Education is all about hands-on experience

I met an autism teenager today. He told me he loved drawing. So, I asked what he usually drew.

‘Anything that I have played with.’

‘If you teach me the ‘kite’, I’ll never learn it, because I haven’t played with it. I’d rather go to a park, and fly a kite with my friends and teacher. Then, I will remember it forever.’ He explained to me while drawing such a scene.

While hands-on is never a new idea, but his candid sharing just opened a whole new level for me to understand this concept.

Before he left, he told me another story: the basketball of his school won its archenemy by one point, with a game winning shot. I asked, ‘You must have the most exciting moment in your life. Have you drawn such scene down, as you always do?’

‘No. Because I didn’t play in the game. If I had been part of that, I’d remember it.’

Finally, I understand the quote ‘Tell me, I forget; Show me, I know; Involve me, I understand’, after involving with this amazing boy.