“Sometimes your teacher will tell you exactly what to do and you’re finished! But today I want you to figure it out on your own.”
Thus began Jacqui Ketner’s first lesson in the third grade science class’s unit on electricity.
“If what you try doesn’t work...” She paused to allow a student to finish her sentence for her: “Don’t sweat it!”
“That’s right! Don’t sweat it!” Ketner confirmed with a smile.
She gave each student a small lightbulb, a battery, and a single piece of wire, and told them to make the lightbulb light.
After twenty minutes, no one had unlocked the secret of the lesson, and the students remained focused and energized.
I was taken aback by their confidence that something would happen if they just kept at it. Their persistence ran in defiance of the culture of instant gratification that pervades children’s lives these days.
Then one boy smiled proudly, silently revealing that he had succeeded. He did not leap up from his seat, however. It was only after a nearby classmate noticed the light bulb was glowing that there was any recognition from the other investigators.
“Hey, he got his to go!” one enthusiastically expressed. I loved this student’s selfless joy on his classmate’s behalf.
Everyone rushed over to see, but, significantly, very few lingered or asked him how he did it. Instead everyone was soon back to their own efforts. Some adopted the approach that their classmate had demonstrated, but others continued down their own paths.
Here was Ketner’s “don’t-sweat-it” instruction in action. What better message to a young scientist than this: dig in, persist, take notice of what others find out, but remain true to your own disciplined investigation?
Ketner’s teachings reflect an approach that can be found in all Gordon classrooms today, and also in the words of Adam Freedman, Class of ’98. A doctoral candidate at MIT, Freedman homes in on these eight and nine year olds’ world in his reflections, which debut on Gordon’s website this week.
At Gordon, Freedman learned the value of close observation, the capacity for hypothesis making and careful data gathering, and the faith that, with disciplined thinking, anything can be figured out.
These are the same overriding themes one would find in the orations of Nobel Prize winning physicists.
Freedman recollects that his chosen life path—one devoted to scientific research—began right here with Ketner’s capacity to both inspire his exploration and develop his confident persistence in disciplined investigation.
When eight and nine year olds finish a lesson in Ketner’s class, they own what they know and they build the capacity to learn more.
Just as Freedman did, these young scientists were learning to value what is observable and right at their fingertips, a good place to start one’s consideration of anything. Most importantly, they practiced the patience and intellectual discipline they need to dig for knowledge on their own.
The value of this kind of authentic pursuit was in the third grade student’s smile, for sure, and it is in Adam’s as well. However, it is Jacqui Ketner’s seeding of the circuitry for lifelong learning that is most essential.
These lifetime lessons are the ultimate goals here at Gordon. After all, in the long run, they are what matters.