100 Village Blog

100 Village is a social enterprise with a mission to create disruptive changes for good, with a concentration in Early Childhood Education. Our current focus is "Teaching Children to Become Empathetic Leaders".

[100village]

教育大同仝仁聚會 2015-02-14

各位教育大同友好：

我們初步計劃在二月十四日（星期六）作第二次的仝仁聚會，感謝大家上次到來分享寶貴心聲，包括發掘自我及自我實踐、家長教育、快樂的真締、活得更精彩、生命教育等，我們希望今次可以集中討論以下主題：如何教養我們的孩子，讓他們明辨是非，建立自信，去追求和實現理想；滿有仁愛去推動世界正面發展。本會委員王義光Nick Wang十分關注這個主題，他將會以火熱的心去帶領大家一起深入探討，希望各位踴躍參加！

Nick有一子一女，他長於「用戶創新」（user-innovation）的工作，並先後在美國、日本和香港發展。他曾為丹麥樂高玩具公司開發 ideas.lego.com，藉虛擬平台，將該公司和Lego用家聯結起來；在回歸成長之地香港後，他創出世界首個硬件Crowdfunding加製造的平台，幫助用家以網上平台吸引資金去發展夢想。在2011年，Nick將美國「創業週末」 Startup Weekend帶到香港，凝聚數以千計的青年人，一起改變世界。

當大仔歲半時，Nick忽然頓悟，世上沒有一件事比優良的學前體驗更重要！於是，他毅然止住了一切工作，矢志成為一位最好的父親，先是創建「百村」100 Village，提供免費playgroup；之後成立毛毛啤梨樹反學校 Mulberry Tree Unschool。 甚麼是Unschooling？今期綠田園稻草人雜誌有專題深入報導。

為了今次聚會，Nick正準備一個講故事環節，讓各位爸爸媽媽分享各自的故事；他還會和帶領大家體驗一個以人為本 Human-centered Design的思維環節；透過這個充實的二月十四日聚會，希望各位教育有情人可以落實共同努力的工作項目。

聚會日期：2015年2月14日（星期六） 時間：下午2﹣5時 地點：中大祟基書院信和樓422室（鄰近教堂）

讓我們搞點新意思，今次試試Potluck！ 請每位參加者預備一碟食物和大家分享！ 喜歡帶多少、帶甚麼吃的也可以，祝各位新年好運！

登記教育大同電子報 報名參加教育大同仝仁聚會

Dear friends of EDiversity,

We've preliminarily set our next community meeting on Sat. Feb. 14th. We've listened to your concerns - discover real self (self-actualization), parent education, happiness, live a life, life education and more. In the next meeting, we will concentrate on a theme based on these topics - "How do we, as a society, raise our children so that they will be critical thinkers, have the confidence to follow their dreams and passions, be kind and virtuous and create positive changes in the world?" Our committee member Nick Wang is passionate about these topics and he will be the facilitator of the day.

Nick is a father of two. He used to be a "user-innovation" expert, his work had brought him from America to Tokyo and Hong Kong. He helped LEGO connect with its users by creating ideas.lego.com, and created the first hardware crowdfunding and manufacturing startup in the world. In 2011, he brought Startup Weekend to Hong Kong, empowering thousands of youngsters to create change in the world. When his son turned 1 1/2, he had an epiphany that nothing is more important than good early childhood experience! He quitted everything and concentrated on becoming the best father he could be. Along the way, he formed 100 Village and provided free playgrounds, and later on also started the Mulberry Tree Unschool. You can find an in-depth report on what's "Unschooling" in the current issue of Produce Green Magazine.

For this meeting, Nick is preparing a storytelling session, where parents can share their stories. He's also preparing to facilitate an ideation session with everyone using Human-centered Design. By the end of the meeting, we hope to have concrete actions we can all begin to act on.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 14th, 2015 Time: 2 pm - 5 pm Venue: Room 422, 4th floor, Sino Building, (next to the church, Chung Chi College) CUHK

To keep everyone energized, let's have a potluck this time. Please bring one dish to be shared with everyone.

Sign up here for EDiversity newsletter and never miss an event again! Register now for Feb. 14th community meeting at eventbrite.com.

[100village]

Science of Learning - Why it matters to schools and families? by Professor Laura-Ann PETITTO,

“Our goals block us from making conceptual changes.” “Reframing of context can help facilitate conceptual change.”

These were my main takeaways from yesterday’s lecture: “Educating the Scientific Brain and Mind: Insights from The Science of Learning & Educational Neuroscience” by Professor Kevin Niall Dunbar. The report was mainly about scientific research, but it’s interesting when you think about applying that onto early childhood education. Children need rich experiences to form their own understanding of the world, but sometimes in education, we inadvertently teach them one way of doing things, one right answer. It’s interesting to think about how we should interact with our children to encourage them to continue to investigate and create new knowledge.

Professor Stephen Andrews, Dean of Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong, has asked EDiversity to invite everyone to next Saturday’s talk: “Science of Learning - Why it matters to schools and families?” In Professor Andrews’ own word:

“This talk will present the most important findings that have resulted from the multi-billion dollar research over the past decade in Science of learning that connects neuroscience research and behavioural research on learning and which dispels many common misconceptions about learning. The speaker, Laura-Ann Petitto, is advising the Obama administration on how Education Neuroscience can improve American education. This talk should be of great interest and relevance to anyone who is interested to know about how the latest research findings about learning can contribute to better policies and practices in education, and for supporting learning at home.”

For more information and registration, please visit: http://sol.edu.hku.hk/petitto-2015/

[100village]

Brain Research to Help Children Develop Their Highest Cognitive Potentials Did you know that the last part of your child’s brain to “mature” is the prefrontal cortex? And of course you might well say “so what” and ask, “Does this really matter?” Dr. Wills will explain in clear and simple terms why it does indeed matter for your child and how it will impact on their current and future success. This area of the brain is effectively the control center for goal directed planning and other additional executive functions such as; judgment, critical analysis, prioritizing, deduction, induction, imagination, communication, reflective (versus reactive) emotional control, risk assessment, planning, and perseverance. You would probably agree that these are all pretty important functions. The good news is you don’t need to be a neuroscientist to understand Judy Wills fascinating yet accessible talk on this important topic. Globalization combined with the accelerating rate of information creation and technological advances increasingly impacts on the skillsets your child needs to develop to survive and prosper in the years ahead. If properly developed, these executive skill sets will enable your child to compete for the best job opportunities and to be at their most innovative and creative when it comes to problem solving in the 21st century. During her talk, Dr. Willis will examine the current neuroscience research and discuss how to maximize this information to promote the development of the executive functions and goal directed behavior of your child. These strategies will provide opportunities for your child to cultivate the innovative and creative mindset to not only achieve his/her highest potential now, but to also help your child in preparing for work and play in the 21st century. Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed. is a neurologist, former classroom teacher, author of six books and over 80 articles for educators and parents, and currently gives neuroeducation presentations and conducts professional development workshops nationally and internationally about teaching and learning strategies correlated with neuroscience research. Dr. Willis is a staff writer for Edutopia and Psychology Today and an expert consultant for NBC News Education Nation. She is on faculty of the University of California Graduate School of Education.

[100village]

Co-organized a free screening of Adler Yang's documentary film, "if there is a reason to learn", at the Chinese University. Here's a write up on today's free newspaper.

學習的理由（笑容由家開始：張笑容專欄） 頭條日報 2014-10-03

「為甚麼要讀書？」相信不少父母也曾被孩子問過這樣的問題。「讀好書，將來便可以選擇自己的職業、生活方式，才不會受制於人。」「成績好便你揀人，成績不好就是人揀你吧！」這些答案，歸納起來就是：學歷給人生活自由和經濟自由，然而事實卻未必如此。

剛剛在藝術中心放映完的台灣電影《學習的理由》，以紀錄片手法探索台灣年輕人如何學習。此片由少年導演楊逸帆十四歲開始拍攝，歷時五年，從四位由就讀體制外學校走向傳統升學道路的朋友身上，尋找教育真義。他在網頁中分享了創作的心路歷程：「本想讓人看見體制外學校不為考試而學的美麗可能：每一種才能都被平等對待，讓每個孩子活出自信，尋找最適合自己的位置。想像力與創意備受鼓舞，知識成為重要的素材，孩子熱愛發掘⋯⋯沒想到，自從基測出現在我們校園，這種景象就再也難以捕捉。尤其當我看到最好的朋友們，為了走一條『安全的路』，遺忘理想，放棄對課外知識的追求；否定過去的自主空間，視真誠無偽為溫水煮青蛙。」

台灣的情況，香港何其相似。香港學生讀的書愈來愈多，卻愈不知道自己人生方向，甚至連個人興趣和專長也不能確定。學習只是為了應付考試，考試是為了進入「更好」的學校，進入更好的學校是為了找到「更好」的工作，到頭來卻發現所謂「更好」的工作，根本不適h合自己，走過的是一條冤枉路。

上次錯過了《學習的理由》，今天仍有機會。由中文大學亞太研究所主辦，十月三日下午五時半，中大鄭裕彤樓地下LT1（大學站B出口向右步行兩分鐘），免費欣賞，座位約三百，先到先得，不設預留。)

學習的理由（笑容由家開始：張笑容專欄） 頭條日報 2014-10-03

「為甚麼要讀書？」相信不少父母也曾被孩子問過這樣的問題。「讀好書，將來便可以選擇自己的職業、生活方式，才不會受制於人。」「成績好便你揀人，成績不好就是人揀你吧！」這些答案，歸納起來就是：學歷給人生活自由和經濟自由，然而事實卻未必如此。

剛剛在藝術中心放映完的台灣電影《學習的理由》，以紀錄片手法探索台灣年輕人如何學習。此片由少年導演楊逸帆十四歲開始拍攝，歷時五年，從四位由就讀體制外學校走向傳統升學道路的朋友身上，尋找教育真義。他在網頁中分享了創作的心路歷程：「本想讓人看見體制外學校不為考試而學的美麗可能：每一種才能都被平等對待，讓每個孩子活出自信，尋找最適合自己的位置。想像力與創意備受鼓舞，知識成為重要的素材，孩子熱愛發掘⋯⋯沒想到，自從基測出現在我們校園，這種景象就再也難以捕捉。尤其當我看到最好的朋友們，為了走一條『安全的路』，遺忘理想，放棄對課外知識的追求；否定過去的自主空間，視真誠無偽為溫水煮青蛙。」

台灣的情況，香港何其相似。香港學生讀的書愈來愈多，卻愈不知道自己人生方向，甚至連個人興趣和專長也不能確定。學習只是為了應付考試，考試是為了進入「更好」的學校，進入更好的學校是為了找到「更好」的工作，到頭來卻發現所謂「更好」的工作，根本不適合自己，走過的是一條冤枉路。

上次錯過了《學習的理由》，今天仍有機會。由中文大學亞太研究所主辦，十月三日下午五時半，中大鄭裕彤樓地下LT1（大學站B出口向右步行兩分鐘），免費欣賞，座位約三百，先到先得，不設預留。

[100village]

100 Village and The Mulberry Tree Unschool has co-organized the screening of Adler Yang's documentary film - "if there is a reason to study". Showtime is this Friday, 5:30pm at CUHK's Cheung Yu Tung building room LT1. Sits 300, first come first served.

中文大學香港亞太研究所將於本星期五主辦一場免費記錄片播放《學習的理由》。

從14歲開始拍攝，費時五年，少年導演楊逸帆在四位就讀體制外學校，卻走向傳統升學道路的朋友身上，探索考試主導的教育如何影響年青人。

《學習的理由》剛在香港華語記錄片節2014榮獲長片組季軍獎。預告片及有關資料可瀏覽http://reasontostudy.org/。這片正好跟教育大同的呼籲同出一轍 -- 反思教育! 現誠意邀請大家前來觀賞。

放映詳情如下: 日期: 十月三日 星期五 時間: 下午五時三十分 地點: 中文大學鄭裕彤樓地下LT1 (大學站B出口向右步行2分鐘) 費用全免、座位约三百、先到先得、不設預留

[100village]

2nd EDiversity Systems Thinking session now. Facilitated by Thousand Lim from YES Network.

[100village]

EDiversity Systems Thinking Coaching by Adler Yang and YES Network

Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things, regarded as systems, influence one another within a whole. In organizations, systems consist of people, structures, and processes that work together to make an organization "healthy" or "unhealthy".

At my first meeting with EDiversity co-founders Cam and Doreen on August 13th, I learned about some cool alternative education projects that people have been doing, like the Floating Classroom, Bring Me A Book, and Holistic Education Foundation… etc. I was very inspired and motivated, thinking all night about the possibilities of collaborations in the future.

I also gathered that these different groups of people have only just gotten together, and we need to better understand our positions in the bigger picture, so that after the event, we can collaborate most effectively and create the biggest impact possible! For that, I told my good friend Thousand Lim at YES Network and see if he could help.

It just so happens that Adler Yang is also back in town for the screening of his documentary film - "If There is a Reason to Study 學習的理由". After speaking with Adler, we decided to let him be the facilitator for EDiversity's first Systems Thinking session.

The meeting took place last Thursday in the department of Sociology at Chinese University. We first started with writing down what are our expectations for the day. Then we move on to peer interviews to find out the problems in each other's point of view. Next, with the help of the facilitators, we arranged all of our knowledge (in the form of post-it notes) into a system diagram. We then spend a long time discussing about where the "Root Causes" lie. After much discussions, we each wrote in black our choices of "Intervention Points" in the system.

Finally, due to a lack of time, we could only quickly go through the "Initial calling, Vision, Mission, BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)". There isn't time left for "Team Building" and "Scheduling". Everyone was physically tired but mentally filled with new understandings and connections.

Thank you Adler and YES Network for this very useful training session!

[100village]

I connected YES Network and Taiwan's Adler Yang to EDiversity. Today we have a Systems Thinking session for everyone to better understand the system.

[100village]

EDiversity Speaker Interview - Niko Lindholm

The EDiversity “We Need Choices” Education Conference is taking place on October 11 and 12 at Hong Kong University. Yesterday, Nick interviewed one of the speakers, Mr. Niko Lindholm. Formerly with the Finnish National Education export program - “Future Learning Finland”, he consulted policy makers in Saudi Arabia and countries in East Asia. Mr. Lindholn is currently a Visiting Scholar at Fudan University, Shanghai, a PhD Candidate at University of Tampere, and working for Tribalearning, bringing Finnish developed personalized learning to the world. He holds a master degree in Social Sciences from University of Turku in Finland specializing in politics of education reforms in East-Asia.

The UN ranks Finland no. 1 in education, no. 1 is technological advancement (US is no. 2). It has high living standard, almost everyone can travel and have a house and food to eat. School doesn’t start until they’re 7 years old, there’s virtually no homework, a typical 9th grader (Form 3) has may be just 3 hours of homework a week. There is no tests for both students and teachers. Yet Finland consistently place no. 1 in PISA and other international tests! Think about how hard Hong Kong parents push their children to study from a young age to a point where children lost all their interests in learning. People had coined the term “High score, low abilities” to describe recent graduates in Hong Kong. How is it that Finland’s late start, no tests system could consistently beat us not only in tests, but also producing “high abilities” citizens? Mr. Niko Lindholm shared with Nick his perspective, follow 100 Village (Twitter, Facebook), and EDiversity (Twitter, Facebook ) to watch the video interview next week.

Seats are selling out fast for the EDiversity “We Need Choices” Education Conference! To listen to and meet Mr. Niko Lindholm, please register now.

[100village]

In preparation for the upcoming EDiversity event, I’ll be interviewing some of the speakers in the next few weeks. Currently reading Dr. Albert H. Yee's “Raising and Teaching Children For Their Tomorrows”.

Look for some book excerpts on twitter.com/100village

[100village]

Teaching Empathy Interviews - Patrick Newell

After the recent events that caused me to focus my research on "Can we teach children to become empathetic leaders", I started to interview empathetic leaders in my network. I want to find out how they grew up to become the person they are today. Last Friday, I interviewed Patrick Newell. Patrick lives in Tokyo and he started Tokyo International School 13 years ago because he couldn't find any school that "taught 21st century skills to 21st century children". I met Patrick in 2010 when I volunteered at TEDxTokyo, he and another good friend of mine, Todd Porter, were the founders of a pilot program originated from the TED conference, which later became TEDx! Patrick also founded Living Dreams, an NPO that enriches the lives of over 2000 orphans in Japan, and co-founded Impact Japan, a lighthouse for entrepreneurship and innovation in Japan.

Nick: "So, let's start with your childhood. How did you grow up?"

Patrick: "Yeah, I think that's the key question. When you ask this question, I'm pretty sure you've seen a pattern already. People who are empathetic, I think they have something in their childhood that was challenging and difficult, that caused them to look at other people in a kinder way. For me, in a nutshell, I had a pretty difficult childhood, my mom and dad divorced when I was 5, my mom moved to Northern California when I was 9, with no money at all. We had to struggle, all my life actually. I used to get into a lot of fights, mainly I got into fights with bullies who were bullying other kids, I was empathetic toward other kids who were being picked on, or may be that was the way I got rid of my frustration because I was frustrated with having a difficult childhood. For me, having gone through all of that, when I see people who are in a difficult childhood situation, I can align with their feelings. I have an NGO called Living Dreams and we work with a couple thousand of orphans here in Japan. I see these kids, they were called stupid, that they won't be able to do anything with their lives, that they have no financial resources... I can empathize with them because I've been in a similar position. That really drives me to want to make a difference. So I'm involved in education, I just think I don't want children to have to go through some of the things I did. Discover ways so we can educate them so that they would excel, and treat other people kindly and with respect."

Nick: "So in a nutshell, you've been through a lot of hardship and that made you empathetic toward others in similar situation. Do you think empathy is something you can teach to someone if they have never endured any kind of hardship?"

Patrick: "I think you can. A lot of it is neural wiring. If you look at situations that develop empathy, you could actually put the children through simulations, make them aware of the others' difficulties, put them in other people's shoes and have them imagine, experience and problem solve. Another way is by helping others, exposing them to real life people in need, raising their awareness of the other people's difficulties."

The hour long interview was enlightening and meaningful. We continued to delve deeper into developing empathy, and then moved on to his journey starting Tokyo International School, and finally to one of his latest initiatives: 21 Foundation - 21st Century Learning for 21st Century Learners

Thank you again, Patrick!

[100village]

Are you raising nice kids? A Harvard psychologist gives 5 ways to raise them to be kind

Think your kids are being raised to be kind? Think again. A Harvard researcher and psychologist has 5 ways to train your child to be kind and empathetic.

The second article following my previous post.

The idea behind it is from Richard Weissbourd, a Harvard psychologist with the graduate school of education, who runs the Making Caring Common project, aimed to help teach kids to be kind

“Children are not born simply good or bad and we should never give up on them. They need adults who will help them become caring, respectful, and responsible for their communities at every stage of their childhood,”

Hmm... I like the "Why? How. Try This." format of parenting advice.

[100village]

Teaching empathy: What kind of parent are you?

On the heels of my previous post - Can We Teach Children to become Empathetic Leaders, here are two excellent articles on teaching empathy, raising nice kids.

“The big hope,” he says, “is that we get people to rethink some of the parenting trends out there, particularly in affluent communities.” Weissbourd runs the Making Caring Common Project, which aims to make “caring and responsibility for others … priorities in child-raising.”

Great! So last September, Harvard made a 4-year, 2 million dollar grant to help parents teach kids to be more empathetic! That's a big validation for my hypothesis! It means through our research, we continue to narrow our focus on what's truly important and needed in Early Childhood Education in our society.

GO TEAM 100 VILLAGE GO!!

[100village]

Crash Course on How to Interview People Effectively

On Sunday, Bobby from YES Network met up with Mabo, Mulberry Tree Unschool's head teacher, to give him a crash course on how to interview people effectively. The reason for this was because Mabo will be going on a grand tour of kindergartens and children's museums in the US. Mabo used to work on the frontline at the kindergartens and Children's Museum in San Francisco. Now, he has been living in Hong Kong for four years, and Hong Kong is lagging completely behind in Early Childhood Education. He's looking forward to this trip to catch up with the latest and bring the knowledge back to Hong Kong.

(Thanks Bobby and The Yes Network for helping us on such short notice!)

I've always felt so lucky to have found Mabo! Before he joined us at Mulberry Tree, we were in a bit of chaos as I wasn't formally trained as an Early Childhood Educator. I asked Mabo if he could volunteer to help us, first with the environment. The questions he asked, the answers he gave, the things he brought in and his interactions with children, everything told me that he is the real deal - he is passionate about Reggio and ECE, so he lives and breathes it instead of treating it as a job.

Being such a top quality, passionate Early Childhood Educator, yet aren't able to put his skills to good use in Hong Kong until we came along… that speaks a lot about the state of education in Hong Kong, doesn't it?

Here's a list of the establishments Mabo will be visiting, if you know anyone at these places, or any other Reggio-inspired organizations in the North East, please do connect us. Thank you.

Wheelock College

Lesly University

Hampshire College Early Learning Center

Eric Carle Museum

Garden Gate Child Development Center

MacDonald Montessori School

Boston Children’s Museum

[nicwn]

[100village]

"If a society hopes to achieve renewal, it will have to be a hospitable environment for creative men and women. It will also have to produce men and women with the capacity for self-renewal…"

"Most human beings go through their lives only partially aware of the full range of their abilities… Exploration of the full range of his own potentialities is not something that the self-renewing man leaves to the chances of life. It is something he pursues systematically, or at least avidly, to the end of his days. He looks forward to an endless and unpredictable dialogue between his potentialities and the claims of life — not only the claims he encounters but the claims he invents. And by potentialities I mean not just skills, but the full range of his capacities for sensing, wondering, learning, understanding, loving, aspiring."

[100village]

Can We Teach Children to Become Empathetic Leaders?

Ever since reading about Pauline Hawkin's Animal Farm Lessons, I've had one of the outcomes stuck in my head:

"Every once and a while, I will have a student who stands up and leads, not as a dictator, but as a leader of the people. He will accept every suggestion and value everyone’s input, even if some of the suggestions are ridiculous. I’ve had only a few students who have actually led that way over the years, but I always hope that those few students find their way into politics."

I had written about why I started 100 Village, later on, I realized that I wanted children to grow up with these qualities because I hoped they can become future change makers - do the right things and make the world a better place. Last week however, something very personal about my son's behaviors really shook my world and gave me a sharpened focus!

Basically, Allison and Mabo at Mulberry Tree Unschool had identified that my son had passed the toddler, experimental stage of hitting and started to hit and to do things to hurt other people or make other people feel sad / angry / unhappy on purpose. After a sleepless night of reflection, I told them that I think the reason for such behavior was because I didn't properly give him unconditional love. Last weekend, Luc locked me and his little sister out on the roof and proceeded to laugh about it. When I got back inside, I was angry and I brought him to the roof, locked him out and asked him if he was feeling happy or not? Then I held him in my arms and I said: "I'm always doing things that help other people and make people happy... but I see you doing things that make other people sad... I'm worried about you. I love you so much and I wish you can also do things that help other people and make people happy." I was crying as I said those words. I can't help but get very emotional when I think about how my lovely little boy is "turning to the dark side", in Mabo's words.

This brings me back to the Animal Farm Lessons. If I want children to grow up to become change makers, then more than just the qualities listed on why I started 100 Village, they need to have a "good heart" - to be considerate and empathic. This became my newfound focus for 100 Village -

Can We Teach Children to Become Empathetic Leaders?

[mulberryunschool]

On June 12th, we held our first community sharing and outreach event at Hong Lok Yuen’s General Lounge. Before I write about what happened at the event though, I must start with what happened before the event! Because on the last week of May, twelve of our beloved parents came together to...