REVOLUTIONARY THINKERS
Things are often not as they seem. Looking out in my yard, the world sure looks flat to me. Our students are tomorrow's inventors, authors, and politicians. What will they discover that just does not sound right today.
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| S. Davis
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One example of this is Charles Darwin who published On the Origin of Species in 1859. In it he developed his theory of evolution and postulated that all living beings have a common ancestor. This idea came to him from extensive observation in the Galapagos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle. This was at the time somewhat controversial, and remains so in certain parts of the world today. It is counter-intuitive to think that dinosaurs and corn have a common ancestor.
Can you think of any other ideas taken for granted today which were considered out of the mainstream in times past that could be used to encourage my students to "Think out of the Box".
They do not have to be science related if that is not your area of expertise. They could be political or concern the arts. Ever heard of Picasso, Copernicus, and Marx?
History tells us that, thanks to Ptolemy, for over a millennium we thought that the earth was at the center of the universe with the sun orbiting the earth. Nicolaus Copernicus broke the mold when he published the idea that the sun was at the center of the universe with the planets orbiting the sun. Of course, due to modern technology, we now know that the sun is not at the center of the universe. Still, Copernicus' recognition that the earth revolves about the sun was a huge leap forward in the Scientific Revolution, though the Roman Catholic Church opposed his ideas for years. It's also very interesting to me that up until the time of Einstein, scientists assumed there was an invisible, solid ether that permeated the universe because they could not understand how light waves could travel through the vacuum of space!
ReplyDeleteI want to mention something from pop culture that was not taken seriously but is now considered commonplace. I recall the original Star Trek series where Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner) and others in his crew used wireless communicators to talk to those on the ship while they explored a planet. That was considered a fancy idea. Now we have android cell phones and iPhones that allow us to talk to someone on the other side of the planet. Further, the satellites involved in this technology make necessary calculations based on General Relativity to make sure they are in their respective positions above the Earth and accurately receive and transmit signals. No scientist was sure in the late 1900's that General Relativity would be used in a practical way in technology any time in the near future. That is an amazing feat.
ReplyDeleteHey Shawn, Thanks for the post, my 10 yr old son and I watch Star Trek religously on Me-TV Saturday nights at 6. Of course I watched them when they were first run and thought it was just crazy nonsense. Now we really can accomplish a great deal of the fantasy.
DeleteHello Lisa, my son has the art history section for McGill-Toolen's Hi-Q team. He is an engineer wannabee like me. The final at the Battle House Hotel is next week. I am sending him over right now. It really is an area that transforms boundaries and it has been a good experience for him to get out of his comfort zone. Glad to hear students are exposed to it early on.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of stories in my mind about geniuses that would help your students understand how important it is to think outside of the box and to pursue the ideas one might have, even if they seem crazy at that moment. Alexander Fleming, for example, was a physician that noticed the mold formed on an exposed culture while studying deadly bacteria and he found it “interesting”. Other physicians would just leave it at that, but he continued his research and found what it is today called penicillin which has saved millions of lives.
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