Normally I would post a video like this one on our facebook page rather than into the blog but there is something so charming about this that I wanted to share it here as well.
One of the issues for anyone working with children is being able to understand how they understand the world around them. It goes without saying that kids don't have the same perspective - much less the cognitive framework and technical knowledge - as adults. But it can be hard to hold the context in our own minds of what a child really means when they say or do a particular thing.
Emily Beckstrom, who does museum evaluation and who worked on the Standards of Excellence project as a graduate student at the Erikson Institute, once told me about a "continuum of questioning" which puts that phase of the constant "why?" in a broader context of children's wondering and testing of the world and of our explanations. It was an important insight to see how kids' ability to formulate questions changes together with their persistence in finding answers, and their willingness to insist that adults help them.
As a museum professional this video also fosters a sense of appreciation and awe for the process of growing. Each moment in this video is a reminder of the constant change, development, and increasing competence of children. Something that I think we need to hold in our minds as educators, social service workers, and mentors - all roles we take on daily in our field.
This tension between remembering what the naif world view of children really is like and celebrating their achievements and capacities is at the heart of the experience we strive for in designing for families.
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