The Having of Wonderful Ideas" and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning

by Eleanor Duckworth

Eleanor Duckworth’s ideas contained in these timeless essays are more important than ever to the public discourse on education. While touching on many subjects―from science, math, and poetry to learning, teaching, thinking, evaluation, and teacher education―each of these essays supports the author’s deeply felt belief that “the having of wonderful ideas is the essence of intellectual development.” The revised Third Edition of this indispensable classic on Piaget and teaching features a new introduction, a new chapter on critical exploration in the classroom, and a renewed belief in the need to educate children about peace and social justice. Praise for Previous Editions! “A classic-to-be.” ― Instructor “A striking example of how Piaget’s work could well be applied to education―to advantage and with delight.” ― School Psychology International “…as she explains in her inspiring account of the exhilarating process of teaching and learning, now we all have the opportunity to create wonderful ideas.” ― Educational Leadership “…admirably confirms Eleanor Duckworth’s ability to express complex ideas and profound insights with clarity, good sense, and relevance for classroom practice.” ― The Journal of Educational Thought “An excellent, comprehensive scholarly work that lucidly explains and illustrates a sound and just education for all children with numerous practical examples and episodes. Duckworth has provided a powerful antidote to the narrow, mechanical, test-driven educational practices that pervade many classrooms.”
Hubert M. Dyasi, City College of the City University of New York (CUNY)
“An invaluable resource for anyone dedicated to the delicate art and craft of teaching. Duckworth shares four decades of investigation into the complexity of learning, the intellectual, moral, and political dimensions of teaching, and the joys of both teaching and learning.”
Steve Seidel , Harvard Project Zero

Genres: Education, Teaching, Academic, Nonfiction, Psychology, Business, Parenting

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Dan DeMaioNewton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life, career, and beliefs. Clearly spelled out, this book demonstrates the need for learning over teaching and changed my views on how to really teach well.

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. I loved the book and more than it I loved the author, Eleanor Duckworth. She put a wide smile on my face through each page of the book. I loved her passion about teaching and learning and the way she expressed the ideas.The book was so eye opener for me to new ideas and ways of learning that I am so eager to apply with kids and teachers. It wasn't an easy read and I couldn't grasp all the ideas written, so I have to spend time re-read the book and summarize it.
7 stars book, not just 5.

[John Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has really shaped my views on learning and teaching. Fabulous!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to adopt Duckworth's ideas into my teaching style. A great read for any teacher, teacher-in-training.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging collection of essays about, well, teaching and learning. Duckworth's writing is generally clear, and certainly thought-provoking. Here are some thoughts that were provoked:

- There are many skills involved in not knowing something, which are critical to learning and also tremendously undervalued by The System. This makes me think about how interviews at tech companies fall into this trap of caring more about what people know than about how people deal with not knowing.
- It's important to try to understand what the students are thinking; by doing this you help them clarify their own thinking and find new avenues of interest. Duckworth also mentions that this applies not only in a traditional classroom setting; obviously this would be helpful in a tutoring situation.
- Tied in to the above, it's very hard to make someone understand something your way by telling them. But if you can get them to think about their own understanding maybe that understanding will change. It's interesting to think about this in a situation where I disagree with someone's politics.

[Britta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Having of Wonderful Ideas offers some excellent insights into what teaching can (and should) be. Encouraging students to explore their own ideas and insights is the foundation of good teaching--the more we can allow our students to explore knowledge on their and with guidance, the more successful they will be. I found the text a little dry and academic at times, but overall it's a worthy text for all educators to read. I found myself nodding in agreement with Duckworth on numerous occasions, and I also found myself feeling a bit melancholy that our current, standardized test-based education system makes implementing Duckworth's insights and ideas in full all the more difficult.

[Ellen Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite psychology/education books. I have recommended this to numerous people. Full of so much wisdom. This quote, above all others from this marvelous book, has stuck with me throughout the years and helped explain so much of what I've experienced and witnessed in life: "All of us, from children to scientists, have difficulty accepting data that go against our firmly held beliefs. We have to restructure too much of our intellectual framework to assimilate such surprises. It is far less costly, at least for a time, to keep the framework and deny the fact.”

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleanor Duckworth's essay (and the work of Piaget and Vygotsky about whom she is, in part, writing) formed my entire professional world view. I think of the key concepts all the time in terms of not just child and adult but also my own learning and development. I revisit this essay frequently.

I confess to neglecting the other content most of the time. But I highly recommend this essay and book.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a wonderful idea for Duckworth to write this book. Despite the original copyright being over 30 years old the ideas and approaches addressed in these essays may be more relevant than ever. Duckworth challenges us to approach learning from the learner's perspective and to harness the curiosity found in discovering knowledge, rather than being told facts. Easily digestible and significant for anyone that is learning or teaching - in other words, significant for everyone.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is in my top three books on teaching. Recently reissued, this is a magnificent inspiring book about how children (people) learn. The writing is engaging and insightful. This is a series of essays on discovery learning in science. One of those books that once you pick up, you won’t want to put down!

[Tashi Lhamo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for teachers.

[Eduardo Hoppenstedt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most beautiful books on learning I have read

[Kate Philbin]

Ended up skimming the conclusions/summaries of each chapter. Interesting, but dry reading.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished this book! It took forever - it's a very academic book, and the early essays were difficult for me to get through without losing concentration. But, I appreciated it partly because of it's density - so many passages underlined and annotated for me to go back and think about again. Often, those annotated passages say much the same thing, in different ways. I didn't find that irritating, though. I felt like it grounded me and got through to me in a way that stuck eventually. In a way I'm glad I took so long to read it. It's been on my mind for about a year now, subtly shaping my thinking and practice. And now, finally coming to the end, I feel like I've had a revelation. The idea that a teacher's job is not to present information, but to try to understand the sense students are making of some phenomenon we've presented... That doesn't seem so complicated typing it out, but it is a profound shift in thinking about teaching and learning. I guess I have always felt that I was concerned with helping students develop deeper understanding, but I still based my expectations off of predetermined objectives. To throw that out, to present some phenomenon to students and say, "let's see where this can take us" will require a lot of Faith and courage. Maybe I can inch my way to this kind of teaching and let go of what I've always thought the teacher's role was.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

(There's a third edition that includes a new intro and a chapter on the importance of teaching critical thinking about peace and social justice...should get my hands on that.)

Duckworth studied under educational theorist Jean Piaget, and here she does an excellent job of both explaining his ideas and furthering them into her own research and work with teacher education. Knowledge constructed by you in your own time in your own way is much more deeply understood and becomes a part of you moreso than any knowledge merely told or shown to you. Examines teachers as learners and advocates hands-on learning through experiments and observations, as well as the embracing of complexity in ideas. Trumps the notion that just because one is teaching/demonstrating something in a straightforward manner, that it is "getting through" to a student. A true test is whether a student is able to put an idea into his/her own words rather than just repeating verbatim something the teacher posits.

[Shifting Phases · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some examples of classroom dialogue using Piagetian techniques, but mostly interpretation and philosophy. Unfortunately, it is exactly what I'm not looking for. from p. 1: "...I consider it the essence of pedagogy to give Kevin the occasion to have his wonderful ideas and to let him feel good about himself for having them."

Um, yes. I don't need to be convinced of this. Consequently, reading extended narratives about how people came to see the relevance of Piaget was not helpful to me. As a starting point for a conversation, for example a book group or classroom, this could be very interesting, but that's not where I'm at for the moment, so I'm putting this aside. As the authors themselves state on p. 83, "It has seemed to me for some time that teaching about Piaget... is not an adequate way to make his work helpful to teachers."

[Gina Weibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book from the education side of my grad school experience. The essays clearly put into words exactly what is going on inside the mind of a child as learning unfolds. With this fresh perspective on the process, I approach educating from a better angle.

Any parent and/or educator can benefit from reading and rereading this book every few years, as we strive to guide our children to "the having of wonderful ideas."

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read the whole thing, but found the collection quite engaging. There was a lovely essay about using this method (of allowing students to interact with the material and draw their own conclusions) in medical education in the NICU, and another one I continue to think about, related to teachers in a class experimenting with weight and density -- and struggling to formulate what they were seeing, and why, even though they "knew" the standard definitions and concepts.

[Rabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...helping children to come honestly to terms with their own ideas is not difficult to do....The only difficulty is that teachers are rarely encouraged to do that." Word.

[John Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! Truly inspirational insights on what it means to learn and teach

[Tara]

Started off strong, but then left me wanting for a more complete and thorough coverage of the topic. Needed more meat around the skeleton of her good thoughts.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very academic in nature and assumes I've read a bunch of Piaget that I've certainly not read, but I gave it four stars for all the interesting ideas I found in it. Now, applying those ideas...