Thank you for your gracious comments Turil,

Your idea for a learning center sounds interesting, and I support you in that endeavor; I might even participate. I see from what I have examined that there are differences in our approach. But it is nice that our work jibes on some level, even if the match is not complete. And I am always interested in learning further details of what others have discovered about the stages of learning. I will be sure to check out your essay soon.

All the Best,

Jonathan

Jonathan,

I think I put forth a similar concept, in that a spiritual absolute would necessarily be the essence from which we rise, not an ideal from which we fell. Top down theologies inherently validate top down social organizations. If the young were taught their sense of being is the real reflection of the cosmos and social hierarchies are only a dimmer reflection of that, it might compliment a healthy childhood in resisting those who will prey on them.

Regards,

John M

Regards,

John M

A very nice essay Jonathan; you emphasize the maintenance and development of that inquisitive nature inherent in the young but often, sadly, destroyed by rote learning. In my early twenties I took a college algebra course taught by Alex Badea. Dr. Badea was from Eastern Europe and was recruited to work on the Superconducting Super Collider; when the project was cancelled he taught low level math courses at the Houston Community College before securing work with a defense contractor in Dallas, Texas. On the first day of class he told us that, in American math classes, too much emphasis was placed on solutions and not enough on concepts. His theory was that if one develops a thorough understanding of the fundamental concepts then solutions naturally follow. By the end of his class, and certainly after learning calculus and linear algebra, I was thoroughly convinced; I believe his theory is applicable to your thesis.

In the late 90's and early 00's, I volunteered every year with Dean Kamen's FIRST organization. I believe that organization is one of the best things to happen to STEM education in quite some time. The FIRST "coopertition" really hits on all of the points raised in your essay: inquisitiveness; playfulness; cooperation; and unifying all, integrity. I plan to become much more active with FIRST in the near future.

I found your "Playful Learning Landmarks" section quite interesting. Something that Sabine Hossenfelder pointed out on her blog, there seems to be an apparent correlation between the emergence of perspective in Art and the emergence of the scientific method as the proper method for conducting inquiries into the nature of nature. I find it interesting that the Pythagorean Theorem was known almost universally and long before Pythagoras but perspective, in two-dimensional artworks for instance, doesn't really make an appearance until the Renaissance. And then, of course, shortly thereafter it was deconstructed once again and called progress, Ha, Ha, Ha . . . Now that's playful . . .

So what are your thoughts on mathematics? Are you a constructivist and think mathematics evolved with the human mind or are you a Platonist? I know you stated in your comment on my section of the forum that reality computes but I'm curious, do you look at compute in the sense of Max Tegmark or, say, in the sense of Steven Wolfram?

With regards,

Wes Hansen

    Thanks greatly Wes,

    I am glad that my essay meets your approval. I hadn't heard before about Bee's comments on perspective in Art, but that link is most welcome. You are absolutely correct about teaching fundamental concepts, and how learning solutions naturally flows from understanding them. This is sadly left out of many curricula, but it was one of the things Alfie Kohn stressed the importance of, in his lecture at the James Earl Jones theater - up the hill from me. Lately I've been conversing with a retired local Physics prof, Greg Kirk, and he also extols the virtue of that approach.

    Unfortunately; this is not always easy. In a conversation with (then active, now retired) RPI Chemistry professor John Carter; he told me of trying to deliver the conceptual basis - and having his students complain, asking 'is this going to be on the test?' and urging him to go directly to the next equation they could memorize. I told this story to UNAM Physics prof, Jaime Keller after FFP11 in Paris, when he asked me "Why at an international symposium, with Nobel laureates and other top experts presenting, were there so many stupid questions?" But comments like that are part of my motivation for this essay.

    As to the Maths; I am an oddball, both a Constructivist and a Platonist. And my purview admits the outlooks of Tegmark and Wolfram equally well, while positioning me somewhere between them. Much more can be said on that later, on the FQXi forums or in a private exchange, or you can look at my work cited in the references and previous FQXi essays for some details.

    All the Best,

    Jonathan

    Dear Jonathan ,

    I am pleased to read your essay. Your ideas are very close to me. You write:

    «But before that; to properly educate our young people for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math, we must encourage them to playfully explore ideas and concepts - and not to merely memorize facts - because this is what helps them develop the mental acuity and problem solving ability which will allow them to succeed and excel .... One way we can create a better future is to encourage playful engagement with Science and Math, and make it fun for all. If we can nurture the playful spirit all humans have as infants, and scientists need to advance human knowledge; this is how humanity can shape the future most positively .... We should be celebrating scholarly achievements to as great a degree as we do those of athletes on the field! Perhaps more importantly; we should revere new knowledge once it is received, where seeing great scholarly accomplishments like Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture shows us the inherent worth of such scholarly pursuits. Of course; full appreciation of the importance of that work would require a much more well-educated general population. "

    I totally agree with you. In order to more reliably manage future need for a revolution in education , and a new attitude to knowledge.

    The big question for Humanity - how to build a holistic Man : Homo sapiens sapiens + Homo sapiens ludens + Homo sapiens faber? How to make a single picture of the world for physicists and poets?

    "We do not see the world in detail-

    Insignificant all and fractional.

    Takes me sadness from all this ... "

    Vvedensky Alexander (1930)

    And how to steer the Future fragmented World?

    With kind regards and best wishes,

    Vladimir

      Jonathan,

      I think I can do no more than set your philosophy aside the sentiment of Robert Frost from "Two Tramps in Mudtime":

      "But yield who will to their separation,

      My object in living is to unite

      My avocation and my vocation

      As my two eyes make one in sight.

      Only where love and need are one,

      And the work is play for mortal stakes,

      Is the deed ever really done

      For Heaven and the future's sakes."

      My own essay should be up shortly. Yours is nothing short of excellent, as always.

      All best,

      Tom

        Hi Jonathan,

        a really passionate and convincing essay, If we had been asked to name one thing that would make the world a better place 'play' is not what would have come immediately to my mind but may be it should.

        There can be a problem with expecting children learn through personal exploration because sometimes they just don't get what they are being expected to do.Some personalities thrive on the freedom, others are afraid of doing something wrong or just plain do not know what to do. Speaking from personal memory. Teachers need to facilitate the learning of the children by giving some physical input or suggestions to get the play/learning going if it isn't spontaneous.

        Giving scientific achievement recognition on par with music and sports entertainers sounds nice but the really high earners are just the tip of the ice burg. There is a joke that goes; do you know the difference between a musician and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of 4.

        Really enjoyed reading your essay, its packed with sensible suggestions. I do hope the world become that wonderful, playful, inovative, knowledge and life long learning valuing future you have presented to us. Good luck, Georgina

          Hi Jonathan, First, thanks for your nice comments about my own essay. It's because you pointed out some similarities in our themes that I read through your essay just now, and I'm glad I did! It's indeed clear that we are trying to make similar points about the inappropriateness and ineffectiveness of dogmatic, memorization-of-facts type science education. What we need is people who like to, and can, think creatively; emphasizing the "play" aspect of genuinely creative thought is an excellent way to do this. I appreciated your references to Allison Gopnik. My wife is a social psychologist and knew about and liked Gopnik's work. And then when we had kids a few years ago I bought and really enjoyed her book "The Scientist in the Crib". Anyway, I think we agree that what we need is a version of science education that actually celebrates and rewards the kind of exploratory, playful, let's-see-what-happens-if behavior that is a core part of human nature... until our overly dogmatic education system snuffs it out (in most people at least).

          So, thanks again for the pointer to your nice essay, and I wish you the best of luck in the contest!

          Travis

            Thanks so much Georgina!

            Surprisingly little adult coordination is needed, though indeed some is helpful or perhaps essential - especially once the young become acculturated. In the example cited by Alfie Kohn in his lecture; the primary input of the teacher was to repeatedly ask "what are you trying to do?" and "how do you intend to do it?" then give the children permission to go ahead with their proposed way to attack the "how do we measure it?" problem. The rest, the kids designed for themselves.

            I've worked with plenty of expert musicians who can't afford a pizza, for what it's worth. Some of those musicians deserve better, but I also know some highly-trained people who should be high wage-earners (by virtue of their knowledge and expertise), and instead find themselves struggling to make ends meet, have a place to live, or even find honest ways to volunteer their talents and have their basic needs taken care of. Genius-level folks should not have to work as store clerks to earn a living, when their efforts could make life better for all of us - if only they could keep their life together.

            So there is much to talk about.

            Warm Regards,

            Jonathan

            Thank you greatly, Travis..

            I think our approaches complement each other, and that both a historical account and the method of playful exploration treat Science well - while the teaching methods that favor memorization of facts over concepts tends to leave graduates unprepared for the actual rigors of a scientific laboratory. The trend is to encourage students to incorporate a Business curriculum into their Science studies, and I think this is misguided or wrong-headed too - being based in a fundamental misconception of the nature of Science.

            Science does not yield to to the paradigm of predictability and control that is the rule in the Business world, especially in the area of Research and Development. The reason for doing an experiment is often that you can't know the results until you do the experiment. So being expected to plot out what your results will be, and then issue a timetable for when you will be able to produce those results is either counter-productive, or in some cases rules out the possibility for breakthrough advances - through the requirement of having to adhere to protocol.

            More later,

            Jonathan

            Thank you Thomas!

            What a great compliment it is, to have one's work compared to a Robert Frost poem! Who could ask for better? I'll look forward to reading your offering, once it posts.

            All the Best,

            Jonathan

            Wonderful to hear your words of praise Vladimir!

            I am very happy my message resonates with you, and fits well with the message of your own offering. This topic and forum provide a unique opportunity for us to show how to make the world a better place, which it appears you are earnestly trying to do.

            I am certain to enjoy your essay, once I get to it, from the sound of things. It does appear you have been ambitious this time out, but the essay question invites that we bring all of our wisdom to the table to aid our planet's future. Best of luck to you!

            Warm Regards,

            Jonathan

            Very interesting perspective and a good read, Jonathan. Thanks for your contribution. I hope others respond similarly, and that your ideas receive wide attention beyond this forum. This concept of play can be applied in many spheres of education, too. The arts certainly spring to mind, and even things like history -- or grammar. In middle school, way back in the 60s, we were required to diagram sentences. I don't even know if they do that anymore. The teacher certainly didn't make it anything like play, and most of my classmates hated it but I considered it like a puzzle or game. I learned something about language from it, too. We need to see more of this approach, for sure -- both in school and beyond. So much of our learning as children and adults comes from entertainment, also a form of play.

              Thank you gracious Sir,

              Like compassion, play is an overlooked essential that gets a short measure in today's world. Modern society has become preoccupied with competitive ideals, when what is needed more than anything else is a cooperative paradigm of increasing strength through sharing rather than showing strength through competition. There is a place for honing one's competitive skills, but there is also a benefit to cooperation that goes out the window when ideals like playfulness and compassion are seen to have no value.

              Different people are keyed in to different learning modalities, most certainly, so that what works great with one person may fail to capture the imagination of another. But when solving a problem requires interaction and cooperation, this can bring faculties of mind to bear that don't emerge otherwise. So exercises like the one described by Alfie Kohn become learning tools of the highest nature, because the rest is already hard-wired into the brain. But overall; participatory learning has advantages that go far beyond simple retention of information - and extend into the realm of understanding.

              All the Best,

              Jonathan

              Dear Jonathan,

              Thank you for pointing me to a discussion thread you initiated and to a paper on Unique Einstein Gravity ... by Kauffmann. The paper is based on tensors, was therefore difficult to read, and exhibits much less revisionism than I was hoping for.

              By the way, you are not the first one who claimed that we need more freedom for unrestricted scientific play. I recall the same arguments by mathematicians who were unhappy with steering of anything under the aspect of immediate economic results by the authorities of (communist) party and a financially bankrupt government about thirty years ago. Sabine Hossenfelder is also complaining about lacking funding.

              How do you comment on Alan Schlafly's new essay? I don't understand why didn't he dare to utter that authorities like Earl Bertrand Russell were notoriously wrong.

              Best,

              Eckard

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                • Post #46

                Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

                Found this wonderful TED talk, which I think clearly illustrates the learning ability of children when they 'play' unsupervised with computer technology. I am quite astonished by Sugata Mitra's results but these are children motivating themselves and learning from each other; not being made to memorize facts or work at tasks they find uninteresting. Its verification that 'fun' works; not silliness, comedy or incessant hyperactive external enthusiasm, as seen on many children's TV shows, but self initiated joy of learning for its own sake. His vision of a school in the cloud seems in harmony with your own vision of the future, set out in your essay.

                Dear Jonathan,

                Excellent essay. I agree totally with you that "At its core, Science is play!" Furthermore, works are plays and life itself is a play in a world stage as Shakespeare would say. Bravo!

                Best,

                Leo KoGuan