I have created this acronym STEP to embody creative and critical thinking skills that must be inculcated in all children through education in formal as well as informal educational settings. These skills support proactive learning as individuals engage in multifaceted contexts throughtout life. Only when individuals engage with the new information through questioning, exploring, sharing understandings, they learn meaningfully and can better apply the acquired knowledge to new situations.

SEE

PERSIST

THINK

EXPLORE

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Struggles: An Opportunity for Growth

Too much stability has been scientifically linked to a lack of growth & learning in our lives. As the old adage goes, “Old ways won’t open new doors.” Staying in your comfort zone can restrict you, keep your emotional bandwidth from expanding & cutting you off from new experiences or from taking a leap toward what you really want.

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The Gift of Courage

“Courage may be the most important gift of all. It is not something we are born with. It is not something that, for the most part, we learn in school. Rather, it is a choice that anyone can make—if they are willing to pay the price. It is courage, perhaps more than...

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The Hue and Cry Surrounding the Afghan Government Collapse – How Can I Be Wrong?

The Hue and Cry Surrounding the Afghan Government Collapse – How Can I Be Wrong?

I think not just in a severe conflict or war situations, but also in everyday life where sundry complexities abound and surround humans, this kind of a ‘thinking disposition’ empower the young to use effectively their reasoning and navigate their way through personal as well as professional quandaries that could be ambiguity ridden. Enculturating such thinking behaviors warrantees schools’ top priority and our schools need to make a surge of effort in this direction.

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ABOUT STEP LEARN

Humans have an innate capacity to be curious, explore to the sky’s limit, and learn through a self-driven inquiry that leads them to infer and make meaning. But just a quick glance at what we do in schools reveals how we inadvertently squash that innate ability to learn. Our long list of topics of the curriculum stifles critical and creative thinking, instead of providing opportunities for kids to ‘play’ with concepts, test theories, and make connections with their background knowledge to learn meaningfully. To best put it in words, the Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard school, Howard Gardner once quipped, “what we teach is a mile long and an inch deep.” Honestly, in making kids a store-house of ‘facts,’ we essentially clutter their mind.

 

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About me

I am a school docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C and a life-long learner in always looking for ways to enhance the educational journey of individuals, specifically young kids who are endowed with greater flexibility, blossoming creativity, and a readiness to explore fearlessly. With a focus on the cognitive aspects of learning visual art, I am interested in what individuals learn when they observe art, engage in a critical discourse, or produce works of art.

 

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