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.

In an apparent attempt to restrict the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT), the new Texas law (June 2021) prevents a teacher from exploring any topic (not just the state’s history of enslavement) in a way that makes a student “feel discomfort, guilt, (or) anguish.” Twenty-six states are considering or have passed bills to make sure critical race theory is not taught in their public schools. Alas! The reasoning that backs this law doesn’t chime with many including me! So we’re going to make our student as the final arbiter of what teaching areas cause discomfort and therefore removed from curriculum? And is this ‘discomfort’ really detrimental to growth and development, or rather a contributor?

The newly formed education ministry in India has outlined significant changes and conceived new directions in the curriculum and education policy with a focus on (i) overhauling the curriculum, (ii) "easier" Board exams, (iii) a reduction in the syllabus to retain...

Encourage Multiple Perspectives In his investment theory of creativity, Sternberg (2006) identifies three intellectual skills that constitute the intellectual abilities crucial for creativity: the ability to see problems in a new way; to recognize which ideas are...

On a chilly winter morning, a thick fog enshrouding the town, an 8th grader whom I teach English online on weekends, messaged me saying her school is closed for a couple of days due to bad weather and she would like to catch up on her English Literature and Social...

Empathy and Art Observation: Last week in the National Gallery of Art, an institution that allows individuals to make sense of art objects through their own subjective experiences, beliefs, and inclinations, I participated in a workshop that was focused on using the...

Psychologists have long sought insights into how we make sense of the world, what drives our behavior, and they’ve made enormous strides into lifting that veil of mystery. In this blog, I will attempt to understand the thinking style of two pioneers, in unrelated...

Just this evening, my neighbor’s 7-year old came along with his dad to take a look at our flagstone walkway that we were getting redone. Looking closely at a couple of thick roots that he (rightly) assumed we might have to get cut as they were getting under the...

For quite some time now, the issue of referring to the killers of innocent people as Islamic terrorists, or just terrorists, has been a running battle between President Obama and his opponents; so much so, it’s leading some to use President Obama’s stand as a question...

Thronged by visitors all year round, the Discovery Room Q?rius in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History endeavors to unleash children’s curiosity through inquiry-centered, open-ended, hands-on activities imbued with an element of play. While it’s encouraging to...

Learning to Look In the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, three groups of four children each (ages between 5 and 6) hover over the assortment of rocks placed in front of them to test for color, luster, texture, magnetism, and hardness. As they wriggle their...

My friend’s daughter, a 3rd grader in a reputed school in Mumbai, painted purple trees in her art class. The idea of purple trees cut across the grain of the teacher’s ‘traditional beliefs’ about art and judging the color as a “discrepancy,” she harshly scribbled...