Observation Number 3 by Carroll and Anna Smith
My daughter, Anna and I batted around ideas about observation and why it is one of the foundational principles of a Mason education. This blog is the result of that conversation. The past couple of blogs I have written have focused on the practice of observation as key to a Mason paradigm. The first engaged with the organic nature of observing on a farm. The second considered a few ideas regarding nature study and observation in an urban setting. This blog is part 1 of 2 that continues to explore observation as a key component of a Mason educational paradigm. In today’s writing, I explore the nature of ‘observation‘ as defined by Mason. In Part 2, I build on that exploration to consider the implications of that understanding of ‘observation’ in an educational paradigm. Unusual though it may seem, today’s blog does not mention the classroom at all – and barely mentions children. Today’s blog lays the philosophical foundation upon which in Part 2 we consider the concrete building blocks of Mason’s educational paradigm. Let …