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Throwback Thursday: Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child

1/24/2015

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It is hard to believe that it has been two years since the exhibit Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins opened. In the interim, the exhibit has traveled from Boulder to Wyoming, Denver, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Illinois. It is scheduled to continue its journey to Wisconsin, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and a few more places we'll announce as we get the venues secured. 

For now, we wanted to share this reflection from the original opening, held at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Eddie Goldstein, friend of the Hawkins and currently the Denver Museum of Nature and Science's  (DMNS) senior space science educator, shared this reflection with DMNS Galaxy Guides after attending the opening:

Hi Museum Galaxy Guides,

This past week I went to an opening of an exhibit at the University of Colorado Natural History Museum about the work of David and Frances Hawkins.  In their day, they were quite well known and internationally respected science educators.

Although they lived in Boulder, I met them when I was working at the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, DC in the 1980s.  They had a great understanding of how to communicate, not only the facts of science, but a love for science.  So, although I didn't know them that well, I clearly remember the several times we met.

One thing that has always stuck with me is when David said, "Science is not only about making the strange familiar, but also about making the familiar strange."  The "strange familiar" part I got.  That's about explaining what black holes are.  Or how spectroscopy works.  Or the latest information from the rovers on Mars.  But, "making the familiar strange."  That was new to me.  That is about filling people with a sense of wonder about things they thought they already knew but hadn't really thought about.  Did you ever wonder why you can't tickle yourself?  Did you ever wonder why, when you're driving at night in the rain, the streets look darker than when it's dry?  Did you ever wonder how the cell phone system can find your phone no matter where in the world you are?  In addition to bringing wonder into the world, it extends "scientific thinking" from something that is just done in a lab or observatory into the tools you can use to figure out things you are curious about in everyday life.

David also had a way of making comments that would really make you think.  He told a story about when he was helping his next door neighbor girls build a doll house, which they were doing from scratch.  At one point he said to one of the little girls, "What this doll house needs is a little doll house inside of it."  The little girl thought for a minute and said, "And, that little doll house should have a teeny tiny doll house inside of it!"  In a flash, she had caught a glimpse of infinity.  That's what David's seemingly off-handed comment was really all about.

The real theme of the exhibit, and an underlying theme of much of the Hawkins' work, was how they believed that teachers and students should be shared learners.  Finding something that you and a visitor are BOTH curious about can lead to some of the most powerful learning experiences.  For both of you.  In the exhibit they ask, "In what ways do you consider yourself to be an active learner?  How are your learning pursuits inspired by the children in your life?"  

To that I'll add: When was the last time that a visitor asked you a question that piqued YOUR curiosity, so much so that you and the visitor stopped and tried to figure out the answer to that question?  Either by grabbing a computer and looking it up, or trying an experiment right then and there in Space Odyssey.

If we want to encourage a love of science, these are good ways to start.

- - Eddie


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Eddie Goldstein with Alex Cruickshank, member of the Cultivate the Scientist team, and her daughter Zen Rose.
Thank you, Eddie, for sharing this wonderful reflection with your team and with us. Thank you for sharing your memories of Frances and David. 

And thank you to everyone who has been a part of the exhibit over these two years: coordinators who have helped the exhibit to travel, participants who have brought their wisdom to the workshops, visitors who have helped the ideas of Frances and David to continue. 

Happy New Year!


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Messing About with STEAM in Chicago

12/11/2014

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The exhibit, Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins, is currently being hosted by Cultivating the Early Years, a Chicago-based collaborative. The exhibit is currently housed at the North Park Village Nature Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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This past weekend, Boulder educators Lauren Weatherly and Alex Cruickshank, traveled to Chicago to facilitate a workshop in conjunction with the exhibit. Eolithically, natural materials felt like the appropriate material to to explore at a workshop in a nature center. Participants in the workshop brought beautiful natural materials for us to explore:
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Following a period of open-ended circle-phasing, participants were offered the choice to continue along a thread they had already developed or choose from the following invitations:

  • compose a dream environment
  • construct a working machine
  • create a story



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One table joined together to create a group story. They reflected on the time it took for them to observe each other making, to discuss their possibilities, and to come together to mess about with collaboration. They reflected on the possibilities for children when they have access to time. 

On the iPad, this group messed about with iStopMotion to create a story about the figures they had made. They also reflected on how it feels try an experience that is completely brand new and how they were intrinsically motivated to keep playing with the app. 
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Another participant reflected on the satisfaction of being able to revisit the same materials over a long period of time. She reflected on the incorporation of photographs into the work to offer both revisiting and expansion of ideas. 

She put together the photograph, "Seeds and Links" using the app Poetics 

and a video, "Transforming", using the app Waterlogue

IMG 0995 from ULS iPads on Vimeo.

In the square phase reflecting at the end of the workshop, one participant mentioned how the tone and method the  facilitators' used to present possibilities strongly influenced the rest of her working time. It was such a powerful reminder of the strength of the teachers' relationship with children and the mutual influence each party has on the outcome. Small tonal changes can rapidly change the direction of the work. 
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Gathering in Chicago

7/3/2014

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A participant messes about with magnification in Chicago
Our dear friends at Cultivating the Early Years Professional Network, based in Chicago, have just finished hosting a gathering in preparation of the arrival of the Hawkins exhibit (scheduled Fall 2014)! 


Educators gathered to mess about with materials and ideas. They worked with materials and had great conversations!


Check out their facebook page to see some enchanting pictures of their time together. 


Check out their website to join their network and get updates.
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Exhibit Opening, Santa Fe Children’s Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1/10/2014

3/5/2014

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"There was one kind of development I must mention, a subjective one, which took place in parallel with the technical work of weapon development.... Everyone's life was being changed, changed radically I think, and irreversibly.... We all did know we were involved in something which would alter the nature of the world." 
David Hawkins, qtd in Inventing Los Alamos: The Growth of an Atomic Community, Jon Hunner

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"MESSING ABOUT WITH TEACHING" - SANTA FE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

1/13/2014

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What is the role of this type of 
teaching and learning 
in 
today's educational culture?

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Set in the stimulating and rich environment of the Santa Fe Children's Museum, workshop participants from schools in and around Santa Fe, as well as members of the Santa Fe Science Initiative, took part in a day of messing about with materials and ideas inspired by the philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins.


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Exhibit Opening, Richland Academy, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, 10/25/2013

10/25/2013

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Exhibit Opening, University of Colorado, Denver 10/23/2013

10/23/2013

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How do we maintain focus on open-ended, curiosity-based learning in our current political atmosphere?

As part 2 of the University of Colorado, Denver collaboration with RAFT and HCoL, the exhibit moved to the Downtown Denver Lawrence Street Building of the UCD. Here, among professors and politicians we used the panels and the Hawkins' philosophy as a platform to provoke thoughts about our school systems.
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Exhibit Opening, Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT), Denver, Colorado, 7/31/2013

7/31/2013

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When the exhibit opened at the Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT), we returned to the living room feeling of good solid conversation. Hosted in the luxurious surroundings of recycled materials and open-ended possibilities as far as the eye could see, we all found ourselves stimulated and excited to talk and plan and dream.
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Discussion panel- (from left) Patti McKinnell, Logan School, Amy Turino, RAFT, Lori Ryan, UCD; Alex Cruickshank, Boulder Journey School; John Hanover, Roots Elementary; Stephanie Welsh, RAFT.

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Workshop in Laramie Wyoming

6/19/2013

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“Children can’t be educated until they are 
engrossed in subject matter and 
teachers can’t well create conditions for engrossment without sharing in it.”
Teacher from Laramie, Wyoming joined us to mess about with natural materials that are native to their region. The excitement of collaboration took over and before their very eyes a village came to life and took over table after table of the classroom.

David and Frances talked about the power of eolithism - the use of resources, both physical and intellectual that are already in place. As a group, we discovered the natural resources and interests and relished in the joy of having time and space to explore them.
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Exhibit Opening, University of Wyoming, Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, Laramie, Wyoming- 6/18/13

6/18/2013

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The exhibit's move to Wyoming marked the first time the exhibit left Colorado and the management of Hawkins Centers of Learning. We could not have asked for a more perfect host!
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The vision of the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute is to, "foster the understanding, appreciation and conservation of biological diversity through innovative research, education, outreach, and by engaging a broad audience in the scientific process." It is housed in the beautiful Berry Center, a new Green Building which is home to cross-disciplinary studies including ecology, genetics, biology, philosophy, education, and art. The Center and Institute would surely hold a dear place in David's heart, following his own beliefs about the inherent integration of science and daily life.


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    Hawkins Centers of Learning (HCoL), a 501C3 chartered in 2005, serves the educational community by preserving, articulating, and translating into practice the ideas of Frances and David Hawkins.

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