Grade 4: Tinkering with Marbles and Dominoes
Fourth graders in Kai Johnson’s class participated in a Tinker Time challenge this week using Marble RunTM and dominoes. Their goal was to build a structure, send a marble through it and successfully knock down a row of 10 dominoes. Working in small groups, they practiced innovation skills like creative thinking, critical thinking, grit/perseverance, experimentation and collaboration. Before tinkering, they hypothesized how many failures they expected to have before achieving success and tallied their tries on the white board.
Fourth graders in Kai Johnson’s class participated in a Tinker Time challenge this week using Marble RunTM and dominoes.
Their goal was to build a structure, send a marble through it and successfully knock down a row of 10 dominoes. Working in small groups, they practiced innovation skills like creative thinking, critical thinking, grit/perseverance, experimentation and collaboration. Before tinkering, they hypothesized how many failures they expected to have before achieving success and tallied their tries on the white board. With teacher Elizabeth Leddy leading the activity, students reminded themselves that failures help them learn something new and can make their designs better.
While innovation skills are explored throughout the school day in various subject areas, Tinker Time provides a 30-minute lesson and time for students to reflect on their experiences.
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Their goal was to build a structure, send a marble through it and successfully knock down a row of 10 dominoes. Working in small groups, they practiced innovation skills like creative thinking, critical thinking, grit/perseverance, experimentation and collaboration. Before tinkering, they hypothesized how many failures they expected to have before achieving success and tallied their tries on the white board. With teacher Elizabeth Leddy leading the activity, students reminded themselves that failures help them learn something new and can make their designs better.
While innovation skills are explored throughout the school day in various subject areas, Tinker Time provides a 30-minute lesson and time for students to reflect on their experiences.
Graland Country Day School
Graland Country Day School is a private school in Denver, Colorado, serving students in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. Founded in Denver in 1927, Graland incorporates a rich, experiential learning approach in a traditional classroom setting, emphasizing the development of globally and socially conscious leaders who excel academically.
