October 8, 2015
Have you ever considered the value of a really good question?
“What if we put wheels on it?” led to the rolling suitcase.
“What if Morse code could be adapted graphically?” led to the creation of the bar code.
“Why did my candy bar melt?” led to the invention of the microwave oven.
According to Warren Berger, author of “A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas” questions are more valuable today than answers. “As society’s collective knowledge grows and becomes more accessible through technology, no individual can possibly keep up with all the knowledge available” writes Berger.
I’m sure Dr. Will Grundy knows this very well. Dr. Grundy, a Lowell Observatory Planetary Scientist and co-investigator on NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, will be speaking to MPA students next Tuesday. Innovators like Dr. Grundy know the power of questions and that creativity and persistence overcome failure. They also know that the path to discovery is less like a straight line and more like a treasure map.
At MPA we know that the best education occurs when critical thinking and deep content knowledge are used as the base for growing flexible and essential skills in collaboration, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity. For instance:
- Fourth grade students are challenged to discover how a pendulum clocks works. Constructing a uniform pendulum using string, a meter stick, tape, a paper clip, and a penny, students question what would affect the number of swings. The length of string, mass of object on the pendulum, and angle of initial release are all considered and tested. Even though the clock is never built, students create a pendulum for a clock that would keep time in both minutes and hours.
- In upper school math, students question the path of a soccer ball when kicked in the air, a U-shaped ride at an amusement park, satellite dishes, and bridge cables on suspension bridges by modeling parabolic situations using a quadratic equation.
- In ninth grade physical science, students are given the task of designing a device made of three different materials that will neither float nor sink but “flink” in an aquarium of water for the longest time possible. While at first it may seem a bit silly, there are many great design lessons that can be focused. What shape is best that will resist movement in the water? How can the design stay balanced in the water? What materials do I use? How can I adjust the device by tiny amounts? What factors do I need to consider as I test my prototypes?
What do these, and other lessons and projects, tell us about an MPA education? Why not be content to consume, rather than generate, knowledge? When Clay Parker, president of the Chemical Management Division of BOC Edwards was asked about the skills he looks for when hiring young people, he responded, “First and foremost, I look for someone who asks good questions. We can teach them the technical stuff, but we can’t teach them how to ask good questions…” In an era when technology and globalization are rapidly growing, students need—more than ever—to learn how, not what, to think. Students are not sausages to be stuffed with the odds and ends of centuries of information. Rather, they must be engaged in constructing knowledge and building understanding. Creating a culture of questioning and inquiry is at the heart of 21st century learning.
I suspect there were a lot of questions along New Horizon’s journey to Pluto that took nine and half years and crossed three billion miles. The process begins anew as scientists begin sifting through the information sent back for clues about how planets form and some of the building blocks of life.
I invite you to join us for Dr. Grundy’s presentation, “The Journey to Pluto and Beyond” this Tuesday, October 13 at 9:00 a.m. in the Nicholson Center. Bring your questions. I’ll be listening.
