Learning by fiddling around.

While flipping through radio stations or watching TV, when we were young, we used to search for who was speaking inside, or when we saw how far a kite flew in the sky, elders would often scold us, saying, “What are you wondering around with?” Even now, if we see our children playing with soil, trying to open the remote, we advise them not to do so. But when we fiddle around, we play a significant role in teaching and understanding for children.

Let’s look at some benefits of fiddling around:

1. Collaboration in Understanding:

When students demonstrate what they have learned to others, they feel very happy. Not only that, but when they make their own understanding by explaining what they have learned to others, their understanding becomes deeper, and they remember those things for a long time. We see this in small children as well, and they apply what they have learned in their teaching. But in the section where they use facts and concepts to operate, they also contribute to the understanding of older children. For example, young children play with blocks, which strengthens their understanding of geometry.

2. Inquiry-Based Learning:

It is quite interesting to see students using what they have previously learned in practical ways. At home, in the garden, or in their own lessons. A few weeks ago, a student in my class very easily presented a fact related to engineering. He and his friends had learned it while playing the computer game Minecraft.

3. Knowledge of Objects and the World:

Children need to know many different things besides what they learn from books and in school. Among them, an important knowledge is the knowledge of the physical world they live in. This knowledge, especially, many people among us learn from our own experiences. All the basic knowledge needed to live life, such as knowing the four directions, knowledge of the weather, knowledge of our body, all can be learned from any kind of fiddling around. Similarly, like Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Edison, Rold Dahl, Quentin Blake, many scientists, inventors, writers, and artists also connect their knowledge and creativity with their childhood fiddling around.