I was just looking at a summary by Ian Jukes on Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind. According to Ian this book focuses on what Daniel percieves to be the shift from the 'Information Age' to the 'Conceptual Age' and: More specifically, he suggests we work toward developing in ourselves (and I hope by implication, our students), six right brain “senses,” to complement our left-brain, analytic skills. He suggests we will need realize the value of:1. Not just function, but also DESIGN
2. Not just argument, but also STORY.
3. Not just focus, but also SYMPHONY.
4. Not just logic, but also EMPATHY.
5. Not just seriousness, but also PLAY.
6. Not just accumulation, but also MEANING. ______________________________________
It is interesting the separation of these into 'left' and 'right' brain - does that sit easily with moving into the 'Conceptual Age'?
Here play appears to be 'locked' out of the eleven elements listed - where does play fit?
I suspect play is more significant than this and the book is not quite as simplistic as portrayed here.
2 comments:
I like the notion of conceptual frameworks that help us see how things might fit and relate BUT I think we need to stop building these on simplistic left-right brain models - even if we say it's about both sides. And what about mid-brain? We like putting things in boxes... the brain-box...
"Now is your time to play." :-)
Perhaps a systems model would be more appropriate? Perhaps "play" is an emergent property of the whole...
Educational theory is surprisingly silent on the role of play (and love) - key aspects of being human - particularly in childhood.
We need more playful models :-)
I think the right and left brain split is problematic and with the little information I have about Daniel's book I would not like make a judgement about the other compartments.
As far as play and educational theory - there seems to be very little. Mostly focusing on the trivial aspects and not deeper play we are all involved in.
The more I am reading of 'Being and Time' the more I am convinced that freedom, play and playfulness are universal phenomena that can't be compartmentalised, but are able to be conceptualised and communal.
I have to think about this further - there is a lot I have to get my head around. I am toying with the idea that conscious playfulness is freedom enacted and often shared.
Too much - my thoughts are not mature enough yet!!!
Cheers for your comments Rog...
Thanks...
Pete...
More on that later though - I have to have a think first.
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