Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering

[louann5840]

Ha I put my own self thru that school late in life all on my own. And I had a blast. All you need is a few tools and to give yourself permission. Anyone can do it.

[instereovideos]

This looks like it would be great for the mind of a child. But if you're a parent and you let your kid go to this, you're a damned idiot.

[clevername333]

12 dislikes? HOW AND WHY would you you disapprove of this? I am simply baffled by that. Children need danger and challenges.

[DreamsCatcher101]

After watching this video, plus another by TED of this guy, i am going to let my 5 year old girl take stuff apart from now on and not just me :)

[stephen1475]

i approve!! i seriously approve!

[noisepuppet]

You're never too old to tinker.

[soundofgeek]

Brilliant idea, albeit a very old one. From what I see as I train to become a teacher, this is pretty much what the current revolution in education is about - the idea that understanding is more important than knowledge.

[geza96]

I've been doing this stuff for years and now I can do almost anything or least have a atempt at it (tree house next)

[bigandlittle]

Tinkering is the exact opposite of teaching. Thanks for hosting this video, TED, but you're not quite on when you describe Tulley as "teaching" life lessons. Tulley is only creating opportunities for the children to teach themselves. "Teaching to" kids actually hinders genuine learning. A very inspiring little clip.

[freesk8]

Wonderful!!!

[tucciproducer]

"You figure things out by fooling around."

>;)  Giggidy.

[ravkes]

heh heh alrightt.

[indusdolphin]

I wish I had that kind of an education

[smudge6699]

Start now!

We are all our own teachers and pupils.

Good luck and have lots of fun!

;-)

[indusdolphin]

You are absolutely right, thanks for your constructive comment, have a nice day and good luck my friend.

[smudge6699]

It makes a change to see children being given the wherewithal to grow to become what they want to be rather than the battery rearing practised at the moment.

[sirachman]

Imagine where kids could go if they were all exposed to things like this instead of just the public school system..

[conceitarturo]

I'm 23 but sign me up!

[Randomslayer55]

@conceitarturo ya lolz

[DrewsAnimation]

better then the stupid bible camp, i was forced to go too as a kid.

[DrewsAnimation]

i love it, i dont have kids yet, but theyll be there every year!

[eileenCOTA]

Wonderful! There needs to be more of this kind of stuff!

[ticijev]

they should teach adults too :)

[Gatenaut]

exactly..i'm one of those who can't change a fuse box ...:(

[seppesai]

so constructivist, im a studying teaching and i love these videos..keep em up!

[waadfrelle]

I see he is wearing safety shoes. Are those kids..?

[wwwhexxycom]

a risk assessment must have deemed that the children were bright enough to understand the dangers. :D

[lochlanarms]

Allowing and encouraging children to think outside the box is, in my opinion, one of the greatest gifts an adult can give them. To often we limit their achievements and stunt their confidence with a "can't do" or "don't do" attitude. In an environment that encourages and nurtures the imagination, as well as teaches the basics of engineering, craftsmanship, teamwork, and problem solving, any "dangers" whether understood or not

[lochlanarms]

can and will be learned in real time. In doing so they learn not to do it again, or at the very least, not to do it the same way. This is a great life lesson.

[Gatenaut]

loved this comment!

[Animalll2003lll]

haha classic ted vibe :))) I love it!!!

[GaddingImp]

this is about empirical education

error isn't the same thing as failure.

[afthefragile]

Making a mistake and learning from it is learning, not failure.

Failure is doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get different results.

[1schwererziehbar1]

doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get different results is insanity according to einstein.

[afthefragile]

haven't you failed when you've gone insane??...

[energizerninja]

insanity is culturally relative

[wwwhexxycom]

do you think einstein was right then?

[barrywilliamsmb]

I agree with you but doing the same thing over again with a different point of view can bring on a new game.

Same results, different hypothesis, altered observation, altered cognition, varied recogniton.

New idea.

The same thing can give different results.

As far as I know, the only true measurement of anything must begin with the two filters of: where are we & what time is it?

Who loves you TED? Uh, I do.

[Stiffmeisteer]

this guy has to calm down, talk about heavy breathing:)

[thisscreensucks]

TED rawks. inspiring in unimaginable ways

[nazdun]

This is a great video. I wish I had had the opportunity to go there when I was younger.

@smkymcnugget420: You make a good point, but the purpose is to get kids to realize that even if initial plan fails there is always a way to rectify it. It teaches them to analyze mistakes and to overcome obstacles, and that is what you should be praised for.

[mrmaciejm]

That's fantastic, I would send my son there.

[DauthiPsycho]

give the kids a jackhammer! LOL

[mazdaplz]

give them a chainsaw!

[HecKaTorN]

lmao

[katubus]

No surprise. So glad they are doing this, something I would definitely support!! But somehow quite sad that this isn't a standard and integral part of the educational experience of the majority.

[Jimrokos1000]

How does the roller coaster car stay on the track?

[adamredwine]

gravity?

[Jimrokos1000]

I agree, gravity does stop the car from moving away from the track in the upwards direction, but why does the car not travel off the track horizontally, either to the right, or to the left?

[adamredwine]

hahaha.... I would imagine that they used flanges on either the outside or inside of the wheels. This would certainly be the easiest option since it only requires adding one more wheel to the axle.

[TheAngryBum]

Just goes to show that the best way to stimulate a young minds is to encourage them to use it.

[sudiin]

Very positive initiation indeed. The value of two-handed work is too underestimated these days and needs to be promoted, this is exactly the best way!

[jasonlajoie]

This just reminds me of how much video games and tv waste young minds. Kids are such a natural creative force and yet are left to vegetate in front of televisions for much of their free time. We have our first kid on the way with no tv in our home but a fully equipped wood-shop and a soon-to-be ceramics studio. I look forward to seeing the creative magic that kids are so naturally inclined to exhibit.

[BaileysBeads]

Ah don't say that, I've been raised with all kinds of level editors from, spending my days sketching and trying to create the coolest levels to play with my friends in. Sometimes even group projects in which everything needed to organized and roles divided.

It's mainly the console videogames that drain any creativity out of kids while they sit on their couch indeed.

[yared94]

We do this at our school XD. Only we get graded.

[GuineaJay]

A great example of programs that should be run at every school.

[bcforn64]

:-)

[cursingyorick]

Humanity at its best.

Curious, smart, creative, cooperative and unlimmited.

[prschuster]

I used to tinker with things when I was a kid. Every kid should have that experience.

[popaddict]

Brilliant. There should be more of this sort of stuff. We seem to to be stuck in organised processes all the time. Our ancestors probably started off on the path to achieve big things by tinkering.

[branboom]

I had a teacher in high school that let me do this, I ended up the captain of the robotics team, taking a team to competition . This man inspired me to pursue academia and explore our world.

[zappyhod]

The way the American economy's going lately they should introduce footware production, garment production, sewing machines and give twinkies and playstation gameplay hrs in payment for working in "tinkering schools"....lol...

[AlexanderBrevig]

Genius!

[angelwhite]

Brilliant! I love it!

[86kinky86]

Wow, this is uber-cool and good for kiddie brains

[dorotwhy]

The insurance companies obviously haven't heard of this program yet...

[apocaRUFF]

Ass hat

[Eldwinn]

lol these stoner kids are just running around building random shit!! haha

[aarondkeogh]

Giving people/a group freedom will always have a positive out come

[ratholin]

very rarely do I see a ted talk that I find necessary to favorite

[yufeizhou]

best idea so far

[robzrob]

Beyond wonderful!!

[dnvlgm]

sounds good... such a pity that the speaker sounds nervous like one of those kids in their speech class

[00corin00]

Awsome!!

[TheOtherSide100]

And my parents thought I was bad when I got caught skipping school and playing with dad's power tools in the garage. I was just engaging in advanced learning.

[luigisopa]

I like the idea of a school system with play-elements. It is great how kids can learn through experimenting, but this is not compatible with life in reality.

I think a school has to teach children how to achieve goals in our (sometimes cruel) society. Maths, history, science... these are fundamental requirements.

It is an interesting concept, but out of touch with reality.

[DANE842]

These children are allowed to set their reality for six days rather than know nothing other than their parents'.

[christopherawesome]

It isn't out of touch with reality, it IS reality.

[FTLNewsFeed]

Most schools are doing exactly that, producing round pegs for round holes. Unfortunately this is producing a bunch of lemmings instead of the critical thinkers who can analyze and solve for unique and trying problems. It's funny how most of the solutions being put forward are by entrepreneurs who were not trained by our school system but experimented and came up with the answers on their own.

[afthefragile]

And most people nowdays hate these hardworking innovative entrepreneurs saying they only care about their money.

I say its entrepreneurs such as this guy, Bill Gates and the many who speak at TED who are going to solve the world's problems and progress humanity forward.

Yet, we like to trust our inefficient bureaucratic government more than these people.

[howlinggaruru]

thumbs up. most people can't really think out of the box... or out of what they have been taught of.

[ArielBravy]

This is amazing! I'd LOVE to see this made more available to children. Even failures are celebrated. That's the spirit! :)

[smkymcnugget420]

no...thats socialism...

[gosciu555]

Not celebrated, just taken as a "learning opportunity."

[smkymcnugget420]

lol, thats better.

[smkymcnugget420]

to all the morons that thumbs down'ed my comment...would you like to explain to me what it is then...ot what socialism is? maybe you should real "The Fountainhead" and then make an informed response

[Monchanger]

Because failure isn't a goal here- success is. And your equivalence of socialism and failure is, at best, a crude joke.

Calling people morons simply because they disagree with you, or think your comment wasn't useful enough, is a great way to get more thumbs down.

It's also dictatorial, which a hidden assumption in what I think you mean when you say "socialism".

Why, of all people, do Rand groupies fall into this form of right-wing hypocricy?

[smkymcnugget420]

yes but you shouldnt commend a child that fails. I dont think that telling a kid his failed project is on the same level with a successful one. In my opinion if a child was to see a successful child praised then he/she will work to match that success, and if the child who fails is praise just as much as the child that succeeded what the incenticve for the succesful child to excel in the future if he get rewarded just as much either way. And how do Rand veiws on objectivism not apply here?

[FTLNewsFeed]

"Commending," I don't believe, is the right word, but the spirit of the word is. Failure should not be connected to a negative connotation for a child. Children need to be taught that failure can be and should be seen as a good outcome because it is an opportunity to see that their knowledge is faulty and that they should seek to rectify that. Through that process of of trial and error, like Edison's process of inventing the light bulb, eventually they'll come upon the right answer.

[christopherawesome]

I agree, failing is one of the best ways of learning.

[Mrmoc7]

True, but at some point in time one ought to stop failing....right?

**sigh**

[christopherawesome]

Failure shouldn't be commended, it should be appreciated for what the failure teaches.

[willowtreephoto]

Ayn Rand was evil.

[smkymcnugget420]

elaborate please...

[princeofexcess]

ITS ok to make it available to more kids as long as it doesnt cost society any money

available doesnt mean free

it just means more schools like that

but if the guy implies it has to be free then im totally against it

[320iguy]

this is one of the best ideas i have ever seen i really want to see more like this for the children of the future. BTW first....

[farhmoha]

This is such a great idea I wish I had this in school

[SenariXarn]

Interesting.