Recognizing the Value of Play by Jonathan J. Dickau

Jonathan Dickau

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

Vladimir Rogozhin

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 Dickau

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

Thomas Ray

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

Jonathan Dickau

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

Georgina Woodward

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

Jonathan Dickau

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

[deleted]

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.

Georgina Woodward

That Annonymous Apr. 20, 2014 @ 02:40 GMT was me

Travis Norsen

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

Jonathan Dickau

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

Walter Putnam

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.

Jonathan Dickau

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

Eckard Blumschein

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

[deleted]

Would you be surprised to learn Steven was a student of Feynman?..

After being in touch with S.K. Kauffmann for several years, I recently found out or was reminded that he was one of Richard Feynman's grad students, back in his early days at Cal Tech. So it is easier to understand how the man is a constant innovator, always trying to find better ways of understanding things himself. But the other half of your comment is apt. I will offer that there were some harsh comments by Christian Corda, involving a lack of understanding about the equivalence principle - that proved to be largely correct or helpful.

But at this point; I think Kauffmann is trying to toe the line between being sufficiently revisionistic to have a point to make, and giving sufficient attention to the conventional view - so that he'll have a document that is publishable or is believable as serious Physics to the GR crowd.

All the best,

Jonathan

Jonathan Dickau

'twas I, of course...

The machine logged me off, but the last post was mine.

Jonathan

KoGuan Leo

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

Jonathan Dickau

I greatly appreciate the kind remarks, Leo KoGuan.

I am very happy that you find my message agreeable, and that my telling of the story resonates with you. It is important that we do give our researchers enough freedom to play and explore the possibilities, if we hope to have great discoveries, and it is important that students of all ages can approach learning playfully.

Like yourself, and like Pete and Toshi Seeger for that matter; I think higher education should be available to all those who have the mind and mindset to consider the deeper questions about the universe and how nature works. Unfortunately; not all do get the opportunity to learn the scientific basics. I think certain topics in Science are essential knowledge, but sadly learning or teaching how nature works is often neglected - so that more time can be spent memorizing facts or later training the specific skills of a given job category. But people need to learn how to think, for what they know to be of value.

Thank you again for your thoughtful regard of my essay. Hopefully, with this contest, more people will learn of the value of play.

All the Best,

Jonathan

KoGuan Leo

Hi Jonathan,

We are companion travelers in this world, at least in the cyberspace. Happy to meet you here and thanks for your kind remark.

You wrote below that I completely in agreement: "The possibility for such a future remains open, but there is a danger we will undermine our capacity to engineer this outcome, unless certain trends are reversed. Science can help us create a positive future for humanity, but we must be willing to apply what we have learned more broadly, and to exalt the search for knowledge and the process of learning over the information learned and the specific insights gained. To do this; we must recognize the value of play." We do need to reverse our learning and working practices, from works to plays.

If you read my essay Chinese Dream is Xuan Yuan's Da Tong, I designed in the Scientific Outlook Free-Lunch Economic System that all works and learnings must be plays. Life is a Shakespearian play in the world's stage. Not just a "few get paid to play" but all free from slavery that all have nothing else to do but play all days long even in sleeping.

As you powerfully stated that "Play is far more universal, being the root source of all learning, and indeed of all consciousness and cognitive intelligence, but it finds expression in these subjects."

Yes for "from each to each according to his/her dreams and aspirations."

Jon, congratulation on your another master piece and I rated it a ten (10).

Best wishes,

Leo KoGuan

Jonathan Dickau

Thank you again Leo KoGuan,

To the extent that I have attempted to highlight what is the highest and best of humanity, I accept your praise and high rating as an indicator that I have succeeded in this goal. I am humbled by your generosity of spirit and action, but I know we are indeed kindred spirits - trying to teach others that learning and prospering don't have to be a struggle, and that sometimes a playful approach yields successes not possible through hard work alone.

Many people are enslaved by a work mentality, as if they were trying to fulfill the motto of "no pain, no gain" and the freedom to approach things more playfully is then liberation from slavery. I expect that I will enjoy your essay, because your "Chinese Dream.." is every man and woman's aspiration - the freedom to realize the promise of the Divine, of happiness and prosperity for all who would seek it. We both want humans to be able to enjoy the blessings of harmony and plenty, in a world where it is safe to play, and we both see this as a real possibility we can help come into being.

All the Best,

Jonathan

[deleted]

Dear Jonathan,

Many religions demand that children have to exactly memorize holy texts and songs. Yesterday I heard that rich enough Chinese parents who are known for focusing on the future of their typically single child do increasingly intend getting this child educated differently from typical Asian strategy of memorizing as many facts and skills as possible; they are paying if I recall correctly 20 Dollars per hour for providing their cherished child the option to learn playing in groups for instance with LEGO toys as to foster their competitive creativity. Their aim is of course making their children leading in China and China the leading nation. In so far, I do not yet see it a sufficient answer to the question how should HUMANITY steer.

Nonetheless, I appreciate essays that don't just utter utopian dreams or reiterate more or less religious doctrines if they don't even evade the topic. Teijinder Sing at least admitted that the unlimited birth rate collides with the limited resources. What do you mean?

Regards,

Eckard

Jonathan Dickau

Thank you Eckard, for asking about the relevance.

What I mean by play in my essay is this. There is an essential amount of freedom that must be accorded the individual for them to be effective at carrying out any task, but the freedom to learn by open-ended exploration has been eroded in modern society. Unless the people in a position of power come to learn the value of play for learning in general, the human race is likely doomed - because the alternative is a kind of enforced stupidity, whose backlash is the sad stories of Chinese parents who are desperate to save their child from the system.

I don't think all play is created equal. In some ways, the play of a child is most like the activity of a scientist at work, but any type of research is greatly enhanced by the presence of mature adults who understand the win/win philosophy and the point of adult games that require cooperation as well as competition. However; the focus of our society, and especially of our leaders in politics and business, seems to be at the level of competitive adolescent games - which humanity must outgrow to survive.

So my opinion is that as a race, humanity must outgrow the adolescent phase of unending competition, and adopt forms of play that allow for innovation that contributes to humanity's sustainability and growth.

Warm regards,

Jonathan

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