Unpacking Thinking

A quick synthesis to set the wheels in motion.

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It is indeed a brilliant effort to restore a great piece of literature and even a more significant effort when included in the curriculum of a generation that will grow up knowing and understanding these epics. I do not dispute the effort, it is indeed a good start but, I question whether it is the right start?

If I believe including Vedas and Gita is not a religious standpoint then I also have to think that these are not just sacred Hindu scriptures and basis for most Hindu traditions, they hold a neutral tone, are relatable and inclusive of all the sects that get educated in India and move beyond the realm of Hinduism.

A good question to start with is also to assess who we impact in the process? When we walk away from the urban schools and communities and walk into the government schools, villages and rural sector of India, we struggle to command a neutral viewpoint, where the boundaries of caste and religion hold clear demarcations. At this point, I would like to iterate that if it is not possible for our children to separate themselves from their environment, which does include as a fact clear religious boundaries, then would we still advocate a curriculum that is most probably skewed? It is a critical task to carefully organise the curriculum and the instruction that comes with it which vitally affects the education of more than a million student. My question to you is if we cannot separate our consciousness and environment then can we undo something we begin today?

I agree entirely on the inclusion of Indian classics (epics) and literature in the academic curriculum, but I do not agree that reading poems merely as academic texts will help us revive them. This thought hinges on a primary assumption that everything being taught in a classroom is being ‘understood’. It is more important to revive the ‘interest’ in reading/watching (whatever the medium) these classics. Does a school curriculum suffice this? I feel what we leave out from consideration is the habits of the modern student of today. The bestsellers make it to Kindle, if the classics were considered as best sellers by teachers, publishers, libraries and bookstores would they manage to make it in the hands of the modern student? For example, many management colleges send out a list of classics to be read for leadership values, if schools were to adopt a similar role would we be successful?

There is a beautiful project started by School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Cambridge if might be worth reading for insights.

Link: http://www.csah.cam.ac.uk/news/classics-for-all-to-inspire-next-generation

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The idea to use Visual techniques to make successful impact, is not tight-lipped secret. In a more tacit way we have encountered these tools in many forms like the vision boards, using post-its, checklists, sifting and sorting ideas, metaphors etc, without being understood as tools for visual impact or the thought to take them to a meeting or a classroom.

Visual tools also appeals to people from non artistic background looking to make an impactful presentation, or carry out it their personal practice. The biggest benefit is they keep the discussions alive. Having a room to park ideas, discussions and annotations in a classroom/boardroom makes it easier to connect back to the topic. They do trigger curiosity, playfulness and while  procrastinating help in offering of valuable inputs.

But do they generate a deeper understanding?

Yes,  and as our brain processes more visuals than text, these tools help engage with learners who are otherwise detached.

Consideration to add to these tools are - 1) These tools resolve “how” but leave the “what” from the equation. As an enabler they are a trigger of conversation, but visual thinking or making thinking visible are two different ideas, it is a more complex idea. It is more of an orchestrated - facilitated patterns of conversation developed between a student and a teacher. For these tools to guarantee development of cognitive skills the routines need practice. The facilitator then genuinely needs to engage with students by asking probing, clarifying, questions and making assessments at every step. If my goal is to create an understanding about the of battle of Palassay, then using templates like Graphic History/context mapping etc help is comprehending the otherwise complexity of the text however what follows is more critical because that will take the student beyond the mastery of facts and figures. 2) Also, at some point David Sibbet speaks about making notes visual but the ideas is to translate into personal understanding and then draw. What we might need to look out for in a classroom scenario is, whether these visual notes are just a drawing of a teachers comments or are they actually  translation of a students understanding or are they just literal word to sketch translation? Is it a mere distraction from the context? 3) At what level do these tools help the students think about thinking? What is its relationship with metacognition?  Graphics and Visuals are great enablers to develop metacognition, by making thinking visible a teacher encourages a student to step back and look at where the thought came from, analyse what the route. Hence, I call Visual Leadership tools an arsenal of templates for impact more than a visual thinking tool because it does not consider patterns, routines and facilitator of these routines out of the equation. more without being understood as tools for visual impact or the thought to take them to a meeting or a classroom.

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Play has no language

There is a definite relationship between play and language development. In case of toddlers, social play is the first step in a different world without the comfort or safety of the care giver. But the other observation I have is that this play has not language or to be more precise it needs to language.

This new world of experience for a child is filled with developing self confidence while they take the world in their stride. Living in our shelter a child hardly struggles because before he knows , we know what he wants. But walking away from our shadows they begin to find a language to express unexplored and complex emotions. This articulations of feelings is more complex because the goal is to make themselves understood, while the other child is still grappling with their challenges of understanding.

Inspite of these shortcomings,children play and make connections or friendships without talking much, they have an instinctive way of following each others cue and carry on. To elaborate my point, my son speaks only english and his other two friends a boy and a girl child speak only hindi and bengali. The park has several other children, but they never play with other. They stick close to one another in  protective pack. If you ever watch them closely you might feel they have a structured game but another look and you will see that they hardly talk to each other, even when they speak, they speak in their own language. While they do not communicate with one another they look out for each other, and there is an obvious leader, which is usually based on age.

So if they don’t speak to each other how do they follow what the other means and still not fight? If language is not a criteria for choosing friends what behaviour made them instinctively know choose?

I see play making a child more tolerant of differences. I see them not choosing but including, based on their common interests, well in this case its cars and running. The beauty that there is no line of gender or ethnicity is world that many dreamt of. And today each chapter in philosophy which talked about not conditioning a child unfolds in front of me. I see the power this beautiful mind. But then I remind myself “so chadar sur nar muni odi, odi ke maili kini chadariya”.

Today we struggle with tolerance towards one another based on gender, based on where we came from, based on who we are that we forget the beauty of freedom in  social connections, made by just playing. So as adults with adequately developed cognitive skills, do we allow cognition to overpower our natural instincts of tolerance?

There is no need for language, there is a need to build understanding.

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What does it mean to merge play with visual learning?

As  an adult my mid-life crisis revolves around the inability to pen down my thoughts visually, my mind isn’t visually challenged but drawing isn’t my strength. Over the years the voice to write over draw has left me handicapped. But I see children draw without any inhibitions and I wonder when was this quality in me destroyed and moreover the question how can we preserve it in younger children. Scribbling on the walls with crayons, making a mess on mud, painting with hands on sand are a process of visual learning, in their own way children are learning to articulate their thoughts and find meanings in them, it is not vain but a masterpiece if you indulge with them in a conversation. The free play with objects and materials of art begin to create early impression of visual learnings, does this imply all have an equal opportunity to use visual skills for thinking process? because it does seem like growing up we have the inclination. But I agree, it depends on the opportunities an environment can offer. Ever walked into an art gallery with a child wondering what is going on in their minds? This excursion could leave impressions for a lifetime, either they would abhor the idea of walking into another gallery or they will love to explore more!  Engaging a child in a playful conversation about what the art means to them can build the confidence to embrace this beautiful medium of communication. They key here lies with the instructor or the guardian to facilitate a non judgmental environment, so we grow up without the fear of making visual connections. What if as adults we has a space to play with only one rule that is draw, scribble everywhere ?

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Moving play beyond the classroom

UNICEF’s recent campaign #EatPlayLove foregrounded on the idea of play and its impact of early childhood. Apart from voicing many corelations between nutrition, play and learning and better growth, the programme talked about the responsibility of parents in developing the habit of play in early childhood. The campaign beautifully focussed on the ways a parent can play with their child to encourage curiosity, explorations and providing learning by just playing the child. It listed out various ideas of play that could be used by a parent. Also, play has many interpretations for every age group. Designing a free-play curriculum, this sounds like an oxymoron to me, because if its free play how do you design it? It is a time allowed for children to just play. If I begin to design an hour of play then what are the qualities of Play that I let go and which qualities that I retain? What does it mean to build curiosity in a child? A child is naturally curious new spaces, new objects, working of their own body all spark curiosity. For children encouraging free play means making them carry this ‘curiosity’ as a timeless quality of play and learning into the classrooms and personalities. Does being curious lose its shine in a systematic knowledge driven environment? The campaign shared the burden of the teachers or school to promote play by entering it to the homes. While we are all faced with the dilemma to use play in the right context. 

Why is there a age limit to free play putting an expiration to the curiosity of a growing adult?

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Play and game

‘Play’ is bigger than game.

Muddy puddles, sandbox, bouncing a ball, bowing down and wagging of tail, flirting, humour  - all these acts have in common- the signals emerging as a state of play. No explicit rules or frameworks but development of trust between one another comes into being

Choose to take a closer look, one can observe a pattern of spontaneity emerge, and shifting away from rigidity becomes more apparent, powerfully overriding the existing frameworks. The state of play allows one to explore possibilities of tendencies that might not exist naturally. Spontaneity is a trigger of our natural tendency it is unschooled, which stems from being curious individuals and bending towards exploring the unknown limits, whether it is a solo, body, social, collective or object play, the act of spontaneity does not carry the burden of purpose instead it’s embodied fluidity creates limitless possibilities to make, break and bend the rules without limiting the essence of play.

Knit up a set of rules, structure, boundaries to these spontaneous acts of play, you shall see a difference in results, an activity turned into a competition, engaged with self or another. An activity such that it engages the mind in a cognitive subset of play - Game. A game orders attention, commands following instruction, rewards and punishes behaviour alters into a complete cognitive process of working towards a goal.

In this rush of competitiveness, games, builds real-life skills of decision making with consequences, problem solving with negotiations, weathering conditions of endurance, moving away the natural tendency of human trust to a more designed tendency of converting the act of play into a conditions of contest.

Play or being playful cannot be separated from our environment. If we are to assume that we are a product of our environment, then our act of being playful is also a product of our experiences built with our inner stories, imaginative or real, but these experience shape the adult in us, at some level they create the attitude and our personality that we carry forward in our various roles of life.

In our practice of education, believing in the philosophy of play or game can see a set of different results too.An educator can find games helpful in stimulating and motivating students, build mutuality of an engaged community of learners, also the same educator can foreground play to emancipate and humanise the role of learning. 

Any act of play transcends time, it is eternal, alternatively, a game designed with an enduring notion of play instead of a fad can transcend time too.

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Seven weeks of Human Centred Design process spent immersed in three phases of design process, Inspiration, Ideation and implementation, necessarily not in the same order, its often about  shifting gears.

The weeks were spent building deep empathy with the people you are designing for,generating tons of ideas,building tons of prototypes, sharing what you have made with the people you are designing for.

The wicked question for us was, How Might We Enable More Young People to Become Social Entrepreneurs? Hence started the process ….

Phase 1 Inspiration

Find inspiration in people, places,events, analogies, interview as many as you can, build your questions in a open ended way, manage face to face interviews  to note their expressions, ideas, what they say and don’t say, take photos of the environment, capture your learning. Define tasks clearly winning the group, usually a note-taker and a interviewer helps to get more depth from an interviews.

Phase 2 Ideation

An interesting phase where you turn learnings into opportunities of design! The process of synthesis follows ; capture learnings, organise your learnings into themes, based on your interviews build expressions of your understanding as insights,build a direct response to your insight by forming How Might We questions, eventually generate simple and crazy ideas !

Phase 3 Implementation

The time to let your idea in the market. More feedback and prototype !

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Resource Guide

From my reading and contact class I have categories my Thinking resource guide into;

Creative Thinking Tools

How Might We?

Brainstorming

Associative Mapping

Role Play

Prototyping

Analogues

Immersive

Visualisations

Critical Thinking Tools

Analysing

Questioning

Positive Negative Interesting

Criteria

Critical self assessments

Thinking without content

Mandala

Taking an eye for a walk

Guided Meditation

Yoga

Diving

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Stillness Vs Noise

Tool: Mandala 

The idea to practice mandala met with a hot debate. However we thought to go with the flow to see how they take to it. Our reservations were that kids will not be able to manage their high levels of energy, the instructions, they will not be able to focus for a long time. So we decided to gauge what the experience might we like.

We started the class differently, we asked all the kids to say gratitude followed by a short prayer which we sang as a group. This calmed them to some extent. We divided the class in three groups and gave each group individual instructions about the activity. 

The group did talk amongst each other, they kept correcting one another, they tried to impose their idea, this needed a lot of correction and constant intervention which defeated the purpose of Mandala.

But we did scratch the surface and leave a thought.

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The Gifting project

Tool: Prototyping

The prototype is extensively used in Design Thinking as a method to test theories, to negate the fear of failure and iterate based on valuable feedback from the user.

At Atisa, we used prototyping as a tool for the tactile experience. Here the creator was an involved owner of the subject. The closest we came to constructionism is with prototyping. As an extension of the previous project of visualization, now we asked the children to create prototypes of the gifts desired by their partner which they presented to the class.

They were provided with limited stationery (because of budgets) and asked to improvise whenever required. At first, they were reluctant to use the material. The lack of familiarity with tactile experience and the predisposed notion of thinking with instructions made them very uncomfortable. Most wanted to look for options like drawing, writing, etc. However, there was much explanation made to quench the inquisitive minds. The results were unexpected, and of course, they were proud to have created something that was appreciated by their partners.

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Drawing your dream

Tool: Visualisation

Doodling it, drawing it, googling at pictures manifest our thoughts. Most adults are intimidated to draw, but I am yet to meet a child whose eyes do not sparkle when shown colors and papers. I have tried visualization in two scenarios; one my Design thinking group and the other kids at Atisa. The results are not unexpected; children score higher on all parameters; enthusiasm, clarity, presenting their work, receiving and giving feedback, storytelling.

So knowing that the kids are enthusiastic about drawing sheets, I divided the class into dyads sitting opposite each other. The exercise for the day was to ask their partner three questions: Their dreams, what they like and what would they like to receive as a gift. Now, I asked them to draw it out.

The children I work with have restrictions when given control of their work.The start was languid but chaotic (children throw unexpected questions at you). After battling with questions, they settled down only to stare if their image was being presented in the best manner by their partner. After many timeline suggestions, they finally started to draw.

Once they finished, I asked them to come with their partner and present it to the class. They cheered, clapped, laughed while learning about each other. There were no inhibitions to share with the class. Moreover, of course, everyone wanted their drawings to be displayed. When I did this exercise with adults, it was kept to a minimum of 5 mins. With kids, I spent about 45 minutes, and of course, all wanted to stand up and share their work.

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What’s your story?

Tool: StoryTelling

Story telling doesn't need any introduction, it is a straightforward yet powerful tool to create an engaged learning environment. How one uses this tool has various outcomes. Most of the storytelling is about enacting the chapters from a book, the purpose could be to highlight important texts or memorising the essential facts.

Inspired from our session at Jumpstart- Drama in Education by Amrita Lalljee, at Atisa, we tried to adapt this tool into a thinking process. We enacted a  different version of Goldilocks, an old fairy tale most children are familiar with. In this session we wanted the children to empathise with the parents of Goldilocks and how the parents feel when one of them gets into trouble, how they feel when they hear complaints about their own children.

Though a little intense the children were quick to respond to the behavioural ramifications. Most felt severe punishing was the solution while some defended her. However, the core idea here was to make them think and empathise as a different person. It could have been any character from the story but the core idea is to allow the child to see a dimension of the story that is untold. In the process they make assumptions and build imagination of the environment Goldilocks must have been.

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What is the real barrier?

“No pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the oppressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption.” Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The village children speak colloquial Punjabi, a language I am not familiar with, but they have immense respect for teachers, they greet you with a smile, bow down to touch your feet because you have your time to offer them. I feel the barrier of language fading away in their love and humility.

They are a bunch of energetic, inquisitive, playful, technologically savvy children who detest authority. They are aspirational to learn foreign language and have dreams larger than the periphery of the village with limited  resources at hand and no mentors/ guides. Caste system is ingrained in them since birth, gender discrimination is out in the open, personal hygiene takes a back seat, drugs is much easy to get hands on than clean drinking water or funds for the school. You walk out of  their company feeling embarrassed of the entitled life you have back at the city.

In the picture above I have posted a glimpse of the village school which is the only affordable educational establishment for realising their dreams. We use their compound to meet with the kids in the evenings.

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We make the road by walking

In order to start, it should be necessary to start.

Amongst many things I am grateful about, this August I took my first step to begin giving my thoughts a home to practice. My learnings from the PPDE contact sessions were too valuable not to be shared. I wanted to experiment and get on the field. Subsequently I joined hands with a very dear friend, who set the wheel in motion to form Atisa - an NGO registered under Society’s Registration Act 1860. Our focus is to develop methods of thinking for children of government/private schools in Nawanpind, a rural village in Pathankot.

This is just a humble beginning.

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While reading this article, I wondered about carefree childhood and my thoughts rewound a couple of weeks back I was asked to take an eye for a walk. While I forced to pause my cognitive self from gaining control, for a split second, I experienced the stillness of the mind. And I came back wondering if there will ever be another situation where I will cease to create content but 'be' the experience.

Today I watch my son grow up, a playful and happy child he is, oblivious to the universe around him. I wonder if I can freeze this innocence and put a tight lid on it. Can I create an experience for him that becomes his content in the future?

Any childhood should be built around positive experiences that we offer our children, their emotional securities or lack thereof are a direct result of their interaction with adults of their universe. And as a child advances in various stages of life these emotional experiences or reflections of the adults around them builds into a more complex form; their personality.

I see children only to wonder if there will ever be another that has pure and unadulterated thoughts. I know a second chance to recreate an experience that does not lack simple, authentic and realness of childhood. I see a blank canvas that can be filled with brighter and positive experiences.

But wait, will we not lose these little genuine minds to the structured instructional of the textbooks, the noise of the television, the ringtone of the iPhone? Today as parents we are fighting to keep these gadgets from ruling our kid's life while the forces of nature including the vision of the government is to create a universe with seamless technology at every line of sight. Then should we bother keeping them away from what will eventually be their content?

Well, my son is just turning two, so for me, time shall tell!

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Happy Scratch Day Everyone !

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Moral Autonomy as an individual, what happens when a child is denied one?

This video summarises my moral dilemma. I re-read the definition of Moral Autonomy, which in plain simple words says, it is the capacity to deliberate and to give oneself the moral law, rather than merely heeding the injunctions of others. Personal autonomy is the capacity to decide for oneself and pursues a course of action in one’s life, often regardless of any particular moral content. And yet, it isn’t all that simple in practice. As an individual, I often find myself at a crossroad in life where I question who should dictate the terms of societal discourse, the inane rituals, the boundaries of all relationships, demarcation because of gender or social construct. Though these external forces don’t cloud my idea of morality, nevertheless I do find them sneaking up on me to influence my actions. I am at war with self to find my ethical ground that will define my moral philosophy. If the universe were made of individual ideologies, then we would be at peace with self, and not be at a path were we question my “right” versus their “right”. Belonging to a culture makes us question our ethics that governs our philosophy because as a part of a larger group we are bound to be influenced by “the other”. Our need to coexist or exist with people who share our ideologies to a certain extent creates our micro world, but there are others who need to be manoeuvred to achieve a truce. In case you don’t comply with each other's ideologies, you have a fair chance of being pushed out of the pack. While creating an individual path for yourself is like a canoe that ripples through the still water, this might not be a kind way to exist. We choose either to be at peace with self or to exist in society by compromising on our morality, for better or for worse. This is a choice we make every day, and sometimes our honesty wins over collective consensus. Wrapping our autonomy in the warmth of empathy to make compassionate moral decisions can help is design a life integrated with self and collective thinking. I choose to exercise my moral autonomy with complete discretion; however, I don’t fear to create ripples while considering my ethical choices. I would rather be at peace with self than another. Being morally autonomous makes me free of judging another human and I value that freedom more. Do we compromise our ethics?