losing our marbles ... a cognitive knot

On the playground some of the children noticed that the marbles meant to accompany a building work were missing!  It was a mystery!!! The children and I spent some time trying our best to track down the missing marbles but alas... no marbles.  (Yes I am saying that we lost our marbles.) I asked what we could do about it? They came up with a great idea of making marbles in the studio.  
YES!
The children then told me they needed some glass.  I gave them a glass jar.  Nope that wouldn't work.  Hmm.  What can we use?
Next they tried out a few objects already in the studio.

But decided quickly that the objects were too soft, too light or the wrong shape.  This led to a general discussion about the shape of a marble?  A marble is a circle with no edge.  It’s really, really round.  It’s made of glass but maybe it could be made of something else as long as its hard.  Marbles are hard. 

Next idea... "Angelina do you have any oven clay?"  Why yes I do.

Or at least I thought I did...they melted...oops...still no marbles.

Tortillas!!!  We can make them out of tortilla dough.  And we did.

And we brought them outside.  They were a little light but they rolled.

Then someone stepped on them and the marbles were gone once more.

This little vignette is a perfect example of following the children and exploring cognitive knots. 
A cognitive knot is a problem that impedes progress, just like a knot in a piece of thread halts sewing or a knot in a piece of wood slows the saw.  Cognitive knots can cause frustration and confusion BUT they are also causes for celebration.  They represent what Piaget identified as cognitive disequilibrium, aka learning opportunities.  The Reggio-Emilia philosophies embrace these knots, whether in the form of a conflict of wills, insufficient skills/understanding or just limited theoretical/practical knowledge.  In this tradition of learning, the teachers' responsibility is to recognize these knots as they arise and bring them to the surface, not solve them.  The knots represent wonderful opportunities for social learning, group thinking, skill development and more.  So of course losing our marbles is a great step in learning.