Architecture & Design &Books Entropy | 23 Apr 2010
The Third Teacher
“If nature has commanded that of all the animals, infancy shall last longest in human beings—it is because nature knows how many rivers there are to cross and paths to retrace. Nature provides time for mistakes to be corrected (by both children and adults), for prejudices to overcome, and for children to catch their breath and restore their image of themselves, peers, parents, teachers, and the world”.– Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994)
In the 1940s, pioneering Italian teacher and psychologist Loris Malaguzzi founded the Reggio Emilia approach to learning on the premise that children develop through interactions, first with the adults in their lives – parents and teachers – then with their peers, and ultimately with the environment around them. Environment, said Malaguzzi, is the third teacher.
Created by an international team of architects and designers concerned about our failing education system, The Third Teacher explores the critical link between the school environment and how children learn, and offers 79 practical design ideas, both great and small, to guide reader’s efforts to improve our schools.
Written for anyone who has school-age children in their life, from educators and education decision-makers to parents and community activists, this book is intended to ignite a blaze of discussion and initiative about environment as an essential element of learning. Including a wealth of interviews, facts, statistics, and stories from experts in a wide range of fields, this book is a how-to guide to be used to connect with the many organizations, individuals, and ideas dedicated to innovating and improving teaching and learning. Contributors include children’s singer and advocate Raffi, author and creativity consultant Sir Ken Robinson, scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki, inventor James Dyson, and other experts who are working to create fresh solutions to problems and create a new blueprint for the future of education.
The Third Teacher is a collaboration between OWP/P Architects, VS Furtniture, and Bruce Mau Design. — OWP/P Architects has worked with more than 150 schools to support their educational vision. VS Furniture is a 110-year-old manufacturer of educational furnishings based in Germany. Bruce Mau Design is a business and cultural design studio.
The Hundred Languages
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.
-Loris Malaguzzi (Translated by Lella Gandini)
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach
Explore The Third Teacher’s amazing sitehere
on 23 Apr 2010 at 9:58 am 1.Aashish Takia said …
A subject / topic, very close to my heart … each time my daughter came back (slightly dejected) after being told by some TEACHER to WRITE a story or an essay in a particular way (& not in the way she felt / experienced) or so many other small incidents …
I could (and can) sense the 99% being taken away from her … even that Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson is such an eye-opener … but one wonders, if anything is actually being done about it ..
Any changes at all ???….. Of course, one has to go back to what ‘Gandhiji’ once said about ”..Be the change one wants to see ..” … I guess
Thanks for sharing
on 25 Apr 2010 at 3:52 pm 2.Hetal Desai said …
Very true. And it is good to learn that there are people who are doing their bit to improve our education System. Even if it is at a small level. The site is extraordinary.Thanks for sharing.
Though my son has finished his secondary level studies, I wish to share that as parents we had a real battle accomplishing what my son felt right to write and right to say in school. At every step we had to hit a wall. But perseverance always gives good positive results. I’m glad that our son stood firm and really,creditable. A child can easily get bulldozed by an institution!