Thinking by Design

Video Summary

Transcript of video: This is a ThinkBlock and the great thing about them is the design of the block in some ways reminds you of how to teach your kids to think, of the four thinking skills that come from Derek's theory that we're trying to teach kids. So the first thing that's really noticeable about them is they're white and they're this distinct shape and they're dry erasable. So in a lot of ways they're like a 3D white board for children which is great fun. So for example, the first skill that they teach is what we call distinction making and the reason that the blocks can do that is they're an object that you can hold in your hand. It's a distinct object and you can write any idea on a block. So any idea. So let me give you... I'll give you an example. So for example, my fourth grader is studying civil rights and she needs to understand what is fairly a complex concept of justice and so she... you know, she'll be doing her homework and she'll be thinking about it and in a lot of ways you can get sort of caught up in your own head as a child when you're thinking about complicated ideas. So you can take a ThinkBlock and you can say, okay, let's talk about this concept of justice and by labeling this block 'justice,' she's taking an idea of her head and holding it in her hands and now she can move it around, think about it differently or in a new and unique way and one thing she can do is she can, because it's hollow, she can say, okay, how do I define justice, what makes justice a distinct idea and she could take another block and she could say well, justice is about equity or fairness and by labeling a block and putting it in the block, she's cognitively making the connection with her ideas. The hand is connecting back into the head. So she's learning differently.