In this chapter it discussed the analysis of the bus and knife. As teachers we are analyzing our students continually for areas of strengths and weaknesses. We are looking for ways to improve their learning and our teaching. I am learning so much interesting information from each chapter.
The analogies are amazing aren't they? Think of the children that you teach who come to us with hidden "cracks". Sadly it often takes a moment of crisis for us to see the extent of the damage of that fracture. If we perceive the crack early enough, we can often repair it, with intervention and support. If not, the damage can be irreparable.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a good analogy. It reminds me of the "stress-corrosion" cracking mentioned in Chapter 11. The "critical intensity of stress" during manufacturing can easily relate to stress in children's early lives as can the "corrosive environment." It's easy to imagine how those cracks developed.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that drew my attention in this chapter was the way Petroski used observation to notice the differences in the knives. While initially they all seemed identical, closer inspection showed them to have different words stamped on them, with different fonts, to have different patterns of decorative bamboo leaves, and to be of different lengths. One of the most frequent things I say to my students is: "What do you notice?" whether they are observing a poem, a sentence, a math problem, a natural object, or something manufactured. Sometimes they do this individual and sometimes in a small group. This seems to me to be a key process in learning about anything.
Then Petroski goes on to take it a step further by reflecting on what caused the cracks in the knives. To me this is another kind of "seeing" through the use of background knowledge and imagination. If I want to promote this kind of seeing in my students, what are some key elements I need to model for them? What kind of examples might I use to start us off?