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<\/a>\nThis book, by the same author of The Sports Gene<\/a>, advocates that our natural inclination to applaud and seek \u2018head starts\u2019, to narrow our focus (or that our children and students) does more harm than good, for us, for them and actually for human progress.<\/p>\n
He does NOT<\/strong> call for lack of specialization in certain fields, he does NOT<\/strong> call for elimination of specific fields of study. However, he writes a compelling argument for the liberal arts approach, and for experimentation of interests and acquiring what he calls \u2018range\u2019 before going \u2018all-in\u2019 in an area of focus.<\/p>\n What I found most compelling was his argument that aligns the growing ambiguity and complexity of the world with the need to see across various fields of study. In education, this is known as trans-disciplinary thinking. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He delineates between \u201cKind\u201d world scenarios (like golf and chess for example) where the rules are shared, known and create boundaries and \u201cWicked\u201d world scenarios where there are very little rules, information and past experience to draw upon. We can all agree that we are living in a world that is getting more and more wicked, can\u2019t we? You would be interested in this book if\u2026 Ways of Thinking:<\/p>\n This book is full of incredible examples of why a \u2018way of thinking\u2019 is more important in education than learning the facts, content and acquiring detailed prior knowledge. For those of us in education, we already knew this because of the \u2018summer slide<\/a>\u2018 where students actual knowledge of domain specific subjects falls off over the summer \u2013 when the knowledge is not used.<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, as an undergrad, I did have a chemistry professor who embodied Flynn\u2019s ideal [that no one tool is good enough to solve our challenges]. On every exam, amid typical chemistry questions, was something like this: \u201cHow many piano tuners are there in New York City?\u201d\u2026The ultimate lesson of the question was that detailed prior knowledge was less important than a way of thinking.\u201d The author holds up some of the most creative thinkers in our recent past as examples of those that cultivated ways of thinking. For example, Darwin:<\/p>\n Charles Darwin must have been one of the most curious and actively open-minded human beings in history\u2026 He made a point of copying into his notes any fact or observation he encountered that ran contrary to the theory he was working on. He relentlessly attacked his on ideas. And this is best captured in the understanding of the difference between \u201cDecision-making\u201d and \u201cSense-making\u201d.\u00a0 To contextualize this difference, Epstein gives a very detailed review of the Challenger disaster. It is mostly associated with the concept of \u201cgroup think\u201d, but Epstein takes it further. He argues that our prizing of \u2018efficiency\u2019 and \u2018hierarchy\u2019 has limited value in situations that are \u201cwicked\u201d. He goes so far as to say that was this prioritization of decision making at NASA that lead to the tragic loss of lives. They were stuck on data, all decisions needed to be based on data. When there wasn\u2019t enough data to reverse a decision, it wouldn\u2019t be reversed.<\/p>\n Decades later, an astronaut who flew on the space shuttle, both before and after Challenger<\/em>, and then became NASA\u2019s chief of safety and mission assurance, recounted was the \u201cin God We Trust, All Others Bring Data\u201d plaque had meant to him: \u201cBetween the lines it suggested that, \u201cwe\u2019re not interested in your opinion on things. If you have data, we\u2019ll listen, but your opinion is not requested here.\u201d The author then tells the incredible story of \u2018Wildland Fighters\u2019 \u2013 those that battle intense forest fires, and the tragic, but preventable deaths from several fires. All because the fire fighters refused to drop their tools.<\/p>\n Weik explained that wildland firefighters have a firm \u201ccan do\u201d culture, and dropping tools was not a part of it, because it meant that they had lost control\u2026\u201dGiven the central role of tools in defining the essence of a firefighter, it is not surprising that dropping one\u2019s tools create an existential crisis.\u201d So what did I learn from these examples of ways of thinking? Like what I learned about \u2018cognitive entrenchment\u2019 from \u201cEverything is F*cked<\/a>\u201c, If we don\u2019t have \u2018range\u2019, we are vulnerable to errors, losses of opportunity, and missed chances to make our world, the world, a better place.<\/p>\n (1) The world is \u2018wicked\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s not bad, it\u2019s not cruel, except to those that deny that it is changing rapidly.\u00a0 Rather, there is a beauty and a wonderful challenge to the growing complexity.<\/p>\n (2) We need to interrogate our ways of thinking \u2013 not to strip it down, or to change the way we think; rather, we need to embed this interrogation into our way of thinking and our approach to wicked problems.<\/p>\n (3) Be prepared to drop the tools \u2013 the tools that we have relied on to make the world go around. We need to be ready to let some go. They will hold us back, they will lead to cognitive entrenchment, and they won\u2019t let us see across the disciplines to help solve our wicked problems.<\/p>\n (4) Educate. This book is full of incredible examples that should motivate and inspire us to learn differently with our students.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you want to be good at something? Do you want to excel or be the best? How might you do this? Start early, focus early, train early and get that head start, right? This book, by the same author of The Sports Gene, advocates that our natural inclination to applaud and seek \u2018head starts\u2019,…![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/files\/2020\/02\/unnamed-1-300x150.jpg\")
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\n(pg. 52, Epstein)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\n(pg. 228, Epstein)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\n(pg. 249, Epstein)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
\n(Pg. 247, Epstein)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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