"How does one go about fine tuning a mind?"...Watson asks Sherlock Holmes. "Puzzles, problems of logic, mathematical equations...anything that makes you think in a new way..." Holmes responds. (From the movie: Young Sherlock Holmes) "For example, you are seated in a room with an all-southern view. Suddenly, a bear walks by the window. What color is the bear?"
Holmes knew that in order to grow, his mind needed stimulation and an orderly context in which to assimilate and accomodate the new knowledge. He probably never knew Hilda Taba, but he certainly practiced much of what she has given us in the field of concept development.
In visits outdoors, I have often sat and watched the behaviours of animals to gain insight into natural patterns of learning. I've often wondered how an animal like a fawn learns all it needs in order to survive. It will start out shy and uncertain, barely able to stand up, searching for its mother and her influence to point it in a certain direction. It certainly has some instinct, but it has to quickly develop such concepts as food, danger, movement, and hiding without any type of noticeable language. It has a brain that seeks a certain order, like many other mammals, and attempts to quickly adjust and accomodate for this newly gained stimuli. It is in a sense, "hard wired" to quickly develop important ideas that will most likely remain for the rest of its life, but how does it develop all of those important concepts?
I have also observed similar behaviors in humans. For example, when watching an infant trying to learn to walk, he will try and get up, teeter a bit, then fall back down. Observing and attemtping to ascertain what happened, his brain will process some of this information filing it away for future use to try again later, perhaps creating in a rudimentary way, a concept of walking that can now be built upon later. How is this process of developing the idea of "walking" developed and how might the developing human brain be able to take advantage of certain fine tuning methods that the deer brain can not?
These examples begin to expose that in a rudimentary form, concept development, is a "natural" method in which many species learn. However, it only works on the highest level when the mammalian brain can algorithmically process the steps necessary to develop such a concept. Both the fawn and baby human may develop a concept of walking, but only the human brain can take the concept beyond simple movement. Our human advantage for meta cognition within concept development allows us to realize what we need in order to develop our concepts to this higher degree. Taba's more formal implementation of concept development steps map out a framework in which we can explore the nuances of this learning capability to a much higher degree in our (hopefully) more developed brain structures.
"Its so easy...even a cave man can do it"...The Geico insurance company seems to also be exploring these concept development beginnings in a lateral method through its commercials about early man and his ability to develop certain concepts. Yet, recent research into primate behavior shows that even chimpanzees can learn basic concepts such as numbers, counting, and some letters. Many can even have a vocabulary of several hundred words, even though they can not vocalize them as humans can. The structures in a mammalian brain seem to have steered humans toward developing concepts that will allow for higher levels of cognition. Now, I don't have any specific data for this claim, but through implementation of a learning strategy that parallels natural conceptual learning such as Taba's concept development, many more humans may be able to achieve higher cognitive levels in understanding of complex concepts.
Taba's structure of logical steps that involve the proper supporting (scaffolded) stimuli (questioning) at certain junctures to tease the learner's growth incessantly toward the conceptual goal, act as a type of catalyst for the learning process. The method (as Holmes might say) of fine tuning a mind is as important as the mind itself. Through listing, grouping, labeling, subsuming, and recycling, we see many of the same types of mind methods used by the great detective. Why did we admire the character of Sherlock Holmes so much? Precisely because he had trained his mind to not only observe, but also make inferences, connections, and draw conclusions about the complex world around him in ways that others could not. However, with the proper training, Holmes himself might even say that anyone could do what he did and reach the same conclusions. His seemingly miraculous insights, were merely the product of careful fine tuning of his mind through methods such as concept development.
Through noticing patterns in the chaos, Holmes could form concepts, make predictions, and interpret various pieces of data as they were interwoven in even more complex shapes. Concept development follows this type of scientific method strategy in its behaviors of gathering information, organizing data, making inferences, generating alternatives, making conclusions, and making generalizations.
Taba has tapped into a scientific, logical way to order or "fine tune" a mind such that a greater amount of cognitive growth can occur, and thus the development of a concept can take deeper root inside the mind. However, this method is not infalliable, as even Holmes himself would admit in some cases. Not all parts of life or the world follow algorithmic patterns or can be ferreted out with the use of logic. The whole picture becomes of greater importance sometimes than the devil within the details...
This method is especially effective with gifted learners, as that many will naturally gravitate toward this type of logical thinking method in their own explorations of concept development. However, to facilitate this type of method is not easy. It requires considerable training and an essential change in style and behavior. Sherlock Holmes was admired because he was able to train himself in these types of concept development methods when others could not. Today, we have the benefits of more information and knowledge about how humans learn than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his Victorian counterparts. Thus, we can now implement Taba's strategies and masterfully engage our gifted learners to aspire to out think even the great Mr. Holmes himself.
Perspective is increased through greater knowledge and wisdom. Hopefully, we have that today and can use our increased perspective to develop concepts for our learners to greater extents than ever before. All we have to lose is...the future. As Holmes would say: "The game is afoot."
So, what color is the bear in Holmes' puzzle? Fine tune your mind and see if you can successfully develop this concept on your own.
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