What’s the Big Idea? CEP 818 Thinking Differently When I was at school, I always wondered why we were studying polynomials and equations and the like. I felt there was a purpose behind all that stuff, but back then I couldn’t figure it out. Years went by and my inquisitive repertoire grew bigger, until I became a teacher and was assigned a math class with a group of 16 year-olds in a technical college. When we reached the lesson about finding the area of a rectangle, understandably all the students multiplied the length by the width. When I asked them to find the area of the classroom (rectangular for that matter) to see how many students it could accommodate, they all asked about the dimensions of the room. It didn’t occur to anyone to use the tiles on the floor as a reference. When I asked them to measure the length of one tile with a ruler and then move from there, I could feel they couldn’t make the connection easily. This incident, along with many others, changed my own perspective of things, especially the very common ones. Until I came across Sparks of Genius, I considered my way of thinking unconventional and unfit for the academic world. I felt my approach to things was illogical since I found it hard to explain my point of view to people. However, after reading chapters 1, 2 and 16, I came to realize that more people need to involve their feelings and imagination when analyzing the world around them. Thinking differently has consolidated a very important aspect of my personal life, which is self reliance. I normally tend to oppose people who make decisions based solely on public opinion or general belief. I always encourage them to give room for some personal input, including their feelings and emotions. ‘Thinking Differently’ has borne out the truth behind my way of thinking. I remember the day when one of my best friends was planning for his wedding and how he came up with the list of guests and preparations. I felt his decisions were more based on satisfying others as they didn’t match his style and lacked personal touch. After his wedding, he realized how important it was to involve one’s intuition and feelings when making decisions. ‘Thinking Differently’ has taught me that the best results are achieved when a balanced ‘mental diet’ is considered in making life choices. And in order to lead a successful life, one has to combine both what ‘makes sense’ and what ‘feels right’. Nothing less can be said about the effects of ‘Thinking Differently’ in my career. As a teacher, I’ve always encouraged students to ‘think out of the box’. A typical scenario would be to present them with a common problem, like how they would go about describing a room, giving directions, giving an oral presentation to an audience, and so on. In describing a room, I would ask them to take a few minutes and reflect upon their answer before starting their description. I would ask them to imagine themselves in the room and then imagine how they would want this room to be described to them. In giving directions, some students would tend to focus on landmarks while others would go straightforward with compass-like indications. Once again, Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: September 2010
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What’s the Big Idea? CEP 818 ‘Thinking Differently’ has proven to yield much better results than simply ‘going by the book’. What’s more, in light of these fruitful results, my own teaching has been reshaped to adapt to any given situation. When tackling a new topic with my students, I always engage them in the teaching process. I welcome their input while still keeping the learning objectives in mind. In other words, I teach them the way that suits their needs as students rather than mine as a teacher. What I hope to learn from the remaining chapters is how to manipulate the thinking tools suggested in the book to achieve ultimate results.
Created by: Jean-Claude Aura
Date: September 2010
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