During the Children’s School visit, I observed the fourth graders in the make shop. The children were constantly engaged in a task when we were there. They were being led by a teacher to drill a hole into two pieces of wood using a hand-cranked drill, screw a bolt through the two holes, secure them with a wing nut, and decorate them using markers.

Due to the nature of the task, most of the focus from the children were directed towards the task at hand (attaching the wood together), both catching their attention and holding it. However, once some of the children began to finish their project, they began to walk around look for things to do. One child gazed at the pencil sharpener, possibly considering messing with it, then shortly decided not to. That same child went to a metal wall on the side of the room with magnets attached to it. This prompted the child to move the objects around and engage with the magnetic objects. This did not last for too long, however.

Working on this task shows their initiative and autonomy in showing that they can do the task themselves. Only basic guidance was given by the teacher, and they were expected to ask questions if they had trouble. They seemed excited when they finished screwing the bolt into the wood, exclaiming it to the teacher with a loud and proud “I’m done!”. This is a sign of industry in that they showed their achievement (in this case, completing the task). One child even decided that they wanted to continue building, exclaiming “I want to build a castle with this!”. This is yet another example of their autonomy and initiative.