From Desks to Workbenches
From Desks to Workbenches
More doing, less telling is a lesson from universal manual arts education that is shared by Doug Stowe, author of Wisdom of Our Hands
Doug Stowe wrote me to say “that the maker movement would benefit from knowing more about the history and purpose of the manual arts movement” and sent a link to a new essay of his featured in Front Porch Republic, “AI, Misinformation and Manual Arts Training.”
Here’s a brief excerpt:
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, it is more important than ever that we develop a common framework of understanding rooted in the senses—sight, sound, and touch—offline, in the real world. The hands have a particular role, as the eyes and ears are easily deceived. The hands measure the weight, size, density, and texture of objects, and thereby help us all to better build a shared framework for discernment of truth.
Work with the hands is an equalizer. It helps those who may not yet be academically inclined to demonstrate expertise. When schools took on the role of sorting kids, some for college and some for the trades, it was disastrous. Some students were targeted upward and some down based on standardized tests that we know to be faulty and biased. And separating hands from head proves detrimental to both.
Doug’s point is that education today deals mostly in the abstract and it is detached from real-world, concrete experience. It’s increasingly all-digital and not physical, and AI is making it more so. In his article, Doug looks at the history of manual arts education such as educational sloyd and he sees it as a way to ground students in truths that they can test out themselves “by deeply engaging in doing real things” so that they can tell for themselves what’s real and what’s fake.
Doug shared some additional thoughts on how manual arts education could be integrated into education.
“The first thing to recognize is that the brain, even among college students is good for only a very few minutes of lecture. Even the best minds wander, and must.
The second thing to recognize is that activities that are by nature real, and therefore engage all the senses (this was noted by Comenius,) create a better network of remembrance, connection and utility in the brain. This has been proven by research… Learning that takes place hands-on, meaning it was accomplished by being physically present thus engaging all the senses has much deeper and longer lasting effect. You can think of this as real estate, hands-on activities are noted in the full sensory and motor cortexes,
The third point, as emphasized by educational sloyd, was the relationship between the concrete and abstract. All abstract studies should be accompanied by concrete learning. We make a huge mistake starting kids to read before they’re doing real things…. reading is abstract, doing is concrete.
The fourth point is that teachers need to be drawn at least partly from the pool of those who didn’t necessarily do so well in school. Late bloomers are particularly important. A reason for this is that when faced with stress, as happens in many or most schools, teachers tend to fall back into positions most comfortable to them, often meaning the ways they themselves were taught. And those who go to college are generally the ones who learn best by rote, rather than by doing. We need doers in schools whose most comfortable fall back positions are getting things done rather than talking about it.
Fifth point, we need to rethink the place of manual arts in schools and make certain that administrators, school boards and parents know the value. A friend of mine and I came up with a list of 21 reasons woodworking education is still important in the 21st century. The New England Association of Woodworking Teachers distributed it to school administrators in New England. If you understand the value of woodworking education, you’ll likely better understand our need for all the arts.
We need ways to convert desks to work benches, so I’ve been exploring the use of simple hand screws, clamped to tables as a way to safely hold wood.” (See photo above.)
Getting students out of their seats and providing workbenches where they can be actively engaged in doing real work, in exercising the hand and mind, is what makerspaces were designed for. More doing, less telling.
Doug Stowe began his career as a woodworker in 1976, making custom furniture and small boxes. He lives on a wooded hillside at the edge of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and specializes in the use of Arkansas hardwoods. He is the author of fifteen books and over 100 articles on woodworking and education. Stowe’s website is www.dougstowe.com, and his blog is at wisdomofhands.blogspot.com.