Building STEM Skills with Blocks: “I didn’t even know I was learning,” writes Dan Feil, a Connect reader. “I am not suggesting that I had an underprivileged childhood. I simply had few toys. One that I remember vividly is my set of wooden blocks. I recall handling my blocks and thinking: two squares make a rectangle, two rectangles make the big one, and so do four of the squaresu2026I was learning geometric shapes and relationships, and didn’t even know it. By the time fractions were formally introduced to me in school, I had a tactile, concrete sense of what abstract numbers stood for. “My unit block set also gave me a quantitative spatial sense. I built walls. I built houses. I learned which blocks were good for long spans. I learned how much support the spanning blocks needed. I loved the heft of the blocks. I loved the smooth, cool surfaces and the rounded edges. “So it should not surprise you that I became an architect. I cannot say for certain that I did so because of my unit block play. But that play certainly brought out the facets of who I was, at an early age, which eventually lead me to my life-long professional career. “Let’s raise more architects! For a great staff training resource on the importance of block play, watch the video.
Wormeli, R. (2014). Motivating young adolescents. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from ASCD
- Posted: October 11, 2017
Home » Best Practices » Wormeli, R. (2014). Motivating young adolescents. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from ASCD
Best Practices
- Why Poverty Matters
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- 1 – Build Relationships
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- 3 – Increase Status
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- 5 – Proactively Guide
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- 17 – Purposefully Teach
- 18 – Explicitly Teach
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- 20 – Use Data
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- 22 – Accommodate
- 23 – Infuse the Arts
- 24 – Maintain High Expectations
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Menu
- Why Poverty Matters
- Poverty Data Sources
- Neuroscience & the Classroom
- Why Resources Matter
- 1 – Build Relationships
- 2 – Decrease Stress
- 3 – Increase Status
- 4 – Increase Hope
- 5 – Proactively Guide
- 6 – Use “Me” Strategies
- 7 – Understand Goals of Misbehavior
- 8 – Decrease Health Impacts
- 9 – Build Family/Community Partnerships
- 10 – Align Instruction & Assessment
- 11 – Motivate
- 12 – Grow Mindsets
- 13 – Build Background Knowledge
- 14 – Grow Executive Function
- 15 – Build Memory Trace
- 16 – Grow Emotional & Soft Skills
- 17 – Purposefully Teach
- 18 – Explicitly Teach
- 19 – Question Strategically
- 20 – Use Data
- 21 – Make Learning Fun
- 22 – Accommodate
- 23 – Infuse the Arts
- 24 – Maintain High Expectations
- 25 – Lead