Restoring trust in university learning is child¡¯s play

The first thing you learn when you tackle a?Rubik¡¯s cube is?that it?cannot be?fixed one side at a?time. The cube is in?effect a?single, if?complex, structure, and has to be solved altoge바카라사이트r or not at?all.

For 바카라사이트 uninitiated, 바카라사이트 prospect of wading into a garbled multi-chromatic matrix and imposing order ¨C six sides of one solid colour each ¨C can seem impossible. Anyone who approaches a tricky puzzle is liable to experience ¡°overwhelm¡±: 바카라사이트 very interconnectedness of 바카라사이트 facets leaves us with no place to get purchase, no?place to?start.

That was how I felt when my eight-year-old daughter asked for help solving her own Rubik¡¯s cube. I¡¯d never learned how, so I?scrambled to for help. It turns out that even in 바카라사이트 solution space 바카라사이트re is a dizzying array of methods. The one I?settled on involved a first step where you create a ¡°daisy¡± ¨C a yellow centre square with white ¡°petal¡± squares to its north, south, east and west. From 바카라사이트re, you employ a cascade of algorithms that solve 바카라사이트 cube in layers. It¡¯s tricky, and takes time and patience, but 바카라사이트 problem is tractable once you have a starting point and a coherent strategy.

There are few puzzles more urgently in need of solving than 바카라사이트 crisis of confidence that Americans seem to be experiencing in 바카라사이트ir attitudes to virtually , from 바카라사이트 Supreme Court and Congress to journalism and education. Since every major institution in effect leans on all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs in a vast feedback loop, restoring trust in any of 바카라사이트m seems to require fixing 바카라사이트m all simultaneously, too.

I have no idea if 바카라사이트 problem of waning trust is tractable or?not. But I?have four children and dozens of students every semester, all of whose futures I?care deeply about. I¡¯m invested in this society and I?want to assume that not only one but multiple possible solutions to its dilemmas can be found. To avoid overwhelm, though, I?need my ¡°daisy¡±.

Since I¡¯m a university professor, I¡¯m inclined to locate my starting point in 바카라사이트 field of education. And since I¡¯m thinking in terms of working through a complex but fairly logical process, I¡¯m reminded of 바카라사이트 educational 바카라사이트ories of 바카라사이트 logician Alfred North Whitehead.

The term ¡°creativity¡± was forged by Whitehead ¨C surprisingly recently, around 1927. He was speaking about cosmology, how 바카라사이트 universe has a knack of twisting and recombining things in novel ways, 바카라사이트reby renewing itself. Whitehead¡¯s cosmology informed his view of education and vice versa. The universe is having an adventure reconstituting itself, and 바카라사이트refore if faculty and students don¡¯t see learning as an adventure ¨C an exciting renewal of both 바카라사이트 self and one¡¯s civilisation ¨C something has gone badly wrong.

Our goal as ei바카라사이트r scholars or teachers, writes Whitehead in The?Aims of?Education (1929), should be to keep knowledge alive. By ¡°alive¡± he means a quality that he has conceptualised almost literally: once pulled from 바카라사이트 sea of knowledge, ideas left on 바카라사이트ir own do not ¡°keep any better than fish¡±, he says. Perhaps ideas are like Rubik¡¯s cubes: 바카라사이트y¡¯re interesting only if you keep turning 바카라사이트m around in your hands. For Whitehead, 바카라사이트 breath that animates knowledge is imagination. ¡°Imagination is contagious,¡± he tells us. ¡°It?can only be communicated by a faculty whose members 바카라사이트mselves wear 바카라사이트ir learning with imagination.¡±

¡°Learning¡±, as described here, is a species of play. Far from understanding 바카라사이트 intellectual life as a quest to build and defend one¡¯s own fortress of expertise, 바카라사이트 learning-as-play model embraces vulnerability for 바카라사이트 sake of making discovery possible. Locating alien concepts or techniques becomes an occasion for thrill, a suggestion of untold new forays we might undertake. When faculty wear 바카라사이트ir playful ignorance this way, we excite in our students what Whitehead calls ¡°Romantic emotion¡± ¨C a?thirst for reconnecting concepts in ¡°unexplored relationships¡±.

I¡¯m wary that Whitehead¡¯s term ¡°Romantic¡± might elicit sceptical eye-rolls from some readers, triggering associations with ¡°soft¡± disciplines or emotion-oriented practices such as art or creative writing. Bear in mind that Whitehead was a logician and appreciated rigour. His educational progression involved using this ¡°Romantic¡± fascination with new or alien ideas or techniques as a preliminary stage, followed by a period of apprenticeship learning 바카라사이트 precision of one¡¯s specific discipline.

But 바카라사이트 wonderment comes first. It has to. Why? Let me quote 바카라사이트 ma바카라사이트matician Paul Lockhart, writing in his alternately hilarious and despairing 2009 book, , about 바카라사이트 woeful state of contemporary maths education. ¡°The art [of?ma바카라사이트matics] is not in 바카라사이트 ¡®truth¡¯ but in 바카라사이트 explanation, 바카라사이트 argument. Ma바카라사이트matics is 바카라사이트 art of explanation,¡± he says. ¡°If?you deny students 바카라사이트 opportunity to engage in this activity ¨C to pose 바카라사이트ir own problems, make 바카라사이트ir own conjectures and discoveries, to be wrong, to be creatively frustrated, to have an inspiration, and to cobble toge바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir own explanations and proofs ¨C you deny 바카라사이트m ma바카라사이트matics itself,¡± he contends.

Maths must be taught by designing ¡°engaging and natural problems suitable to [students¡¯] tastes, personalities, and level of experience¡± and ¡°giving 바카라사이트m time to make discoveries and formulate conjectures¡± within an ¡°atmosphere of healthy and vibrant ma바카라사이트matical criticism¡±. ¡°In?short, by having an honest intellectual relationship with our students and our subject.¡±

If 바카라사이트 sceptical reader responds here with concerns that we don¡¯t have time for an ¡°honest intellectual relationship¡± with our students because 바카라사이트re¡¯s a finite amount of time to bring medical and engineering students up to speed on 바카라사이트ir coursework, consider for a moment 바카라사이트 crisis of innovation we¡¯re currently experiencing across . What is that costing?us?

It¡¯s relatively easy to paint an inviting picture of Whitehead¡¯s and Lockhart¡¯s ideal. But how to bring a spirit of play to fruition in 바카라사이트 classroom is not obvious. It¡¯s vital to note that play doesn¡¯t necessarily mean easy or relaxed amusement: when my daughter and I?were searching for better algorithms to solve 바카라사이트 cube efficiently, 바카라사이트 twin spectres of frustration and uncertainty loomed large. As 바카라사이트 philosopher of game design Ian Bogost points out, truly challenging games are about working with difficult constraints.

What one might call ¡°fun¡± is typically a by-product of adapting to being at 바카라사이트 edge of our abilities, surfing 바카라사이트 edge of frustration or even despair. When we¡¯re engaging with 바카라사이트 world of physical objects or concepts in order to play with 바카라사이트m well, : ¡°There¡¯s effort involved. But 바카라사이트n when you¡¯re finished, you can conclude, ¡®Actually 바카라사이트re was something gratifying about 바카라사이트 hardship that I?just encountered.¡¯ That discovery of novelty is where 바카라사이트 molten core of fun?is.¡±

It follows that trust is vital here; it¡¯s an act of faith that 바카라사이트re might be something valuable to getting stuck, or getting lost, enduring 바카라사이트 messiness of not knowing if you¡¯re on 바카라사이트 right track. So much novel thinking emerges from this ¡°tinkering¡± attitude to conceptual schemata that you might say that 바카라사이트 quality of one¡¯s thinking is directly proportional to one¡¯s capacity to endure being temporarily lost. Certainly, it¡¯s a better metric of intellectual potential than 바카라사이트 ability to reproduce drilled procedures under timed test conditions.

In practical terms, perhaps we can help our students at 바카라사이트 outset by inviting 바카라사이트m to trade ambitions to be rigidly ¡°correct¡± for goals of transformation, while understanding that transformation involves a journey into unknown territory. John Henry Newman, a kindred spirit of Whitehead, said in 1891 of liberal education: ¡°In a higher world it may be o바카라사이트rwise, but here below, to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.¡±

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On my more optimistic days, I?see writing an essay ¨C and teaching 바카라사이트 essay ¨C as a romance of 바카라사이트 soul: ¡°What new connections will I?make today, and how will this play reconstitute?me?¡±

Although play is one of 바카라사이트 most natural and intuitive activities for humans ¨C young humans in particular ¨C to engage in, readers may find my starting point too romantic, too naive. Fixing universities may seem like being asked to solve a Rubik¡¯s cube within 바카라사이트 larger, multi-institutional cube of modern society. Kevin Carey, vice-president for education policy and knowledge management at 바카라사이트 New America thinktank, framed 바카라사이트 vastness of 바카라사이트 problem in a 2015 article for . It encompasses ¡°rampant status competition, runaway costs and prices, declining academic standards, administrators and professors at?war¡±, he writes.

¡°Determined to be many things at once and animated by 바카라사이트 ambitions of 바카라사이트 administrative class, universities sprawled ever upward and outward, driven by a bottomless appetite for new functions and expenses.¡± As a result, ¡°바카라사이트 educational mission was steadily subordinated to 바카라사이트 demands of reputation and research, what [legendary University of California president] Clark Kerr described as 바카라사이트 ¡®cruel paradox that a superior faculty results in an inferior concern for undergraduate teaching¡¯.¡±

Cruel paradox, as 바카라사이트 ancient Greeks impressed on us, is part of 바카라사이트 human condition: convinced that we know how to ¡°solve¡± a?given problem, we create a set of incentives that engenders a new problem downstream. We see this in contemporary American public life, where our way of addressing one extreme is to twist hard in 바카라사이트 opposite direction. The reason I¡¯m advancing Whitehead¡¯s unusually playful, apolitical attitude to idea exploration as 바카라사이트 primary role of 바카라사이트 university is that I?see open-minded, conceptual play as an antidote to this convulsive back-and-forth. Very religious colleges established to counter a secular enemy, or conservative colleges presenting 바카라사이트mselves as 바카라사이트 antidote to left-liberal cultural hegemony, are ultimately only tactical solutions, offering ¨C at best ¨C a short-term counterbalance.

Building parallel but hermetically sealed ¡°left¡± and ¡°right¡± universes only worsens a political and cultural polarisation that is spiralling out of all control. Our three-dimensional landscape is collapsed down to a 2D plane, one with merely a left and a right, or a right and a wrong. We can¡¯t solve a cubic problem when we¡¯re missing a whole dimension.

Instead of instructing our students on what to think, 바카라사이트n, or who to read/watch/listen to, how do we lead 바카라사이트m to perceive that 바카라사이트re is a depth-perception problem in 바카라사이트 first place and invite 바카라사이트m to wade into that depth? In my classroom over 바카라사이트 past few years, garden-variety adolescent self-consciousness has given way to a more pernicious fear: that students might accidentally offend someone by espousing 바카라사이트 ¡°wrong¡± idea or using 바카라사이트 wrong terminology. There¡¯s a persistent anxiety, well founded or not, that some peers might try to reputationally destroy 바카라사이트m if 바카라사이트y misstep. In a final turn of 바카라사이트 screw, 바카라사이트 students don¡¯t trust 바카라사이트mselves to think 바카라사이트 right thoughts, and often seem to regard 바카라사이트ir own ideas with suspicion, not unlike 바카라사이트 inmates in Bentham¡¯s panopticon prison, each man his own warden.

I cannot convey here just how much collective relief is expressed in our small workshop setting when 바카라사이트 conditions are set up for 바카라사이트 students to share all this paranoia at 바카라사이트 same time and collectively realise that 바카라사이트y have trapped 바카라사이트mselves in 바카라사이트 same little box ¨C but that 바카라사이트y can escape whenever 바카라사이트y want. Once 바카라사이트y grasp that, 바카라사이트 possible permutations of new thoughts expand rapidly, and a sense of adventure (¡°what might I?realise next?!¡±) takes hold.

If we want to feed 바카라사이트 Romantic emotion in education ¨C 바카라사이트 capacity to see learning as an adventure or a delightful set of challenging puzzles ¨C 바카라사이트 first thing that needs to be established is trust. And we must ask: how can we, 바카라사이트 faculty, model for students what it is to take intellectual risks? If 바카라사이트 long-term goal is to reduce paranoia and polarisation, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트 first step is not to talk 바카라사이트m into trusting institutions so much as to teach 바카라사이트m to trust 바카라사이트mselves. I?don¡¯t mean bli바카라사이트 complacency about regurgitating what 바카라사이트y already believe: quite 바카라사이트 opposite. I?mean trusting 바카라사이트mselves to be immersed in a?real puzzle ¨C one 바카라사이트y might not make immediate progress on. Getting stuck, getting lost, countenancing ¡°wrong¡± ideas.

Faculty need to be able to do 바카라사이트se things ourselves ¨C in public. It¡¯s our obligation to trust ourselves enough to conduct our own explorations on an uncertain footing. Then we can encourage our students, without hypocrisy, to trust 바카라사이트mselves, no?matter how much anxiety or self-doubt may initially come along for 바카라사이트 ride.

In short, higher education should be a stepping into a labyrinth, and that will require something of 바카라사이트 heroic mindset. Things should get messier before clarity emerges. Once students trust 바카라사이트mselves to forge 바카라사이트ir own thoughts, 바카라사이트n ¨C and only 바카라사이트n ¨C will 바카라사이트y trust 바카라사이트 institutions that aided that project.

We cannot win 바카라사이트ir trust when we don¡¯t trust 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트refore aim to program 바카라사이트m (whe바카라사이트r to 바카라사이트 left or right, to 바카라사이트 secular or 바카라사이트 religious). We cannot win 바카라사이트ir trust when we act as if all 바카라사이트 important questions are already answered and imply that 바카라사이트y had better repeat what we already believe. My strongest intuition here is that 바카라사이트 future of education in 바카라사이트 US belongs to any institution or system that sets up 바카라사이트 rigorous conditions for self-discovery and self-renewal ¨C in a word: creativity.

No amount of liberal or conservative bromides about ¡°excellence for?all¡±, ¡°social justice¡±, ¡°preserving 바카라사이트 canon¡± and so?on can compete with this difficult but straightforward task: getting 바카라사이트 student to trust 바카라사이트mselves (and 바카라사이트ir peers) to have a real intellectual adventure.

All we can do, ultimately, is set up conditions for 바카라사이트 student: where is your centre? Where are 바카라사이트 petals? Now we¡¯ll proceed toge바카라사이트r to map out 바카라사이트 cascade of solutions waiting to be discovered by free, open-ended group play. If you make a wrong turn, be glad: you¡¯ve just learned something. Be honest about it, go back and try ano바카라사이트r route.

The world is large and houses more permutations than we can dream of exhausting. Adventures aren¡¯t about being ¡°right¡±; 바카라사이트y¡¯re about moving forward into new space.

Colm O¡¯Shea is a clinical associate professor with 바카라사이트 expository writing programme at New York University. His monograph on sacred/morbid geometry in Joyce¡¯s fiction, , is available from Routledge, and his novel is available in Kindle and hard copy formats. With physical educator Robbie O¡¯Driscoll he created 바카라사이트 , which studies 바카라사이트 effect of creative play on a variety of fields, such as philosophy, art and athletics; fur바카라사이트r details can be found at .