggy dolls?  but there is more to it than that... at another level entirely, army guys and huggy dolls are basically just two versions of the same thing.  they both prescribe a certain kind of play, they both frame the same kind of toy-child relationship, they're both heavily gendered, and completely lacking in imagination.  what's more, both are likely to be made from the same cheap materials, mass produced in the same kind of factory, and even advertised on their own tv shows.  there is a whole worldview, a whole economic paradigm, and a whole lifestyle embodied in those toys.

the thing about toys is that they are among the first material things that children spend any amount of time interacting with.  the quality and character of that interaction is

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deconstruction and play

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deconstruction and play

Play is one of the most natural human endeavors, and one of the first.  The drive to play is preprogrammed into us, we are born ready to explore and learn, to poke and prod, to try and err, to experiment and observe the results.  But our concept of play has become corrupted.  Play has become associated with a narrow range of activities, usually involving preset boundaries, predefined rules, and artificially imposed objectives.  Along with this, our ideas about playthings have also become corrupted.  The shelves of most toy stores are full of toys which prescribe a very particular activity, and those which could potentially be used in more than one way usually come with instructions which tell us the "right way" to play with them; they provide us with the end goal, or perhaps a series of challenge cards.  There is nothing wrong with learning to follow instructions, and certainly nothing wrong

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adjectival education mad lib

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adjectival education mad lib

There is a fundamental issue underlying much of the work done in the field of ________ education that has yet to be sufficiently articulated.  The issue stems from the fact that ________ education is rooted in the way education generally, and particularly teaching, are conceptualized.  Our thinking about is constrained by our understanding of the teaching act and the role of the teacher, which continues to be preoccupied explicit subject matter.  It is teaching of, or education about. 

Our educational institutions are organized around bodies of content that can be parceled up and taught through some manner of instruction, learned through some manner of sitting with a pencil, and measured through traditional forms of assessment.  We like subject matter that can be articulated into tidy educational objectives, to which we can

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multifaceted classroom management

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multifaceted classroom management

Following was written in 2005 in the context of the Strengthening Capacity in Basic Education in Western China project. 

Multifaceted Classroom Behavior Management

Effective classroom management is critical to an effective learning situation.  For classroom management to be successful in an SCI context, it must be approached holistically.  Classroom management should emphasize “proactive” strategies which prevent behavior problems from starting, but should also include “reactive” strategies for what to do if problems do occur.  Below are some of the aspects of classroom management that should be considered by all teachers.

Pedagogical Relationships

Pedagogical relationships are the foundation of effective classroom management in an

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tacit teaching

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tacit teaching

think about the world around you.  think about the world around our children.  now, remove the stuff that's directed at them, remove the explicit stuff.  remove the parents' lectures, remove the teacher talk, remove the moral of the story, remove the product that the commercial is telling them to buy.

what you're left with is everything else.  it's a lot.  it's actually pretty much everything.  in the big picture, what's written on the billboard doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that they are surrounded by billboards.  what the teacher says doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that the kid needs to sit in their desk for eight hours a day listening to it.  what's playing on the television doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that it's the centrepiece of the living room and the focal point of family life.

we focus so much on the messages, while we ignore the medium.  by being selective

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building blocks of democracy

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building blocks of democracy

in the past year, aroundsquare has donated nearly a thousand sets of goodwood deconstruction blocks to small community-based kindergartens in egypt.  egypt is going through a transition, and play has a purpose in that transition.

one of the cornerstones of democracy is a citizenry which is engaged and ready to take on the responsibilities that democratic governance demands.  as a proponent of real creative play in early childhood, i want to highlight the connection.  it's essentially about the way in which a person positions him or herself in relation to the world.  it is about learning to engage with the world around us, about gaining a sense of self-efficacy and empowerment, a sense that our actions make a difference.

the types of activities which young children take up do a lot more than what they appear

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structure as freedom

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structure as freedom

structure as freedom.  at first, it reads like one of the three slogan's of the party in orwell's 1984--war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.  doublethink is a great concept. 

sometimes constraints--the right kind of constraints--lead us to options and possibilities where we didn't see them before.  in the case of a musical instrument like a guitar, you're limited to just six strings.  and the strings are all tied down, and all lined up.  stepping back, it seems incredibly restrictive.. limiting.. but the effect is just the opposite.  contrast the constrained guitar with an alternative.. having many more strings, randomly organized, and say, only tied at one end rather than two.  i'm thinking of a mop.  mops can be fun, but the creative value-added through the constraints of the guitar are easy to see.

language is similar.  words really tie us down.  each word has negotiated boundaries to it. 

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supporting the new economy

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supporting the new economy

aroundsquare is proud to be a certified B Corporation.  unlike regular businesses which are driven by profit alone, AO2 leverages the tools of business to generate benefit.  while most businesses have a single bottom line, profit, aroundsquare has four.  in addition to being financially viable, aroundsquare strives to deliver social, developmental and environmental benefit through incorporating these values into all decision-making related to the products developed and the processes used to bring them to the market.  

AO2's certification as a B Corporation signifies that this is not just empty rhetoric.. this is not green, or red, marketing.  B Labs, the organization which certifies B Corporations, has a rigorous certification process involving a detailed survey and follow-up process in which prospective companies are required to back up claims with appropriate

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implementation kebab

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implementation kebab

Capacity development is mostly a racket. The problem is that despite how costly these programs can be, the actual developmental benefits are usually pretty limited. This is particularly the case with training programs and professional development sessions. A great facilitator can make things engaging, participatory and even practical, but at the end of the session, folks return to their jobs and the relevance is immediately eclipsed by other things. Unless we are talking about the really low hanging fruit, not a whole lot actually changes.  

Part of the problem is that what these programs set out to deliver is not really what is needed in order to make real changes. Participants tend to be happy when they come out of a session feeling motivated. But motivation is almost never what is holding us back from making changes in our lives. Participants may come out embracing new values, or

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open-source toys

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open-source toys

i’ve classified the goodwood deconstruction blocks series as “open-source toys” in the past.  i’ve assigned them a creative commons license “attribution; share-alike” (CC-BY-SA).  in plain language this means that anyone can use or modify the designs for themselves.. all they need to do is attribute the design to aroundsquare, and provide the same license for all derivative works.. they can make and sell the blocks, and they can come up with modifications or new version of the blocks..

my intention in doing this was to put the designs out there with hopes that they may do good for somebody.  ideas are free after all.. it isn’t costing me anything.  there is always a risk that i’ll get ripped off by some profit-driven toy company, but i’m not really concerned about that.  it would be much more of a shame for an idea which may do

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the educative context

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the educative context

i’ve written before about the idea of tacit teaching, and the important role which context (as opposed to explicit content) plays in the development of children.  the idea is that we should be as intentional about context as we are about content, because what we immerse our children in matters, perhaps more than what we tell them during their immersion.  

but in order to do something constructive with this idea, it is necessary to operationalize it.  the idea of context can be broken down in a number of ways.  in the context of schooling, it is we can conveniently talk about them in terms of three aspects: the physical, material environment and objects in it; the social context and interpersonal features; and the institutional landscape including formal and informal policies, which shape the course of experiences in that context.  while these areas are not mutually exclusive, they provide a

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five balances

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five balances

 The following was written in 2005 in the context of the project Strengthening Capacity in Basic Education in Western China.  

5 Balances in Implementing SCI

A variety of tensions inevitably result during any process of change.  Many teachers feel these tensions when implementing SCI because it is very different from traditional ways of teaching.  Teachers must strive to find the right balance between extremes, in order to mediate these tensions and be as effective as possible in the classroom.

Balance 1: Individual and Group

The Issue:

It is easy to think about a class as one clump, and to forget about their differences.  It is a lot harder to keep in mind that each of the students is an individual, with their own

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