Child led learning

Child led learning can often receive a bad press.

Maybe there's a fear attached to the rejection of the concept of allowing the children to have a choice, some power over their education. 

I find the snow ball effect of learning absolutely magical, it takes you places you'd never imagine. 

We traveled an educational path from seeing a wind turbine for the first time, back in time to the land of the dinosaurs. 

Sophia caught sight of a wind turbine one day last year as we past it in the car. She was really interested and enjoyed a spontaneous car lesson. She kept talking about it past the moment, so I took it further. 

We looked at the basics, electrical items within the home, health and safety concerning the items, the concept behind charging their ipads. Sophia created a electrical circuit lighting up a light bulb. 

We moved on to fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect, and then on to renewable energy.

This project took over the learning year with the children asking more questions which would lead to the next topic being explored. 

It has continued over to the following learning year, as we are studying dinosaurs, linking the coal back to the chemical fossils and realising the ice in the Arctic has been melting over time. 

They are very intuitive and can make the connections between all these topics, making a logical timeline. 

Back in January 2022 I could have easily just dismissed Sophia's line of questioning, been disengaged with her interest and we would have missed all this beautiful opportunity. 

I could have said 'You're too young, we'll revisit it when you're older'. Whilst this is a valid argument, it would have switched off the interest within my daughter. 

If I had initiated this chain of learning, there's a good chance I would have had an uphill battle. The topic of electricity can be really boring, which is why I ran with their line of questioning. The subject came alive and has been really interesting to explore. 

All three children have taken away from this line of exploration.

Sophia painted two very poignant pictures as part of a larger art exhibition, which struck me deeply. 

Here we have the different energy sources surrounding the Earth, and she colour coded them. The fossil fuels were red. She showed her prediction if we continue to ignore cleaner energy sources. A black void with the destruction of the rainbow. 


 


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