Do we really need to teach kids (explicitly)

A parent once reached out to me asking that her kid wants to know as to why water is wet. Typical of me I asked her to first ask her kid as to what does the kid thinks and share the same with me. Then I thought of an idea and put that question on a WhatsApp group, I have of parents, asking them to ask their kid/s and share the responses, if convenient. Few parents, on the group, got back with the response of their kids. These kids all were aged between 8 and 12 years.

Let’s me share the response of kids one by one and my interpretation of the same.

Response1: “Water is not wet. Something is wet only when water or moisture can be wiped off it. Since you can’t wipe water out of water, water is not wet.”

My Interpretation

The kid in giving this answer has implicitly asked the next level of fundamental question — “What is this whole thing called as ‘wet’?”.

This is an important skill — the skill to stop, reflect, understand and appreciate the problem properly. A big challenge with modern education system is that it’s designed to give an answer to a question (in what I call as 1Question-1Answer model). It doesn’t understand the importance of properly defining the question itself in the first place. A large number of problems that mankind faces today is because our energies are directed at solving problems without spending sufficient time in even understanding them properly.

“If he only had one hour to solve a problem, he would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and the remaining 5 minutes solving it routinely.”

- Albert Einstein

Let’s understand this clearly — Real learning is reflected in an ability to ask right questions and not in finding right answers, because a right question is a right answer in itself. Now from this perspective when one looks at the response of this kid, you will see that the moment the kid asked the right question, his mind also created a way forward and i.e., when we say that something is wet, it means water or moisture can be wiped off. By this simple observation the kid has defined that wetness is a property of liquid to stick to a surface. In other words, in the absence of this property-to-stick there is no wetness. That’s why you don’t call the nail polish remover a liquid that wets because it doesn’t stick to you, it just evaporates.

“Curiosity is a learning in itself.” (Link)

Response2: “The water molecules slip and slide over the skin which makes some of it stick on the skin so we think water is wet.”

My Interpretation

This kid has now asked the next level of fundamental question that arises from the definition of wetness — “What is in the water that makes it cling to surfaces or that which makes water wet?”

Now look at the beauty of this imagination. He doesn’t know what makes water wet. As a first step his mind also created the same question that the previous kid created — what is wet? He then created a definition of wetness in his mind. Once he did that it was easy for him to conclude that things that slip and slide can’t be called wet because that’s exactly against the definition of wetness. Now from his science classes he knows that water, like every other thing in this world, is made of small small things that the world calls as atoms/molecules. He just merged this learning, from his Science classes, into his own definition of wetness and thus in his mind he could imagine those molecules of water sticking and not sliding by easily. This is called a hypothesis in Science. The kid has created a hypothesis that water is wet because water molecules stick and don’t slide by easily. And how did this hypothesis came about — purely through his imagination.

“Science is just imagination in straight jacket”.

- Richard Feynman

Kids are phenomenal when it comes to imagination. The only way Science exists is when imagination exists — imagination is not required in dance, painting, stories etc. only. In fact, it’s not a surprising thing that some of the best scientists, this world has seen, pursued varied creative things. Michael Faraday once said, “I am a very imaginative person, who could believe in the Arabian Nights as easily as in the Encyclopedia, but facts were important to me, and saved me”.

I always tell the parents that if they want their kids to succeed in life “phenomenally”, then they should work hard to retain the imagination their kid is born with. The best thing here is, doing so is very easy. Just do the two following things:

• Stop answering a child’s questions and start asking them for their thoughts.
• Stop judging their answers and start respecting them by listening to them completely.

Let me assure that as simple as the above two points sound, it took the hell out of me to just understand and accept them… following them is still far away.

Response3: “My son says water has some minerals which make it wet.”

My Interpretation

Now this kid has asked the third level of fundamental question, building on from where the previous kid left — “What makes water stick to the surface?”.

Can you see the logical progress of questions?

1. First the question was, why water is wet?
2. Next came the question, what is wet? (The answer was wetness is property to cling to surface.)
3. Next came the question, how to explain clinginess? (The answer was that clinginess is a result of water molecules not rolling by.)
4. And now the question, why molecules don’t roll by or why they cling?

Look at the imagination of this kid. He says there is something external in water that makes it clingy. In other words, it’s not the feature of water itself but it’s the property imparted by something else. Another hypothesis takes birth. Btw do you know that there is something called as “dry water” which actually doesn’t wet. In other words, the kid has imagined in his mind that we can change the wetness of water, without probably explicitly saying it or realizing it.

Response4: “Water atoms don’t want to vaporize therefore to remain cool they remain wet because wet things don’t evaporate fast.”

My Interpretation

Look at the imagination of this kid. He equated evaporation of water (i.e. getting converted into gaseous state and then going up), to flowing of water i.e. sliding by. In other words, in slide of molecules he sees both the phenomenon i.e. evaporation and wetness. Once again, an (alternate) hypothesis takes birth. This is the phenomenal ability of kids to cross connect topics, which is so essential to learn and understand this world. The moment the kid forms this imagination, he concludes that there is some inherent property of water because of which it doesn’t evaporate. Today this intrinsic property of water is called specific heat in science. Water has a high specific heat because of which it takes a lot of heat to evaporate. It is because of this property of water that we feel cool even in summers, because the evaporating sweat is taking away a lot of heat from our body and thus keeping our temperature in check (otherwise we will die of thermal shocks). So, by simple interconnection between two separate concepts, the kid has created the theory of specific heat without knowing anything about it. The only difference between him and experts/adults is that he has not used those words that experts use.

To summarize, these kids have created two sets of hypotheses among themselves:

• Water is wet because of something external to it.
• Water is wet because of its own intrinsic property.

Which of them is correct or both are correct?

To decide that we require experiments. Hypothesis supported by experimental proof becomes a theory. In simple words, science starts with free-flowing imagination that creates hypotheses and the hypothesis that meet the validation of experiments become theories.

“Our world is first imagined and then validated.”

Now I am sure some of you may be thinking of the following points:

• This is just a coincidence.
• I have stretched simple answers into serious stuff. The kids themselves knew nothing of what they were saying.

Etc. etc.

Let me tell you something from my own experience of teaching kids for last few years. What I have presented may look like an isolated example to you and I can completely empathize with your thoughts. In fact few years back I would have nodded in agreement also. However, having gone through multiple such experiences, over the past few years, I no longer will subscribe to your thinking. Kids, irrespective of their differences (background, schools, exposure to formal sciences, etc.) continue to surprise me with their imagination and a truly scientific bent of mind. In fact, the younger the child, the more I see this pattern. However, the only requirement to see this side of their personality is to approach them with a certain amount of reverence, which we adults rarely do. We are so ready to teach them that we don’t realize that there is lot more to learn from them.

Finally, this simple example depicts the whole crux of science. A good scientist or for that matter anyone who wants to create good solutions requires the following:

1. Ability to ask “good” questions i.e. Curiosity
2. Ability to imagine or cross connect concepts i.e. Interconnections/Creativity
3. Ability to look for credible evidences i.e. create Theories

These are exactly the three things missing from the current education system and the way adults deal with the kids in general. All of these kids have no great knowledge of Science by standards of adults, but within them they already have the answers that most of us can’t even give or imagine despite all our knowledge. Now search internet for answer to the original question i.e., why is water wet, and you will find between the responses the kids have given almost all answers fit in.

Think and reflect now — do we really need to teach kids explicitly the way we do or engage with them with respect so as to learn from them? If at all we need to do something then let them be what they are. This is what my last few years of journey have taught me. Earlier I used to go to classes thinking I have to teach ignorant kids — very soon the kids made me realize how ignorant I am. First time in my life I am learning and can claim that I have some education and not some fancy degrees.

“The role of education is to take us from arrogance to realization of our ignorance and not from ignorance to some supposed intelligence.”

One last submission — when the question was actually asked to me, I actually didn’t know the answer. So, I thought and then finally googled. Today I know, Google is not God and if it is then it’s only for adults. Kids, as most religions of the world say, come from the home of Gods. Let’s respect them and learn from them — and as you do so teaching will happen effortlessly.

“Teaching is a by-product of learning and not the other way round.”

About DreamNobel

DreamNobel is an education initiative to engage in a way that “independent thinking” and “empathy” becomes an integral part of student’s personality. We have developed a unique and revolutionary course (Eklavya) whereby a kid can be taught broadly all the Science subjects (Physics, Chemistry, Biology & Geology) in an integrated manner, through a unique story and rationalization led pedagogy. The following are our social media handles: Twitter, Instagram, Medium, LinkedIn. If the thought posted here resonate with you, then please follow us to reach out to a wider audience.