Wonder and Laugh

Albert Einstein said, "Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think." 

But even more, teachers should allow a child's mind to wander and wonder. 

Wonder is a mode of consciousness, a way of being aware of the world, both in perception and feeling, that differs from our ordinary perceptions of things in a unique way. 

Wonder is often accompanied by a drive to enquire and seek explanations. Indeed, wonder is important to education. It makes us aware of what we don't know, don't understand and perhaps can never understand.

Awe is required for the day-to-day working of science or writing, but also to help reorient scientists' or writers' thinking in times of paradigm change. 

Wonder increases our tolerance for uncertainty and opens our receptivity to new and unusual ideas. 

Indeed, teachers' prerogatives should be to open the world to their students by fostering a sense of wonder.

Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to wonder, laugh and think.

For the Philosopher Henri Bergson, laughter solves a serious human conundrum: how to keep your mind and social life elastic. Life is neither static nor unchanging. Life is fluid. Nothing stays the same. Laughter helps you survive in an environment of constant stimulation and rapid change. Laughter helps you develop your elastic thinking and elastic thinking can help you unleash your brain's potential. 

Laughter and humour boosts retention. Humour creates a comfortable learning environment. When teachers share a laugh or a smile with students, they help students feel more comfortable and open to learning. 

Moreover, education needs to do much more than just funnel information into students. Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think. Teachers must teach critical thinking and problem solving because training the mind to think will definitely afford us great innovators, collaborators, team players, focused citizens, and problem solvers.

Indeed, education is not memorizing that Hitler killed 6 million Jews. Education is understanding how millions of ordinary Germans were convinced that it was acceptable to kill them. 

Critical thinking is the ability to

1. understand the problem
2. explore its boundaries
3. questions assumptions
4. imagine new perspectives
5. identify weaknesses
6. justify a solution
7. acknowledge limitations 
8. reflect on alternatives

Therefore, education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.

I would recommend my students to learn chess. I have always encouraged my children to learn chess. Not only have my children picked up new chess skills, but they also have learnt critical thinking, problem solving and decision making all in a fun environment.

We are living in an age of digital information overload. Malcom X said"if you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."

Asking the right questions is critical on the path of providing the right solutions. What is questioning? Questioning is the ability to organise our thinking around what we don't know.

There is a huge difference between being a critical thinker and just being critical. A critical thinker is able to evaluate information objectively and arrive at a conclusion. It is a deeper kind of thinking in which he or she will question, analyse and evaluate the information. 

In order to become a better critical thinker, to be able to separate the facts from bias to create reasoned judgments, you need to

1. accept that you may not always be right; use your mistakes to learn and grow
2. do your research; learn fact from fiction
3. collaborate with other critical thinkers; expose yourself to new thoughts and ideas
4. question assumptions; try thinking of alternative methods for the same task
5. know your biases; and the effect they have on objectivity
6. think in reverse; if you think X caused Y, ask yourself: what if Y caused X?