Seeing the Forest AND the Trees

Ethan Zuckerman’s posts (an example) on serendipity have got me thinking. He has been concerned with how the way people use the web has led to more and more like-minded people reading the same things, resulting in their wearing blinders of sorts to other points of view. My first thought was that we need to educate children to not only seek out and compare viewpoints but to instinctively do it. I think of the human brain being wired to take the well-worn path: if, e.g., you are inclined to figure out how things work, then when presented with a new device, you naturally want to take it apart and figure out how it works. Another example is if you are inclined to find fault with a new idea, then when presented with one, you naturally look for its failure cases. Einstein talked about the curvature of space as a way of describing gravity. I like to think of the human brain having proclivities that allow for thought patterns to follow easy paths that are like Einstein’s curved space. Just thought I’d throw that analogy in because it gives me a nice visual!

So how do we teach children to instinctively think in a way that craves multiple viewpoints and seeks out uncommon paths that might lead to better clarity? Answering a question like this is far more important than trying to figure out how to increase the number of computers per classroom, or how to get more students interesting in science and math. Those two goals, more computers/classroom and a greater interest in math and science, may fall out as two benefits of educating children to think more creatively and critically. In fact I have an intuitive feeling that they will. One thing I harp about when talking about education (ask my children) is that it is really important to ‘learn how to learn.’ Getting an education is not about picking the subjects that will make for a good career or a well-rounded education. It is all about how you improve your thinking and a lot of your thinking is about how well you learn.