Project Renaissance home page | The Stream Index
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Newsletter of Project Renaissance and Win Wenger
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June 2003
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Quote of the Month
* Announcements
* Events
* FEATURE ARTICLE: "Cause and Effect" - by Win Wenger
* Comments & Feedback
* Links - archives, back issues, homepage
* Reader Questionnaire
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions
which differ from the prejudices of their social environment.
Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions."
- Albert Einstein
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
WELCOME to all new members who have joined us this month. We hope
to hear from you and to give you much food for thought. Back issues
are available upon request. Just add the month to the subject line:
<mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues>
~~~
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you can upgrade your participation in Project Renaissance to full
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to additional benefits. If you're not yet a member, please register
now, here: http://www.winwenger.com/regmem.htm - or from link on
the homepage, http://www.winwenger.com .
~~~
DUPLICATE MAILING? If you received two (or more?) copies of this
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How you can participate...
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EVENTS
Free monthly meetings of High Thinktank...Open to the public.
June meeting: Tuesday, June 10, 2003.
Please check the Project Renaissance website calendar
for details and directions, at
http://www.winwenger.com/events.htm
~~~
Project Renaissance presents
The BEYOND-EINSTEIN SEMINAR
June 28-29, 2003 | 8:30AM-5:00PM
Adam's
This exciting two-day seminar combines the principles of
deliberate creativity and the power of intuitive thinking. The
formula delivers a proven model and associated tools that get
powerful results.
Presenters: Dan Knight and Win Wenger, Ph.D.
For more information and registration forms, see:
http://www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm
~~~
DOUBLE FESTIVAL XII - November 2003...
Plan now to treat yourself to Project Renaissance's annual double
conference on Creative Problem-Solving and Accelerated Learning:
Friday-Saturday-Sunday, November 14-16, 2003
followed by Trainer Training, November 17-18, 2003
at a private facility in
The theme is "Problem-Solving in the Global Village".
Watch the website, http://www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm
for further details and for Call for Presentations.
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Feature Article:
CAUSE AND EFFECT
Equipping gifted children with
perceptions of causality
by Win Wenger, Ph.D.
President, Project Renaissance
In my hunger for any kind of reading material, I had read quite a
bit of history before I even entered elementary school. My class-
mates and peers had not. And most of what I'd read to that point,
and for several years after, was popular-level history. It was
always proposing or arguing cause-and-effect relationships. Thus
the concept of causality was pretty familiar to me by the time I
reached elementary school.
It didn't occur to me until decades later, April 2003, that
because of this I was perceiving many relationships, and nearly
all of even the most obvious of these relationships were quite
invisible to my classmates. (And I think some of them were
invisible even to most of my teachers.) To them, things "just
happen." Therefore, nothing has much meaning or significance, and
there's nothing anyone can do and nothing that can be done. I was
living in a world of "OhMyGoshWhatIf", and they lived in a world
of "duh". Of course, causality can be highly complex, a hugely
tangled and interwoven web of dynamic interactions, not just a
linear domino-tumbling effect alone.
Lev Vygotsky did this beautiful experiment some years ago with
young children trying to draw butterfly wings. He demonstrated
that having words for what we perceive enables us to effectively
"perceive our perceptions." I briefly describe his experiment in
the parent's appendix to my story for children, "The Philosopher's
Stone" - http://www.winwenger.com/ebooks/philstone.htm#Parents .
Having used the "advanced" word "iridescent" in the story, I argue
in that appendix that young children, who ordinarily wouldn't
encounter that word for some years yet, if familiarized with it
and its description, would be discovering and delighting in
iridescence everywhere.
I propose here something a bit more ambitious.
* * *
INFLUENCE. Being influenced by. Influencing other people, other
things, events. Multiple influences. Interactions ......
OBJECTIVE. To equip the kid to see, normally, multiple causality
and interaction dynamics where otherwise he'd be stuck for years
and years in a world where things just happen, with no perceptible
meaning or significance and where there's not much anyone can do.
* * *
Here are several possible preliminary elements in the unit of
proposed instruction:
* DEBRIEFING. Almost any game situation when one kid is trying
to advance the ball and the other to prevent him. Questioning
immediately after a play:
Why did you go that way?
Why then did you go this way?
And similarly question his opponent.
And, by extension, to situations where a kid is trying to "work"
his parent for something, or "work" his teacher.... to some
situation in a story or even to a real person outside of the
classroom, such as the school principal, where such dynamics can
be identified....
* ATTRIBUTES. Make a list of identifiable attributes of that
person. What are some of the things you are less likely to do
when you are short than when you are tall? What are some of the
things you are more likely to do? Why? Why do you think (that
person) does such-and-such? Could there also be other reasons
why he does that? What else does he do that maybe something else
could be causing?
* DEFERRED GRATIFICATION. Stay put for now, but - when you are
hungry, what do you want to do? Who here's hungry right now?
Stay put - but why AREN'T you running off right now to get some
food? (On into an analysis of other considerations, even their
interactions, and rudiments of strategy...)
Those of you with much experience with young children: Is my
observation correct, that to the vast majority of young children
today, cause-and-effect relationships are mostly invisible, even
the obvious ones, much less multiple causality and interaction?
That there are consequences to their living in a world where
things "just happen," without meaning or significance, and that
nothing can be done about it anyway, so why pay attention?
Does something like this seem do-able to you? Would it have the
significant effects I've pointed to?
I invite your discussions and ideas. Please send your feedback to
any of the links listed below. Thank you.
- Win Wenger <mailto:wwenger101@aol.com>
~~~
To send feedback privately to the author, email to Win Wenger at
<mailto:wwenger101@aol.com?subject=Causality>
To send your comments about this article to
<mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Causality>
To post your feedback or promote a discussion of this topic:
http://bbs.cartserver.com/bbs/b/7733/#PostMessage
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COMMENTS & FEEDBACK
Michael Lacy wrote:
As a parent wanting to give my child open eyes to the world, I
have realized that they are not mine to give to my daughter, but
rather that I am only a guide to help her find them herself.
That said, children learn best when they are being themselves,
children. I think that any 'method' that interrupts the flow of
imagination and experience with pointed questions and analysis
deprives a child to some extend of her natural tendency to explore,
create, and discover. The very beauty of children is in their raw
experiencing of the world, something we adults have long forgotten
because we have become so caught up in analyzing and predicting.
What I try to do is to live my life according to the 'ideals' and
'morals' that I believe in.
And by doing this without direct analysis and intellectualizing
of every passing moment, I find that my daughter picks up on it
instinctively without my saying a word to her about it. Children
imitate their parents, and experience is the best teacher of
anything.
- Michael Lacy
~~~
Win Wenger <mailto:wwenger101@aol.com> asked:
"Is my observation correct, that to the vast majority of young
children today, cause-and-effect relationships are mostly
invisible, even the obvious ones, much less multiple causality
and interaction? That there are consequences to their living in
a world where things "just happen," without meaning or signifi-
cance and there's nothing can be done about it anyway so why pay
attention?"
~~~
Michael Lacy responds:
Yes, your observation is correct. However, that's just the way
children are. They learn over time and some learn more than
others. I would also say that to a vast majority of parents cause-
and-effect relationships are invisible, even the obvious ones.
Just this weekend I was at a hotel and I heard a baby crying in
the next room and these were the exact words I heard from its
mother: "What are you doing?!! Why can't you just be quiet, you
spoiled little brat?!!!"
The single most important cause-and-effect relationship (at least
to me) is that of the effect of parents interactions with their
children. I cannot even begin to emphasize how important this
relationship is in fostering an environment for children to see
the world with open eyes.
I'm not sure if I answered any of your questions, but the main
point I wanted to emphasize is that to teach children to see the
world as it is requires little to no effort if that is the way
you live your life. Teaching does little more than apply labels
to things and require that you memorize them. Teaching by example,
however, connects mind and body together into a unified experience
that allows children to grow.
- Michael Lacy
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LINKS
* Back issues of THE STREAM by email upon request from
<mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues>
* Archived copies of Capital Ideasmiths are here:
http://www.debateit.net/projren/newsletter/index.htm
* Project Renaissance homepage: http://www.winwenger.com
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PROJECT RENAISSANCE
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READER QUESTIONNAIRE
1. When making an important decision, do you tend to look at the
situation mainly emotionally or logically, or both?
Emotionally____ Logically____
Both____
2. When you find there is a conflict between what your emotions and
your logic tell you, do you tend to side with either, or seek to get
the two into agreement?
Emotions____ Logic_____ Integrate____
3. Which, in your experience, is more effective in persuading others
to your point of view: discussions based on emotions or on logic?
Emotions____ Logic_____ No difference____
To return this questionnaire, simply reply to this email, deleting all
but the questionnaire portion. Mark your answers with an X except where
long answer is indicated.
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