What I Don't Know How to Do

On Monday, my physics students participated in the culmination of our study of rotary motion.  They were assigned the task of designing and building a spinning top with the goal of spinning for the longest period of time.  They were required to defend their choices of mass, radius, and shape using physics.  Then, we have a tournament to see whose design results in the longest spin.  

This is even a project that can work in hybrid situations. You may notice that in the bottom two pictures, there is a student who is spinning his top on a table at home because he was quarantined between the time it was printed and the competition; and you will see our media specialist is holding an iPad so those at home could witness their top spinning (they had a designated spinner).  I even had one top design sent from a student in China.

While students may build this top in any way they wish; and a few used recycled Beyblade or CD/marble combinations, most of them have taken advantage of our school's 3D printer.  Our media specialist comes to my classroom and walks them through the basics of the software and one example.  Some of my students had sent a design for her to print within the day and then modified their design based on the results (truly engaging in design thinking).  

Now, to the point of this post.  My physics students have been participating in this project for four years now.  I have, as of this date, still not 3D printed anything.  I haven't yet learned how.  I'm sure I will some day, but this project takes place at a time of year when I am writing exams and meeting a yearbook deadline, so I just never have.  My kids are developing a skill that I do not currently possess.

There was a time when a high school student was limited to the knowledge and skills of their teacher and the knowledge in library books.  This is no longer the case.  My students have the ability to explore any interest they want any time of the day or night.  They can learn skills that I do not possess.  In this case, I brought in a person with knowledge of 3D printing to help them learn, but with more time, they could have learned it on youtube.  They don't have to be limited by me.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am by no means advocating for the teacher as facilitator model of education.  I have fought too long and too hard to develop my professional judgment to abdicate it to the "guide on the side" fad of education.  I want students to know that there is an expert in the room because it makes them feel safe and protected in their education (and when you teach chemistry, letting them learn whatever they want through inquiry is physically dangerous).  I also have no fear of letting them see me looking things up when I don't have an answer to their question.  I have more ability to quickly interpret the answers I find than they do and to judge the credibility of the source, but I want them to see me model that process.  

As with most things in life, this is an issue of balance.  Teachers should carefully plan their lessons based on standards in the curriculum and their own professional judgment about what matters most when time is limited.  We should constantly read in our content area to stay current and study brain research and best practices in education.  We also shouldn't be afraid to assign something to our students that we don't know how to do.  We can provide resources for them to learn from without it coming from our own brains without it undermining our expertise in other areas.  Sometimes, it will be messy and time-consuming, but don't fear the mess because students also learn from watching us clean up the mess.