Brick by Brick
You’re kid, right? You play with stuff, yes? Do you know how much learning goes on in that brain of yours while you’re playing? You can turn that pile of plastic blocks on your bedroom floor into anything you want.
It can be an intergalactic spaceship or a forest cabin. Each block you add to the model is another block of learning for your brain. Here are some of the things your brain figures out for you while you’re building:
Design–your brain has a picture of what it wants you to build. You may have seen it somewhere, like a movie or in a book. Or you may have a brand-new, never-before-seen design that only you can create.
Shape–fitting the right blocks together is what brain scientists call spatial awareness. It means your brain works out what will fit where.
Measurement–do you use a ruler or tape measure when you’re building with plastic blocks? Of course you don’t. Your brain does the measuring for you. If one block doesn’t fit, you try another one.
Imagination–this one is special. It is unique to you. If all of your friends had the same pile of blocks and the challenge was to build a spaceship, each of you would build something different.
Teachers call this type of learning constructivist. (con–struck–tiv–ist). It comes from the word: construction, which means to build. You start with something small, like a plastic block, and build on it.
