How useful really was that Middle School science fair?
Like many of you reading this article I was one ambitious middle school student. I grew up joining spelling bees, chess clubs, and enjoying a heated debate about what instrument was better between the band and orchestra kids.
Although, I have forgotten most of these skills (including that godawful recorder) one skill seemed to stick, the Scientific Method (SM). I began pondering why this particular skill stuck around when all the others were forgotten. I dug into my past trying to remember the things that I could have learned over the years to push this into my brain. Then I remembered, one thrilling event that had every anticipated Middle schooler at the edge of their seats, “The Science Fair”.
You know, “The Science Fair”, where kids would compete from every level hoping to come up with the best scientific design, and that one kid who you knew would win, wins (the usual know-it-all). It’s ok to laugh at him/her. I’m sure they’ll be laughing at us when they become President.
I bring up this point, to ask, “why have we lost touch with MOST of our skills from Middle school, expect this one?” . It’s because we continuously practice the SM to this day. Whether we know it or not.
We continue to problem-solve in a very systematic approach. When given the problem, whether we know the solution or not, our first instinct is to look it up on Google (the superior web browser). Once we find some background information on a viable solution, we derive a series of steps to test that hypothesis to determine its feasibility. Much like the SM right?
I found that subconsciously we derive the solution to the problem via the SM. And all it took was 12–16 years of schooling. Wow what a good use of our time.
This leads me to the question, since we subconsciously problem-solve using the SM would we get better results if we were to consciously approach a problem? Would we get there faster? Should we all keep the SM pinned to the edge of our desks? And finally, is the SM the best way to solve a problem?
I bring up this point to challenge our way of thinking, and get you to start to think of why we think the things that we think. I know, this can sound very paradoxical. But as a society how often do we take the time to sit down and think about why we think the way we do.
Thank you.
