Shadows

John Holt wrote: Children do not move from ignorance about a given thing to knowledge of it in one sudden step, like going to a light that has been off and turning it on. For children do not acquire knowledge, but make it. As I said before, they create knowledge, as scientists do, by observing wondering, theorizing, and then testing and revising these theories. To go from the point of being sure that it is true often takes them a long time. Usually, children are not aware of these processes, this scientific method that they are continually using; they do not know that they are observing, theorizing, and testing and revising theories, and would be surprised and baffled if you told them so. At any particular moment in their growth their minds are full of theories about various aspects of the world around them, including language, which they are constantly testing, but not for the life of them could they tell you what these theories are. ...

If we want children to do formal reasoning with different kinds of abstract quantities and shapes ... we must give them time to do what I can only call "de-abstracting" these objects: in other words, using fantasty and play to put some real life and meaning into them. (P 102 - 102 Learning All the Time)

Scared of shadows:

My three year old grand-daughter told me that she is scared of shadows, especially at night. Time to 'de-abstract' shadows, and put some real meaning into them.
She first watched some Youtube clips: This one by an Aussie .. I firstly explained that shadows are created when something is blocking light. And that these shadows are made by a persons hands in front of light. The hands cast a shadow on a sheet.

We then watched a Youtube clip of Silouette; a dance troupe who are performing in America's got talent. I explained that they are behind a sheet with a light behind them, and that their bodies block the light and cast shadows on the sheets.

She was beginning to like these clips and we ended up watching quite a few. We then made some shadows on the wall with our hands.

Next visit to nana's

The next time she came to visit she asked if she could learn more about shadows. I had a skirt on with some lace around the bottom which was casting some interesting shadows on the ground. I gave her my camera and these are the photos that she took.

In the lower photo you can see her shoes, the bottom of my skirt, my feet and the shadow that my skirt is making.

She also took a photo of the backyard, it was in the shadow of a cloud. We will learn about that later.

Her reflection is in the glass while she is taking the photo.

The next day we were driving in the car and she said 'I can see the shadow of a bird' and she could. There was the shadow of a bird moving along the ground and up over buildings.

My daughter phoned me recently and told me that my grand-daughter was teaching her little brother about shadows. He was scared at night. My grand-daughter said 'don't worry Oscar they are only shadows' and then she started showing him how the trees made shadows on the ground ... she then told him that shadows used to scare her but now she isn't scared of them any more ... and that the shadows of trees scared her the most.

Her learning has come full circle ... she is now teaching about shadows.