Making Thinking Happen
Everywhere with Everything!
Think with Things is...
promoting a playful way of making abstract ideas more concrete and visual so that they can be better understood, discussed and reconstructed. I help educators & businesses see great potential in everyday things around them.
Mission
Think with Things primary mission is to promote everyday objects and their connected learning possibilities. Through years of observing and working in educational settings, I have come to one conclusion. Things that help us think and learn are all around us, and we need to unlock their potential. We already have all the materials we need to engage and create exceptional educational outcomes for every person.
For over ten years, I have carried boxes of ‘things’ into every workshop, training, and discussion. Moreover, we have learnt that children and adults alike become more and more engaged, communicative, creative and inspired when they work with “things”.
So what are these amazing things? Are they expensive, rare or fragile?
No! They are found objects, bottle tops, corks, buttons, and things from everyday life, probably thrown away often without thinking twice. For our children, however, they are treasures, things that they keep in their pockets. A rock from a walk in the woods, a bottle top from the sidewalk. These things are much more than stuff that clutters adult surroundings. We have seen their potential as fantastic thinking tools, and we believe children also see this potential. They collect things, keep them safe, tell stories, and use them to build and design fantastic new worlds.
These THINGS not only fill their pockets but also fuel their imagination and build their knowledge.
When it is time to learn, we tend to take these precious things away. We ask children to empty their pockets and often their minds to be fully focused and ready to learn. But are they? Or are we taking away their natural ability to explain their ideas and problems visually, thus educating them out of their creativity?
How did TwT come to be?
Think with Things was officially born in 2014 as one of 7 winners of the Open Education Challenge, aiming to make a difference in education on a global level by bringing the idea of hands-on learning through play and thinking with found objects into the typical, everyday, structured learning environments of children and adults. The idea came about long before that, while I designed learning environments with children in my design studio, Turtlewings.
Jules-Guardian of the Idea
Designer, mother of 3 boys and education change maker with over 18 years of experience in design and education. My passion lies in working with educational institutions, government initiatives, museums and corporations to create experiences and environments that inspire creative thinking. I love presenting and training and have played with various groups, from teams of teachers, museum practitioners, business people, artists, parents and children from 0-99.
I would love to talk with you about Think with Things and the advantages for your team. —Jules
DT Facilitator