The Cutting Edge in Class

Talking about human nervous system in my science class and specifically about the brain, children are asking a lot of questions (age 10-11). Many of the questions I can't answer, I honestly told them. In fact, for many of their questions there are no answers as yet.

Then I came across this talk on What is creativity and can we study it. The talk is by a leading scientist on this open question. He does experiments using cutting edge technologies. But what struck me most was that some of the questions he asks are the very questions that my class was asking me. This was a fortunate situation. It gave me chance to show children that, when they grow-up, they have as much chance to take a shot at these mysteries as anyone else.

So I showed this video talk in my science class. I was bit apprehensive as parts of the talk are rather technical. But the experiment has Jazz musicians and Rap artists, whose brains were monitored. Children loved it and wanted to be played again. I realized that if you can show that their questions (i.e. children's questions) have relevance in the real world, children are very interested in learning and understanding. More so than in the past, children need to know that their thoughts mean something in real world - then they are willing to learn.