Wednesday, August 14, 2013

what's your big question?

Our minds are naturally inclined toward associative and interdisciplinary thinking.  We connect the dots in all sorts of ways, often when we don't fully comprehend the experience (and sometimes when there aren't even any dots).  

We have questions about the nature of the world, our experience of it, our place in it, our relationship to it, what lies beyond it, and everything else.  When we're young we ask questions all the time.  We are insatiably curious.  It's like somehow we intuitively understand that the more we learn the better we get at everything--including learning.  We don't worry about curricular units or standards.  We have no test anxiety.  We test ourselves all the time.  We love risk and we don't care if we fail.  It's always somebody else who's saying, "Hey, come down from there, you're going to get hurt!"* [*Often, they're right.  In any case they're probably more experienced in estimating the odds of that was fun didn't hurt vs. itchy leg cast for a month outcomes.  But sometimes you just KNOW you can do it and it's frustrating to be told you can't.  Pushing the edge is what learning is all about.** {**As a teacher/responsible adult I must explicitly remind you to do this (i.e., learn/push the edge/create new neural pathways in your brain that actually change your mind) in ways that will not break laws or harm any sentient beings-- most especially you-- or offend, irritate, annoy, upset, or anger your parents.***} <***If you think this is a lot of footnotes, or whatever we're calling the blogger's equivalent, you should read David Foster Wallace (especially Infinite Jest).  In fact, this is the perfect time for you to consider his commencement speech (which doesn't contain footnotes, but does contain the sort of wisdom that more people should hear while there's still time to do something about it.).  At any rate, if you're still following this sentence you'll do fine in this course.>}]  Most of us learn whole languages best between the ages of 5-12.  Our amazing brains manage the torrential inflow by creating schema

We have every incentive to accelerate and amplify our learning as we age.  Our future is increasingly complex and uncertain.  Our culture and economy favor those in the know.  Learning is increasingly your responsibility as individuals.  You're becoming more independent; in about a year you'll be heading off to college, where your professors may not know you exist and definitely won't care how you organize your binder.  As if all that isn't motivation enough for you to get your learning on, NOT learning may actually be bad for you.  We form new neurons and connections in our brains when we learn.  Scientists are investigating whether the lack of new neuron formation is a cause for depression or an interfering factor in recovery.

When it comes to thinking for yourself in the traditional high school setting, though, there is more motive than opportunity.  Inquiry that doesn't "fit" in the classroom is too often seen as a challenge to authority.  This is a legitimate problem; by definition, individualism and divergent thinking don't conform to a one-size-fits-all syllabus.  In addition, a culture of fear of punishment or embarrassment can lead the smartest and most successful learners to surrender and play the game.  When this happens, motivated learning in the presence of no opportunity dies the same death as a fire in the presence of no oxygen.  According to the authors of "The Creativity Crisis" we ask about 100 questions a day as preschoolers-- and we quit asking altogether by middle school. 

In his book Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie describes visiting schools to show students how artists sculpt steel into animals:

“I always began with the same introduction: ‘Hi My name is Gordon MacKenzie and, among other things, I am an artist... How many of you are artists?’
The pattern of responses never failed.
First grade: En mass the children leapt from their chairs, arms waving wildly, eager hands trying to reach the ceiling.  Every child was an artist.
Second grade: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher.  The raised hands were still.
Third grade: At best, 10 kids out of 30 would raise a hand.  Tentatively.  Self-consciously. 
And so on up through the grades.  The higher the grade, the fewer children raised their hands.  By the time I reached sixth grade, no more than one or two did so and then only ever-so-slightly—guardedly—their eyes dancing from side to side uneasily, betraying a fear of being identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.’”  

Richard Saul Werman (the man who created the TED conference) said, "In school we’re rewarded for having the answer, not for asking a good question.”  School and the way it works was designed back when things were very different and oriented around mass production; that's not the way the world works any more.  You can't just prepare for a job that may not be around by the time you graduate.  And in the age of the search engine, there is no real point in learning facts for their own sake, especially since so many of them eventually turn out not to be facts after all.  You have to develop the critical thinking, problem-solving, oppurtunity-seeking, and collaborative skills that will enable you to CREATE a role for yourself in the new economy.  (And don't worry, if you're not an entrepreneur by nature, these abilities will help you do whatever else you want to do more effectively.)

So, our first mission is to reclaim the power of the question.  Everything you ask has an interdisciplinary answer.  Show me a cup of tea and I'll show you botany, ceramics, and the history of colonialism (for starters).  Wondering why your girlfriend doesn't love you any more?  Psychology, poetry, probability... you get the idea.  And no matter what the question or the answers, you're going to have to sort the signal from the noise and determine how best to share the sense you make.

What's your Big Question?  

What have you always wanted to know?  What are you thinking about now that you've been asked?  What answers would make a difference in your life, or in the community, or in the world?  What do you wish you could invent?  What problem do you want to solve?  This is not a trick and there are no limits.  Please comment to this post with your question and post it to your course blog (title: MY BIG QUESTION).  You can always change your question or ask another.  If you need some inspiration, check out last year's Eng 3 Big Questions here.

41 comments:

  1. My Big Question is: what's to come of our future? For example, technology runs a vast amount of our everyday lives because it's something that's convenient to most of us so what's to come of our childrens children? Will it be like I-Robot where technological advances have a mind of their own or will it be like the Jetsons?

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  2. Are there parallel universes? is there a universe exactly like ours and my double is commenting on this at the exact same time? What was here before the Big Bang?

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  3. Will it ever be possible for a person to access 100% of their brains abilities?

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  4. Why is it so easy point fingers and to "throw people under the bus" when something bad happens?

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  5. What is the point of life? Why am I here? Why are you here? Why do we strive for success when in the end it won't matter?

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  6. Is there a metaphysical world (i.e. an "afterlife" that our "souls"/life energy reside in after we die) separate from, and completely intangible to ours? Or perhaps we have a different type of soul; quantum packets of information stored deep within our neurons that, in theory, could maintain some sort of conscious thought outside of our body? Or maybe we are nothing more than flesh and bones, and when we die, we're gone and the world ceases to exist for us. Is there really such a thing as "right and wrong", or is morality nothing more than a synthetic abstraction that exists nowhere besides in our own minds? Do we even think, or is everything predetermined; leaving us as mere bystanders watching our lives run their courses from a first person point of view with the illusion that we are in control? What is reality? Does "reality" even exist, or are even the most the basic fundamentals that we observe (time, space, matter, energy, structure, etc.) simply figments of whatever it is that generates our "consciousness"? As strange of an idea as it is that everything we observe, experience, think, and feel could be nothing more than some sort of celestial hallucination, it is possible and cannot truly be disproved. The same goes for any thoughts/ideas you can possibly construct. Anyways, those are some of the questions that keep me up at night.

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  7. My question is how everything got their name? How did someone look at another persons nose and call it a nose? How did a tree get the name tree? The thing I'm trying to get at it is how did people figure these things out.

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  8. My big question is, Does God exist? Where did we come from? What made us? Was it really two human beings such as Adam and Eve who made us? Was it mammals such as monkeys? or is it just atoms and molecules and the power of the universe who had made us humans and our planets were surrounded by.

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  9. I have always wanted to know as a young teenager, what the world is going to be like when I am 50+. I can only begin to imagine the technology and different types of inventions for years to come. If I could invent one type of invetion it would have to be being able to look forward in time to see what is ahead of you and if you aren't liking the way it looks, being able to change right then and there. It would be amazing!

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  10. My big question is what am I meant to do? I have skills and a few places to take them, but I still feel as though I can do more, much more? Am I supposed to lead something large in life, or simply help someone else?

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  11. My big question is what is the real reason for life? Why are we really here, is it because God wants to watch us live and die or is it something much more than that?

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  12. My big question is similar to Analyssa's. its is there really an afterlife? is heaven or hell real? is there a god? I always feel so weird asking that question because what if he is real and he's looking down on me at this moment asking why I am questioning his existence. is the devil real? and is he really behind all the evil in the world or are some people just crazy?

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  13. My big question is what happens after we die. Is their really life after death as many people say their is and how does being dead feel like?

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  14. My big question is if there is a purpose to everyone being born into the lives that they're in? Is there a reason why people that are born in certain parts of the world have to suffer more than others?

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  15. My biggest question would have to be about space. What:s out there? Is there more? Are we the only species that lives like we do?
    It is so big and open and there is so much beyond what we can see (Well.. Maybe.)
    What else is there?

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  16. I always question and wonder what the future has in store for me, where am I going to be 10-20 years from now? Am I going to be doing something I love? Because I still do not have a clue what I want to do..

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  17. my big question is if there is an afterlife? what happens when we die? some believe that we are born again but not as a human but as something else, like a cat. how will we ever find out? yes I believe in god but will I go to heaven? or will I live again into a plant. there are so many questions that I want to be answered. it really gets me thinking. guess I just wont find out till I die.

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  18. I never really thought about what my "big question" was until now. Since class I have been going over different thought and wondering what my biggest question was. I never realized how many questions I truly had. I think my biggest question would probably be about the meaning of life. What is life truly about? Why are we created just to build a life that ends in death? Its a crazy thought if you think about it and it just never came across my mind.

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  19. Been curious to know why a teenager would rather "fit in" in high school than focus on their future? My head is always in the future and to be honest I have no idea what's in store. The only possible thing I can do is put myself in the right position for success. In the end I just want to be content and joyful with life.

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  20. I've read most of these posts and I have to say there are many good questions here. My big question is what is trust? It plays a role no matter who or where you are but what is the trust between people? How can you earn peoples trust? This question seems to have an easy answer but it can have tens or hundreds of results when you try figure it out. That's why this is my big question

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  21. My big question is kind of hard for me to explain. It is why was I chosen to live this specific life. Why was I picked to live as Xavier Navarro? Is there something great instore for me? Why was my spirit chosen to live through this body?

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  22. My Big Question
    Something I have always wondered would be why is it that every choice we make have to have a crucial impact on our lives whether we would know it does or not? why can't there be some way to undo it or even redo the choice to get an outcome that is beneficial to our lives. I wonder why thee hasn't been a simulator that you can input a scenario and it will tell you the outcome. well its mostly just a ramble about choices being unfair.

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  23. My big question is is there something out there watching us. What i mean by this is is there some kind of people from some other planet we dont know just studying us as some animal or an experiment.

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  24. I have always wondered wether destiny does exist or do we make our own path of life. Its hard to tell, sometimes things happen unexpectedly and without control and other times things happened because of hard work and dedication.

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  25. My big question: The more I think about having a big question, the more I realize that I don't really have one. I kind of just go with the flow and do what I know I need to do. How do you know what you need to do? Well, you kind of just do what you think feels right. When the time comes, I'm sure we'll find out everything that we need to know. We're all here for a reason, and those reasons with eventually come up in the future. Life is too short to question everything. Looking for an answer is only going to waste your life away. Why search for an answer if it'll eventually find it's way to you?

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  26. “Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing?” -Heidegger. This guy and I have the same question. If I could invent anything at all it would be a device that lets you record your dreams and memories for later viewing because if time goes this fast and I'm 17 I don't want to imagine how fast it will have gone by by the time I'm 50. The one problem I wish to change would be how the human race, in general, is very unacceptant of one another.

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  27. The more I think about what my big question is, the more I feel like the questions I have are not big enough. I want to know so much and I want to understand the reasons. So I suppose one of my big questions would be, why do humans appear to have more emotions than any other living organism on Earth?

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  28. my big question: if humans are evolving gradually over time to become more acquainted with the modern world we are creating, what will become of us at the pace we are going? does this mean that because we command our surroundings that subsequently we demand our evolution too? will we eventually modernize ourselves into our surroundings? what i mean is, will technology take us over so strongly that we start to become it. if teens can already sense the wave lengths of a text and psychically guess when they get a text even if their phone is away from them, how will our brains process each new technological advance over time? will we, as humans, go from being instinct operated to computer run?

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  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  30. What is our purpose? [How] can we achieve it?

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  31. My Big Question:what happens after we die? I know tons of people want to know the answer to this question. Every day i wonder, what happens when we die? Is there actually a heaven and hell. Everyone talks about it like they know what they are talking about. Have they died? Have they been reincarnated? No they havent, so that is my big question. What happens after we die?

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  32. My big question: What is through a black hole?

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  33. This just in from Sierra Ramirez:
    "How is our government be when we are older, like when we have kids? Is it going to be as bad as everyone says it's going to be? Should we be worried for our future? Everyone is always saying "think while it's legal" does this mean we should start thinking right now ahead of the game to make this a better place before it turns into a horrible place? Do you think everything is going to turn bad like everyone says it's going to be?"

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  34. What sets us different from each other when we are all the same underneath? I know there's a lot of factors involved like personality, culture, and environment. There are many more than what I'll typed so far but my real question is how do we pick up these things? How do we get our personality? Can we change it? Is it even possible? I don't know. How can some people be more afraid than others? Why are some people smarter than others? Do we pick it up along the way or is some or all of it embedded into us? I mean we are just random if you think about it in scientific point of view. We get half of our genes from our mother and the other half from our father. To top it all off those genes are selected at random. We are all random humans. How does that make you feel knowing that your genes and body were selected at random? Can all my questions be answered? Who knows? Maybe in good time they will. Or not. We still have questions left unanswered to this day and age. It seems like when we answer a question a new one rises. It goes around in a circle. Will there be a time where no more new questions are asked? If we had the answer to every question how will that affect life? Our life? Society?

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  35. Why is world peace sooooo hard to obtain? I mean, if EVERYONE took in consideration other people and stopped being selfish, world peace would not be so hard to obtain!
    Why can't ALL humans cooperate with each other and make the Earth a better planet to live in? without any violence, corruption, or misery? How can language help world peace a reality?

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  36. my question is this: why have we as human beings established ourselves as the dominant species on earth when it is so easy for other animals to kill us? And were we able to adapt and learn so quickly to thrive in this truly hostile world?

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  37. My big question is whats going to happen when we die?
    Do we go to a heaven, become reincarnated, or just lay in the dirt?

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  38. My big question would have to be if you grew up with a broken family and hate for a certain parent, wouldn't you want bettet for your children?... Wouldn't you rather see your children live the laugh u never had?...Wouldn't you rather have ur children not ecperience what you may have endored?.. I always wondered if its even remotely okay to say you hate a certain parent or atleast recent them?... But it seems as I get older the more the hate and recentment seems to grow... I'm not saying I want this parent out of my life in fact i would love them to be a part of it, but one question I would really be interested in finding the answer to would be if this parent even truely loves me?... And if so why don't they show it?

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  39. My big question is have you ever said a word repetitively to the point to where it sounds like the weirdest word in the world. I mean try it with me Engine engine engune engan engien . You repeat it so much it's almost impossible to pronounce it right the next time. I guess what I'm getting at is how did these names come upon us how did these words create our English vocabulary. Who spoke our language the first time ? What If it used to be all written and nobody spoke and then one day someone tried to say it and mispronounced it and now we say cow instead of couw. I guess we will never know but that is my BIG QUESTION.

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  40. I KNOW I posted this, and I just realized it’s not here! -___- But here it is again:
    My question is an existentialist one. I have been wanting to know exactly why we’re here. What our purpose in life is and why we must follow what the authorities have established in terms of HOW to live our lives and not live them the way we want to.

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  41. I have MANY questions. But i guess my biggest question would be about religion. Religion seems to be such a big part of poeples lives , but why or how ? If God is real then why does he let his "children" suffer?

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