Sounds very much like the things that I wished for as a faculty member, actually.
Agreed - Luckily I have begun teaching middle school engineering and it is really close to playing and building all the time - I love teaching it and the kids love learning that way. I even had 22 8th graders completely on task for 100 minutes Friday afternoon last period of the day! This was after having 22 7th graders on task first thing in the morning for 100 minutes! A colleague came in during my 8th grade class to ask a question and as she ended up staying for about 1/2 an hour because she couldn't believe that the same kids she had just taught and had been out of control were all actively and cooperatively building a testbed of sensors to learn how to program them on Monday.
I am all for throwing out the worksheets!
