Mentees Learn by Doing
While working on a 4-H project, I indicated to the sixty plus 4-H Mentees in the 4-H Tribal Mentoring program at Salmon River Central Middle School and the 5th graders at Salmon River and St. Regis Mohawk School, “If you hit your finger instead of the nail; say I love science”. For the past several weeks, the 4-H youth have been participating in a “learn by doing” project of making either a simple blue-bird house or a box planter.
“4-H Learn by Doing” is a commonly used expression in 4-H. As a matter of fact, since the early 1900, the learning by doing approach has been the “fun”damental core method for teaching youth. For example, one can read in a book how to make something as reading will provide for us the knowledge and the plans of how to make either the blue bird house or box planter. But what reading doesn’t tell us is how to hold a hammer properly or how to hit the nail on the head without hitting one’s finger. The intricate subtleties of mastering what some may call simple carpentry skills are things one couldn’t learn simply by reading and yet it could be argued these basic skills of eye / hand coordination maybe the most important things to know.
By actually doing something, one is able to apply a set of skills that one would miss out by just reading about the project. The “learning by doing” approach allows the youth to experience something with minimal guidance from an adult. Learning by doing promotes critical thinking – an important skill for life. The opportunity to experiment, to question and to find out first-hand what works and what doesn’t.
A couple of statements that was heard around the room – “my mother won’t believe I made this”, “this is a lot harder than I thought”, “really, I can take this to the County Fair” is confirmation that a “4-H Learn by Doing” aka hands on learning projects are fun, challenging and provide an method for youth to think outside the book.
For more information about how your child can become involved with 4-H in Franklin County, check out the web page - http://franklin.cce.cornell.edu/ and follow the links for 4-H or one call the Cornell Cooperative Extension office at 518.483.7403.
Last updated June 1, 2015