Remarks at the Opening of the Hawkins Exhibit at the Santa Fe Children’s Museum by Ellen Hall, Co-Founder Hawkins Centers of Learning
January 10, 2014
I am delighted to be with all of you at the 6th opening of the exhibit, “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins.” During the first year of its journey, this exhibition has traveled from the Bio-lounge of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also in Boulder Colorado, to the University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, to the Resource Area for Teaching in Denver to the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development to this wonderful venue in Santa Fe. And its second year itinerary has already been mapped out. From here, it will travel to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque and then on to the University of Nebraska Lincoln and Lied Lodge in Nebraska City and finally to Chicago. The Canadian based Reggio Professional Learning Collaborative replicated the exhibit and opened it in Toronto in October, and it will travel to Nova Scotia in June.
The exhibit’s journey is part of a larger journey that a small group of educators embarked upon in 2005. This followed a year of discussions about the importance of teacher-led professional development- teachers exploring ideas and issues relevant to them.
Our small group of educators created Hawkins Centers of Learning because we believe that Frances and David’s ideas are ideal springboards for this approach to teacher learning. We developed into an organization whose mission is the study, translation and articulation of the Hawkins’ ideas.
Hawkins Centers of Learning has offered us opportunities to meet and share ideas and experiences with incredible people – people like Karen Worth, who I will formally introduce soon, Susan McIntosh, who is a champion of quality science education, inquiry education consultant Barry Kluger-Bell, who worked with both Frances and David at the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education at the University of Colorado, Alex Cruickshank, a mentor teacher at Boulder Journey School, who as a child lived at the Capital Children’s Museum inspired by David Hawkins, and so many more child advocates worldwide, who understand the importance of curiosity based education for the children and adults of the 21st century.
We think that given the many rapidly-paced changes our world is currently experiencing, we must reexamine how we educate both our children and ourselves. We need to design educational experiences around our natural curiosities about the world. This is education that engages our hearts and minds,
that stimulates inquiry,
that stimulates critical thinking,
that stimulates problem solving
that stimulates ongoing research,
and that fosters collaboration.
Frances and David Hawkins understood this, and created and facilitated learning experiences that have inspired generations of educators.
The exhibit on display here gives visibility to four of the Hawkins’ ideas:
Eolithism: the educational use of existing resources, both physical and relational. Children’s creativity and learning flourish as they develop their own functions for materials.
I, Thou, It: The child, engaged in her own curiosity-based explorations, is joined by an adult, equally fascinated in the endeavor. This validation of her explorations contributes to the child’s development of a true love of learning.
Messing About: Unstructured time is allowed for these explorations, sufficient for the child to make and revise hypotheses regarding his work. Children are not told what to think. Rather, their thinking is supported.
Teacher as Learner: The teacher who has himself “messed about” with materials, and is excited about learning, transmits this heightened engagement to the child.
And there are more ideas. We hope that as the exhibit travels, other panels will be added to the original seven. At University of Nebraska Lincoln, plans are underway to add a panel on David’s ideas surrounding the learning and teaching of mathematics. We would also like to add experiences that include older children and children from diverse cultures and contexts. We envision the exhibit as a catalyst from which to build a network of educators, parents, grandparents, scientists, leaders, change agents, legislators, and advocates worldwide. We invite you to join us.
And now, please join me in welcoming Karen Worth, Chair of Elementary Education at Wheelock College. Karen teaches courses in elementary education and science education for both pre-service and in-service teachers at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has done extensive development work in science education. A current focus is developing teacher skills in the use of language in science as a critical tool for scientific reasoning. Karen has been the principal investigator on a number of National Science Foundation projects in which she developed and published science curriculum materials for early childhood and elementary classrooms and led large-scale efforts to support the implementation of inquiry-based science programs in schools.
She was part of the development team for the National Science Education Standards, chairing the Working Group on Science Teaching Standards. She consults nationally and internationally on the implementations of inquiry-based science programs for children at pre-school and elementary levels and has served as an advisor to several informal science organizations, public television stations, and national science reform projects.
Karen is a recipient of the Exploratorium's Outstanding Educator Award for her work in science education, the international Purkwa prize for improving the scientific literacy of the children of the planet, and the NSTA Distinguished Service Award.
January 10, 2014
I am delighted to be with all of you at the 6th opening of the exhibit, “Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child: The Philosophy of Frances and David Hawkins.” During the first year of its journey, this exhibition has traveled from the Bio-lounge of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also in Boulder Colorado, to the University of Wyoming Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, to the Resource Area for Teaching in Denver to the University of Colorado Denver School of Education and Human Development to this wonderful venue in Santa Fe. And its second year itinerary has already been mapped out. From here, it will travel to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque and then on to the University of Nebraska Lincoln and Lied Lodge in Nebraska City and finally to Chicago. The Canadian based Reggio Professional Learning Collaborative replicated the exhibit and opened it in Toronto in October, and it will travel to Nova Scotia in June.
The exhibit’s journey is part of a larger journey that a small group of educators embarked upon in 2005. This followed a year of discussions about the importance of teacher-led professional development- teachers exploring ideas and issues relevant to them.
Our small group of educators created Hawkins Centers of Learning because we believe that Frances and David’s ideas are ideal springboards for this approach to teacher learning. We developed into an organization whose mission is the study, translation and articulation of the Hawkins’ ideas.
Hawkins Centers of Learning has offered us opportunities to meet and share ideas and experiences with incredible people – people like Karen Worth, who I will formally introduce soon, Susan McIntosh, who is a champion of quality science education, inquiry education consultant Barry Kluger-Bell, who worked with both Frances and David at the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education at the University of Colorado, Alex Cruickshank, a mentor teacher at Boulder Journey School, who as a child lived at the Capital Children’s Museum inspired by David Hawkins, and so many more child advocates worldwide, who understand the importance of curiosity based education for the children and adults of the 21st century.
We think that given the many rapidly-paced changes our world is currently experiencing, we must reexamine how we educate both our children and ourselves. We need to design educational experiences around our natural curiosities about the world. This is education that engages our hearts and minds,
that stimulates inquiry,
that stimulates critical thinking,
that stimulates problem solving
that stimulates ongoing research,
and that fosters collaboration.
Frances and David Hawkins understood this, and created and facilitated learning experiences that have inspired generations of educators.
The exhibit on display here gives visibility to four of the Hawkins’ ideas:
Eolithism: the educational use of existing resources, both physical and relational. Children’s creativity and learning flourish as they develop their own functions for materials.
I, Thou, It: The child, engaged in her own curiosity-based explorations, is joined by an adult, equally fascinated in the endeavor. This validation of her explorations contributes to the child’s development of a true love of learning.
Messing About: Unstructured time is allowed for these explorations, sufficient for the child to make and revise hypotheses regarding his work. Children are not told what to think. Rather, their thinking is supported.
Teacher as Learner: The teacher who has himself “messed about” with materials, and is excited about learning, transmits this heightened engagement to the child.
And there are more ideas. We hope that as the exhibit travels, other panels will be added to the original seven. At University of Nebraska Lincoln, plans are underway to add a panel on David’s ideas surrounding the learning and teaching of mathematics. We would also like to add experiences that include older children and children from diverse cultures and contexts. We envision the exhibit as a catalyst from which to build a network of educators, parents, grandparents, scientists, leaders, change agents, legislators, and advocates worldwide. We invite you to join us.
And now, please join me in welcoming Karen Worth, Chair of Elementary Education at Wheelock College. Karen teaches courses in elementary education and science education for both pre-service and in-service teachers at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has done extensive development work in science education. A current focus is developing teacher skills in the use of language in science as a critical tool for scientific reasoning. Karen has been the principal investigator on a number of National Science Foundation projects in which she developed and published science curriculum materials for early childhood and elementary classrooms and led large-scale efforts to support the implementation of inquiry-based science programs in schools.
She was part of the development team for the National Science Education Standards, chairing the Working Group on Science Teaching Standards. She consults nationally and internationally on the implementations of inquiry-based science programs for children at pre-school and elementary levels and has served as an advisor to several informal science organizations, public television stations, and national science reform projects.
Karen is a recipient of the Exploratorium's Outstanding Educator Award for her work in science education, the international Purkwa prize for improving the scientific literacy of the children of the planet, and the NSTA Distinguished Service Award.
