Jackson K., 12, is a student contributor to the Montessori Post.
Dr. Temple Grandin visited Bridgemont International Montessori School on Tuesday, March 24th via Zoom and talked about the importance of visual thinking and how it can be incorporated into today’s learning. I am a 7th grader at Bridgemont, and below are some of my impressions and questions of others from the session.
It was a treat to have Dr. Temple Grandin visit our class. Dr. Grandin put into perspective how a visual thinker can see and understand things that others can’t, saying, “…a visual thinker can visualize risk. In my book I discuss the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster. It was a visual thinking mistake. And it was a visual thinking mistake so basic, I just couldn’t believe it! If they had protected [the cooling pump] with watertight doors, Fukushima would not have melted down.”
Her early work transformed the treatment of animals. When asked about what changes are needed to keep animal care moving in a better direction, she said, “… both equipment and management are important. You can not expect [the equipment] to manage itself. You have to have the management to go along with it.”
A student then asked, “What do you think is the biggest mechanical skill missing in today’s schools?”
Dr. Grandin said, “People ask me what I would do to the schools. I’d put back all the shop classes, cooking classes, the sewing classes. In the beef industry, a lot of the people I worked with only had a high school education, but they had taken shop class and were inventing and patenting all kinds of mechanical things. And we need to be putting shop classes in elementary school. I did shop in 5th grade”
Our sciences teacher, Emily Squadroni, asked: “What advice would you give to Montessori students?”
Dr. Grandin responded, “To all students: get out and try lots of different things! You know how I got interested in the cattle industry? Because I went to my aunt’s ranch when I was 15 years old, and I got exposed to it. In college, help professors with their research. Look at the professors’ papers and say, ‘well, that looks interesting.’ And then go and you approach that professor. Get out and do things, see lots of things.
“It’s really important to ‘try on’ careers. You want to find out what you like to do. A lot of people in my field want to be veterinarians. Well, then you need to shadow a veterinarian, and make sure that’s what you want to do. There are a lot of people who love animals, but then they go, ‘oh, that veterinarian has to deal with all those people.’ For some people, that’s going to be what they want to do. Let’s shadow whatever the career is, so you find out what they actually do.”
Ms. Squadroni then asked, “What advice would you give to parents and teachers who want to better support children who learn, think, and experience the world differently?”
Dr. Grandin said, “Well, I’m a visual thinker, and I’m very concerned about all the math requirements for high school graduation. The person I want repairing the engine on the plane that I’m on, (and the pilot’s going to want this too, and all the other passengers): I want that visual thinker who’s going to put that engine together correctly! You see, you need a mathematician to design the wing of the airplane. But you need the visual thinker to repair that engine.
“I would suggest replacing the algebra with maybe geometry, or practical math. If you’re going to go into veterinary medicine, then you do the math for dosing drugs. If you’re going to go into construction, you do the math for how many concrete truckloads you’re going to need. So I’m not saying ‘have no math,’ but I think the algebra people are pushing the algebra, because they think you need algebra for thinking, but that’s not how I think.”
This was my first time meeting Dr. Temple Grandin, and she made a great impression on me. She taught the whole class about how visual thinking is crucial, and that you cannot have just the equipment or just management– both are equally important. It was great to have Dr. Grandin gives us her insight on these complex topics, and and I know that we will all benefit off of what she talked about.
Learn more about professor, author and speaker Dr. Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Jackson lives in North Carolina and has attended Bridgemont International School for two years.
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