Thinking Outside the Box

The first blog post is a personal example; one I see often in my work. Perhaps it is the evolution of thought and culture that inspires many of us to keep moving forward in our pursuits, no matter what they may be. It can be immensely satisfying to be witness to and, in some cases, facilitate this level of rethinking and re-seeing in others.

This kind of fascination and motivation was evident in Sugata Mitra's TED presentation. His experiments and study around re-framing common beliefs about how we learn and what education looks like is a powerful model for anyone "thinking outside the box." As illustrated in the diagram posted here, Mitra's work is a weaving together of intellect, technology, nature, and science which results in cultural shifts. Sometimes this interplay was intentional and other times it came as a surprise.

We begin with a culture (a world culture using specific locations as testing grounds) that sets as an educational truth that humans learn when taught by one "expert" or teacher. Throughout the evolution of his experiements Mitra re-frames this over and over by scientifically evaluating and asserting that students teach themselves through group interaction--talking, gathering and creating. This teaching is facilitated, not by a human, but by technology: the internet. The motivation is not the teacher's prompting but by the sheer desire to learn. Nature shows itself through the curiosity and drive children have in his experiments to learn complicated concepts, even in a foreign language.

Nature emerges again on another level, however, when the "grandmother" figure is introduced to the group learning experience. The "grandmother" is not primarily a teacher but takes on the primary role as cheerleader. This kind of encouragement when scientifically evaluated, shows the children learn even more with a grandmother present. Our need for acceptance, our desire to be acknowledged, our humanness shines through the technology.

So, with this example, and may others we see in life, we begin with a foundational belief. This belief is something that seems so basic few of us would think to question it because it is the "way it's always been done." It takes a visionary to see past this foundational belief and apply the tools of modern life to testing the validity of this "truth." This is where technology, science and nature begin to do a subtle and sometimes astounding dance--one in which the movements flow together so fluidly we can barely tell them a part.

This kind of thinking and the resulting dance serve to propel us forward into new frames, new ways of perceiving our reality. This of course, ends us shaping our culture and "the way it's always been done" changes to a new "way we do things." Later, another Mitra will come along and build on this work, begin the dance with a new frame and advance the ball just that much more. With this cycle of intellect, nature, science and technology the horizon is invisible.