The Having of Wonderful Ideas" and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning

I needed to get this book as its part of the required text for this course I am taking. I thought that the text would not be engaging (academic texts are rarely so) but I was pleasantly surprised that this book is written in such a way that is so accessible, and allows me to imagine how I can do some of the things mentioned back in the classroom (conditions permitting)! The book strips me of my preconceived ideas about pedagogy as it is written by people who have practiced, and affirm the critical exploration pedagogy. Worth a read even for school administrators on the possibilities.

This is an excellent book for new teachers that helps them think of children's ideas as a foundation for discussion as well as ways for knowing and learning. The author proposes that having children interact with the world around them through manipulatives and interesting questions will promote their having “wonderful ideas” on which they can build to create knowledge and understanding. In addition, she posits that children’s ideas are worthwhile and a teacher can value and encourage these diverse and creative ways of thinking about the world as starting points for exploration into more ideas. She suggests three aspects for effective teacher education programs: 1) that the “teachers themselves must learn in the way that the children in their classes will be learning”. . .so that they can “feel what it is like to learn in this way”; 2) that teachers observe closely one or two children at a time to notice how the children learn; and 3) that using film and live demonstrations of classes of children actively engaged in learning science will provide an incentive for the teacher to recognize that it is possible to incorporate exploration of phenomena in her classroom instruction.

This books makes clear why the curricular, memorize and test methods of teaching STEM subjects in our public and private schools K-16 are failing so drastically. Eleanor Duckworth, a student of Piaget's, and expert on teaching science, wrote this over 30 years ago. The downward curve in teaching science has deepened sharply since this warning was first published.

Although the book was inciteful, it seemed to be a little less than original. As a result of studying under Jean Piaget, Eleanor Duckworth (author of the Having of Wonderful Ideas) learned a great deal about cognitive development. However, her ideas for the book and her foundation for the book was simply restating much of Piaget's work adding her own interpretations here and there. Many of these "interpretations" were quite helpful in further understanding Piaget's work, but most were not. Anyone familiar with Piaget's work might find this particular text somewhat repetitive.

This book is packed with the interesting observations derived from much experience. "Knowing enough about things is one prerequisite for wonderful ideas." P.14.I agree with all the other reviews, good and bad - which in some sense is in agreement with a point ED makes. We must seek out everyone's different ways of understanding. Ironic. Reminds me somewhat of Daniel Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence" in this regard."(P)eople sometimes use language that goes far beyond their thoughts. Some people can dazzle us with elaborate words when they do not really know what they are talking about." (p. 17). (But remember the Postmodern Generator!) I wonder how much familiarity with philosophy of language educators attempting to understand language learning in children have. A look at the references reveals no sign of folks like Quine, Wittgenstein, or even Chomsky. This alone suggests what benefit there might be in interdisciplinary efforts. Contemporary understanding of the nature of language shared with those who have practical experience teaching children and vice versa. Imagine what Wittgenstein might have said about the section on "Language and Thinking" (p. 16- 18) and on "Constructing What We Know" (p. 18-22) "In order to know something, or to think about something, then, we do not have to use words." or "Logic Is Deeper Than Language"! This is too much fun. One book that discusses a similar comparison is "Wittgenstein, Mind and Meaning: Towards a Social Conception of Mind" by Meredith Williams, as well as in "Constructive Evolution: Origins and Development of Piaget's Thought" by Michael Chapman. It seems that Piaget was influenced only by the earlier Wittgenstein when the later Wittgenstein would have been a much better fit. This seems so apparent to some that aspects of Piaget (genetic epistemology) are a "closed chapter in the history of science." (p. 127 in "Piaget-Vygotsky: The Social Genesis of Thought" by Anastasia Tryphon.But this seems very good advice: "Words that people hear-and the younger the child is, the stronger the case-are taken into some thoughts that are already in their minds, and those thoughts may not be the ones the speaker has in mind." (p. 22)

This book is one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It seems to me that the author, Eleanor Duckworth, simply gathered a great deal of dreadfully boring, scientific information and put it in one pile. For the most part, I feel like I had to read parts at least 3 times for it to make sense. In all fairness, though, there are some good ideas in the book and that is why I gave it 2 stars instead of one. The title is very much misleading, in my opinion. It should have been called something like - "A CATALOGUE OF WHAT SOMEONE ELSE THOUGHT WAS WONDERFUL IDEAS". Good luck to all who attempt this one - know in advance what you are getting into and it might not be so bad.