We now enter the 10th week of the Learning Design. At the top of the Acton’s Learning Design Pyramid, is Character. We will cover this section this week and next, and round up the 12th post with a summary & conclusion.

We believe that:

Clear thinking leads to good decisions,
Good decisions lead to the right habits,
The right habits lead to character and
Character becomes destiny.”

One can say that Acton Academy is a space to hone learning habits for life. There are two ways we develop Character. The first one appears in the daily lives of the Eagles. See if you can spot any patterns from this week’s post. I will leave the answer, and a preview to the second way at the end of this post. Onwards to updates!

Spark / Preschool (PS) update

New Potential Eagles; New Problems to Solve

“How do you onboard recruits or new colleagues?”

“Now take those answers. How does a 4-year-old do that?”

Three new potential Eagles tried out for a week. Since the studio is child-led, it makes an interesting challenge. After passing the initial shyness and pleasantries, the “veterans” (three months experience) shared their excitement and took the initiative to initiate the new Eagles. An older eagle in the group explained systems to the potentials, while younger ones introduced boundaries or agreements made.

“Only two eagles in the tree at one time.”

Like typical recruits, they took some time to understand everything. It was also the first time the veterans are doing “onboarding.” It was a bit overwhelming (who would expect anything different in a new organization?). But all the eagles, both old and new took it with stride, patiently and persistently held and observed the boundaries. One thing that new Eagles are always surprised with is realizing that the authority belongs to them. It can be refreshing and sometimes frustrating.

Here’s one exchange between Mr. Aaron and the potential Eagle.

“What can I do, Mr. Aaron, they keep disturbing our play.”

“What are some of the ways you could let them know how you feel and to have them stop?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm… What can you do?”

She left and figured it out on her own. Then, she came up with three solutions.

First, divert the boy’s attention, by saying things like ‘oh no your fire station is on fire quick go and see.’

Second, tell them straight up that they don’t want to play with them, and;

Third, build a physical boundary around their ‘house.’

She tried all three, solution 2 and 3 worked. “Done. Solved!” The play continued.

Life is a big puzzle. Best solve it together.

It is easy because we row together on the same boat.

Lion Dance; this time of the year?

CNY passed a month ago. The Eagles miss them. So they summoned their inner gifts, and call upon the lion spirit.

The lion dancers are back! And they visited the PS studio three days back-to-back. You hear the drum (a mixture of beatboxing + drum-like sounds, mixed with 4-year-old voice synthesizer), the gong & cymbals (high pitch organic sound machines), and see the obstacles (almost anything goes). Sometimes, you get a purple lion. Sometimes, orange lion. Sometimes, the lions are transparent, and only Geniuses can see it. What sort of luck, happiness, prosperity will these young lions bring?

They played and re-played what they have observed or experienced. This imagination play activity forms powerful neuron networks (biologically that’s what is happening). As these networks thickened, they also gain further insight into the experience. Most importantly, they did all these with joy. And lots of noise, for a good reason. Didn’t you know they had to ward off the evil spirits?

Doesn’t look like it. But this is also lion dance role-play 😛

Arden’s Birthday

Friday marked the Birthday of Arden. Ken, his father, read a story about the very Hungry caterpillar. Then, it’s the birthday cake time!

Welcome to four-years-old, Arden. He, being the head lion dancer, will spark lots of good fortune for the many years ahead. ~~ActonKL will grow, expand, with such powerful lions (and it is free. Psst…lions are rather expensive in KL).~~

ES update

The Eagles launched into the week with Seeds of Potential.

Look at these apples. They were all once seeds. Not all will grow into apple trees and apples. Many won’t survive. What are the soil and sun that nurture this growth?

“Core Skills.”
“Learning together.”
“Kindness to each other.”

It was also a reflection of their differences and unique gifts.

“We are different outside, but we all have gifts inside.”
“You are green, and I am red.”

With the seeds of potential, the Eagles conquered the week with Civilization, Social Skills, Physics with Toy workshop, Da Vinci Tower Challenge, and the Fun Friday of Mega Jenga & Hot Wheels!

Civilization

First civilization session. We traveled back in time to learn about the earliest people—the first nomads and farmers. What is history? Eagles are tasked to interview their parents to find out more about their family history.

“I found out something I never knew about my family. I cannot wait to share it next week.”

We look forward to hearing his story.

Social Skills Workshop

Auntie Dyani continued this week’s Social Skills workshop by exploring instructions.

“When giving instructions, how do you do it?”
“Assertive or aggressive?”

The Eagles learned how to give assertive versus aggressive instructions. Be firm, peaceful, polite and effective. The challenge for the week is to provide assertive instructions!

Physics Quest – Da Vinci Tower Challenge

Last week, the challenge was to build a horizontal bridge. This week, it was about constructing it vertically.

The Challenge: build a tower with no adhesives which can hold 20 coins. The tower challenge proved to be tougher. Hence, the satisfaction of holding 20 coins—more exhilarating.

“What shapes should we build to make it stable?”
“Ahhhhhh it keeps collapsing.”
“How did Da Vinci design this?”

“YAY!”

Physics Quest – Toy Workshop: Explore and design a toy

Here are some concepts that the Eagles need to integrate: Gravity, buoyancy, displacement, elasticity, simple machines, structures, and support. And the way they do it is by creating a mini toy!

On Exhibition Day, the Eagles had to create a mini toy shop in the studio to look at the different toys which use these concepts. Eagles explored and figured out what physics concepts these toys use. After that, it was time to put all that knowledge to the test. Eagles were busy brainstorming toy designs for their exhibition.

“Marble run.”
“Compound machines to dispense candy.”
“Floating boat on slime?”

Pressure’s building up. Less than two weeks to go!

Fun Friday – Mega Jenga & Hot Wheels

Eagles qualified for Fun Friday through cleaning up after oneself and being focused at their tasks.

Their reward: a Fun Friday activity of Mega Jenga & Hot Wheels!!

Who needs computers. 🙂

MS update

First Townhall with a New Council

Democracy is never easy. The Eagles learned this first hand as they conducted their first town hall since the new council was elected.

It was a struggle to get the 12 MS Eagles into a consensus. Also, the initial request by Eagles might not truly reflect what they wanted. In the end, proper Socratic questioning allowed real reasons to surface.

The context: Some Eagles wanted to ask if they can make Fridays a shorter day. After turning the questions, the reality surfaced: some Eagles wanted a change in the Fun Fridays award/activity

With this, the Eagles benefited with some level of organization and reaped it with a self-organized ice skating trip to MYNISS.

Physics Quest – Can you give Mr. Egg an adrenaline thrill but not kill him?

After the introduction to the theory behind springs (Hooke’s Law) last week, the Eagles went on to bungees this week. They explored the Physics laws that allowed thrill seekers to, well, live to seek more thrills.

Throughout this Physics quest, they made decisions on how they tackle scientific problems:

Trial and Error – When stakes and cost of experiments are low, getting to “good enough” quickly matters more than waste or exactitude.
Scientific Method – When stakes are higher and trials more expensive, plan experiments more carefully and collect data more rigorously.
Theory & Equations – When only the most accurate prediction will do, invest the time to understand all underlying forces at play, and use the mathematical representation of each.

This week’s challenge:

Mr. Egg had a wish to do bungee jumping. But before he allowed the Eagles to drop him on a bungee, he needed to trust that Eagles can deliver on his wish; without cracking him up. Hence he made the Eagles test their own bungee ropes, and do on-paper calculations to predict the jump outcomes his friends, Lady Egga, Ellen DeGeneres, and Humpty Dumpty. When he was confident with their efforts, he took the plunge, after getting them to sign an expensive insurance policy.

So on Friday, the Eagles set out to make a long bungee rope, experiment with it, and drop their own Mr. Egg into “Lake Acton.” The target was to get Mr. Egg as close as possible to the water surface or even touch the tip of his “hair.” They had to pay a deposit of ten Eagle Bucks to ensure Mr. Egg returned in one piece.

Which method is the most effective? A few Eagles went the Scientific Method route and experimented on their bungee ropes before taking the plunge. The results: their estimations got them close. But this time, the trial and error guys got some real spring in their action. The winning team just skimmed the surface of the water.

Luck or Skill? Or a bit of both.

Back to Learning Character at Acton

The #1 thing that happens in the Studio is that Eagles take responsibility and face a real-world consequence. There is ownership, and they act that ownership in the form of doing. They fail early, cheaply and often. They exercise their decision making, and they learn how to live in a mini civil society. Rest assured, Acton Eagles will face the real world prepared because they’ve done so all their lives.

Next week, we will look into Character Badges. Because forging character, especially certain habits, requires deliberate practice.