Back to School

This week we were invited to All Saints C.E Primary School in Stockport to run the typographic faces workshop with their year 5 & 6 children (aged 9,10,& 11). We had previously run the exact same workshop with our year 1 undergraduates (aged 18,19 & 20) 2 weeks prior (see earlier post).

The results of the workshop were spectacular, firstly the children approached the task with no inhibitions, they were willing to ask for help, they also asked lots of poignant questions and they worked quickly.

As an educator I found it fascinating that, in the main, the exact opposite could be said of the undergraduates. Who approached the same project with caution, saw it as a weakness to ask for help, didn't really ask enough questions or interrogate their own work and were slow at making design decisions.

So what is it that has changes within an individuals attitude to learning in those intervening years, between Primary education and Higher education?

I have my theories, but am unwilling to share them at this precise moment.