This weekend my seven year old daughter played her last soccer game of the spring season. Her team, the Angels, has been together for quite some time and the girls practice almost year round. Because of their skill level, they “play up” and compete (successfully) against eight and nine year olds. In short, and while I may have a bit of proud-parent bias, they are not a bunch of little girls picking dandelions on the field; they are a formidable soccer team.

Their final game, however, did not begin particularly well. The conditions were horrendous; mud and standing water covered most of the field, the wind gusted from every direction, and the temperature fell rapidly as evening set in. The Angels, unaccustomed to such an environment, quickly fell behind 0-2. Their coach, suspecting the cause of the girls’ poor play, finally yelled across the field, “Angels! Stop worrying about getting dirty and start playing the game! Sometimes soccer gets a little messy!”

Whereas their opponents had no concerns about running through water or kicking up mud, my daughter’s team was focused on staying clean and couldn’t adapt to the situation. Although they did manage to score a goal thanks to a mistake by the opposing keeper, they largely ignored their coach’s advice and trailed 3-1 at the half. Things were not, as they say, looking good for the home team….

As I paced the sidelines waiting for play to resume, I couldn’t help but compare the Angels’ plight to that of our algebra-geometry students who have been learning Scratch for the past several weeks. They, like my daughter’s team, have been well “coached”; they understand the fundamental principles of mathematics and generally have solid problem-solving skills. When asked, however, to apply their abilities in an environment where there is no one “right” answer or single model to follow, many have floundered.

The issue for the struggling students was/is not a lack of understanding but rather a lack of experience learning in messy conditions. They vastly prefer the “blue skies and freshly cut grass” of structured problem sets and finite answers to the untidy process of designing programs. A learning environment in which each student is working on a different task is a truly messy, yet essential, academic experience; life requires thinking and thriving under diverse and sometimes less than ideal conditions.

Just as the Angels’ coach could not take the field for his team, the math teachers and I could not and cannot personally fix every student project. As adults, whether coaching or teaching, we sometimes need to “stay behind the line” and remind our young charges that if they use what they’ve learned and aren’t afraid to jump in and get dirty, they will succeed. Encouragement, coupled with good instruction, can go a long way….

As the girls lined up for the start of the second half, my daughter ran over to me and said, “Dad, you’re gonna have to do some laundry tonight.” She wasn’t kidding around, and neither was the rest of her team. When the final whistle blew, they had prevailed 4-3 in what was probably their best-played game of the year. She was covered in mud from head to toe, soaked completely though, and went home wearing nothing but my over-sized sweatshirt.

Later that night she called her grandparents to tell them about the game. They were very proud of the two goals she scored, and while I shared their enthusiasm, I was probably more pleased with the mess in the laundry room. Hopefully, the Scratch projects that are due in a few days will also reflect the efforts of kids who were able to adapt and not afraid to get engaged in a messy environment. Much like grass stains, a challenging, effective learning experience can leave a lasting impression….

Posted: 05|11|08 at 4:53 pm. Filed under: In the Classroom, Misc.
Comment | Trackback