Young children instinctively strive A. Gopnik. How babies think / Scientific American to knowledge. It is an integral part of their nature. They actively move around, observe what is happening around, remember their impressions. In the process, they begin to form theories about the structure of the world.
In early childhood, they are associated with the concepts of relatives and the consequences of various actions (for example, what will happen if you throw a non-watering cup on the floor again and again). With age, these theories become more complicated, children come up with amazing (and sometimes hilariously funny) ideas. For example, that the wind appears when trees move their leaves.
Adults usually think not about how to learn something new or understand some phenomenon, but about how to complete tasks. And they become like a child who has been told what to do with a toy, and who no longer needs to use his imagination himself. In this state, you will not come up with something interesting.
Therefore, remind yourself that there is still a lot of unknown . Be inspired by a child's desire to look for new explanations for familiar things.
In 1933, nurse Harriet Johnson described H. M. Johnson. The Art Of Block Building , how children handle cubes. Regardless of age, they first turn them in their hands, examine the texture and weight. And then they do not immediately begin to fold into complex structures, but simply carry them with them. And only when they have some experience, they try to build something similar to houses.
From this we can draw a simple conclusion: it is quite natural and even useful to study the problem in more detail before choosing a way to solve it.
In children, this happens automatically, but it is better for adults to consciously plan such studies. Give yourself time to think about different solutions and ask questions that at first glance seem extraneous. Be open to the unexpected and then you will find extraordinary approaches to business.
Recently, many master classes start with some kind of engineering problem. For example, you need to build a tower of pasta and scotch tape, or send a feather flying with the help of tubes and paper cups. Tom Vujec, a design and teamwork specialist, regularly conducts a similar exercise with marshmallows.
In eighteen minutes, each team needs to build a stable spaghetti tower that will hold the marshmallows on top. The higher the tower, the better. According to T. Wujec. Build a tower, build a team / TED Talks In general, it is not adults who cope best, but preschool children.The reason is different approaches to the case. Adults usually choose a leader, discuss plans, delegate responsibilities. In general, they rely on past experience in solving problems. Or reconstruct existing objects (the most frequent option is the Eiffel Tower). This is not a bad approach when you need to work with a typical task. But the pasta-marshmallow tower is a completely non—standard thing, so it's better to forget about the baggage of knowledge.
Children still have little experience, most situations are new and unusual for them. They do not limit themselves to repeating the towers they once saw. Having no standard proven solutions in stock, they come up with incredible buildings that do not occur to adults. Remind yourself of this when faced with something unusual. And instead of immediately acting the old way, start with a clean slate.
Children not only use existing objects in an unusual way, but also come up with something themselves during the games. For example, they see a phone in any rectangular object and make a fake call on it. Or they turn into some kind of animal for a while. At first glance, there is nothing particularly impressive about this. But such increased creativity has important functions.
It leads to innovation, thanks to which children achieve the goals of the game despite limited resources.
Adults, when faced with a task, often fixate on obstacles. We know that one solution cannot be applied because of reason A, the other because of factor B. Of course, there is no point in wasting energy on something obviously impossible. But still, sometimes try to think like children who think that everything will come out. Try to balance a realistic approach and imagination.
Already at an early age, kids change their behavior in order to better achieve goals during the game. In particular, they react to unexpected help from caregivers. Researchers noticed A. Lomangino. AERA Conference: Spanning Research and Practice / Bing Nursery School this is after watching the kids in kindergarten. Most often, the child used the advice he received to solve the difficulties that arose and quickly returned to his game, learning something new in the process.
This corresponds to Lev Vygotsky's theory of learning. In the early 1930s he introduced Zone of immediate development / Large Psychological dictionary. Edited by B. G. Meshcheryakova, V. P. Zinchenko the concept of "zone of proximal development" in relation to children, but this concept is also applicable to adults. Each person can complete a task using one of two levels of development — actual or potential.
The actual corresponds to what we are able to do on our own — for example, to do our typical work. Potential — what we can do with a little help when we are not given a ready answer, but are pushed in the right direction. Between these two levels is a zone of potential development.
Imagine a child looking for a lost toy. If you don't even know where she is, you can still help with the search. For example, offer to look under the sofa or in the next room. According to Vygotsky, training takes place just at this moment, when a more experienced person helps to achieve more than we would have mastered alone.
Reacting to the advice, we acquire knowledge and memorize new strategies. As a result, the actual level of development increases.
At work, we are also constantly faced with informal tasks and ideas, but we usually approach them with our current level of development. It seems to us that we do not need help, and unsolicited advice is rather annoying. But it is such tips from colleagues or managers that can increase our level of development and make us more productive. So do not rush to dismiss them.
