Tiarnan tests the temperature.

Tiarnan is a creative toddler. I say this because he manages to find new ways to do old things that are, in fact, superior. This is rather surprising when you consider that he is only 17 months and can't be expected to have too much experience of life.



One example happened a couple of weeks ago.



Tiarnan, like most young children, has long discovered that some objects can be hot. He has learnt to be wary of hot objects. This is natural. However, what is unusual is the approach he has adopted towards potentially hot objects. He has taken to testing their temperature in a way unlikely to bring him pain. Most children - and adults - in fact, reach out to touch potentially hot objects with the tips of their fingers, extending one finger to test the heat of the object. This is effective. It is not difficult to ascertain whether something is hot. The problem is that the tip of the finger is highly sensitive and easily feels pain. Tiarnan has recognized this and so has invented a different approach. When faced with an object which may be hot, such as a cup, he reaches out to touch it - WITH THE OUTSIDE OF HIS FIST. My wife and I thought this particularly ingenious, because this part of the hand is quite insensitive to heat and less given to pain - and so, from Tiarnan's perspective - much less likely to feel hurt. He can readily determine whether the object is hot - but with much less risk of sudden discomfort or pain.



This shows that Tiarnan is observing his body very closely and how it responds to the environment. In this way, he rapidly adapts his behaviour so the outcome suits him better.

It is enlightening how much thought can be revealed in even the simplest of actions - for if an action is non-standard, there is always a good reason why this is so. Just ask Tiarnan.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, seventeen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and seven months, or Fintan, four years and no months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Ainan on scientific responsibility

Ainan, 7, thinks of many things that few people do. One of these is the issue of scientific responsibility - or what scientists owe to society and how they should behave with regards to the wider world. These are considerable issues for a seven year old to be thinking about - but I find it encouraging that he is - for it promises that, one day, he will be a responsible scientist himself, ever thinking about the impact of his work, on the wider world.

Last week, he asked a question that illustrated his interest in scientific responsibility: "When ricin was discovered...and how poisonous it was, and where it came from...why did the scientists who did so, publish that?"

The intent of his question was clear: why arm people with such information which, in the wrong hands, could become a weapon? Why is the scientist not considering the impact of their work and the danger it might represent? Ricin is a good example. It is a terrible poison - and the tiniest amounts can kill - yet its source is readily available. Once the facts are known of this substance, it would not take a huge amount of skill to make. This is what Ainan was pointing out - in the modern world, with dangers all around and many people of ill-intent, why do people persist in releasing dangerous knowledge to the wider public, about whom nothing is known?

He did ask, further, why the media covered such material...why did the media write about these substances and point people's way to their sources?

In Ainan's view certain matters should be kept low-key so that their danger could be minimized. In his young eyes, the world would be a safer place, if knowledge of dangerous materials was restricted to those who would be responsible about them.

His stance is not a bad stance in most aspects - though it might cause problems for the progress of science in some areas, where the free access to information is required so that scientists can build on each other's work. Ainan, however, was looking mainly to the dangers of the situation and advising that restraint and discretion be shown in all matters that were hazardous.

On balance, Ainan's view, though formed in a seven-year old mind, would lead to a safer world than the practise of many scientists and media in this world. Some things ought to be kept a whole lot quieter.

It is good to see Ainan maturing in this fashion: for it takes maturity of mind and character to look beyond one's immediate circumstance and to see and consider the wider impact of what one does. Many scientists - and most media - don't do that - as Ainan has pointed out.

I look forward to the day when Ainan is a responsible scientist in a world that needs more examples of the kind.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and no months and Tiarnan seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)

Why I haven't been posting

Dear All,

I have not been posting because a "spam robot" locked my blog. Apparently, having a lot of links can do this to one's blog.

Anyway, today Blogger reviewed my site and cleared it for continuation as an official non-spam blog.

I shall therefore be posting as usual, later today.

Thanks for your patience.

Visitors from Vanuatu, Oceania

Unusually, the last 24 hours have seen several visitors from Vanuatu, Oceania. I have not noted such visitors before - so I can only wonder has Ainan been news in Vanuatu? If you know, please put the details in a comment, so that I might take a look at it. Thanks.



Anyway, if you are from Vanuatu, welcome. There is plenty to read so it will probably take many visits to absorb it all.



Best wishes

Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

I have just taken my family to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was not the experience publicity had led us to suppose - but it did have its lessons, all the same.

Much of the film was concerned with what happens when an institution tries to repress the individuality and expressiveness of its people. Hogwarts school comes under the baleful influence of the Ministry of Magic, which seems mainly to be informed by paranoia and is more than a little drunk on power. Through the lens of this film, one could suppose that J.K. Rowling is examining the nature of totalitarianism, everywhere.

What is telling about the people in this film is that the children do not allow themselves to be repressed forever. This too, is true to life in most countries of the world and in most institutions where repression has been exerted too long and too hard. However, it is not always the case and, in this sense, the film is not true to what can actually happen in real life. Sometimes, the people just give in and accept their repressive situation - at least on the scale of human lifetimes.

Yet, being Hollywood, of course, the children rebel and reassert their individuality. I suppose that J.K Rowling is stating here, that she believes the desire to be individual and expressive cannot be held down for too long - for when it is repressed a desire to rebel builds up and over time, there can only be an explosion of sorts. So, too, is it in Harry Potter.

A child watching this could learn the lesson that individuality is important and must be nurtured and, at times, even fought for. The children of the school fight for many things - but one of them is simply the freedom to be themselves.

Yet, there is an unconscious irony here. You see much of the Potter themes are derivative and echo other works by other prior authors. Indeed, so obvious are some of the borrowings from other works that Ainan piped up at one time: "Why is this like the Lord of the Rings?", he enquired, not best pleased.

It is like the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's has a "Dark Lord"...and Potter has a, well, a "Dark Lord". Frodo Baggins has a direct connection to the "Dark Lord" through his Ring - and Harry Potter has a direct connection to the "Dark Lord" - through his mind. Tolkien has Gollum who says "My precious." a lot. Potter has a very Gollum like figure who says "My mistress." a lot. There is a baddie in Potter that looks remarkably like the blond twins, in styling, from The Matrix...I could go on, but you should get the idea by now. Harry Potter is many things but it could never be accused of being original.

This is a pity, in many ways. Harry Potter is the most successful book series, of its kind, at any time. Yet, it is founded on "borrowing" themes and ideas present in prior, greater works. That it succeeds is only because its audience is too young to know where everything comes from - though Ainan is only 7 and he noticed the borrowings from the Lord of the Rings, himself. Usually, however, this derivativeness will pass a child by - and so it is that Potter can succeed.

So, the film left me with mixed feelings about it. One theme is important for children to understand: that the freedom of self-expression should be preserved - but the story is actually an example of the denial of that freedom. J.K Rowling imitates so many others through her work, that one could say she is a potent counter-example of free expression. It is a blow against the creative spirit to derive her works from the works of others. It is a blow against those who had the individuality to create their own original works. In this sense, Rowling works against the very theme that she proposes as central to this film. In a derivative world, the individual creator cannot be free to be themselves, without suffering the indignity of imitation.

It would be good to see more actual originality in Rowling's works. Perhaps it is just a function of being old enough to have seen and read quite a lot - but that background knowledge does make the entire Harry Potter franchise look like a patchwork quilt of other people's ideas. It is tiring to see such tired material up on the screen.

The film was unable to hold Ainan's and Fintan's attention and from about half way through they were getting restless and a little bored. Ainan is 7 and Fintan has just turned 4 - to give you some idea of whether it is right for your child. They preferred to play with each other, in the second half, than watch the antics on the screen. This is not their usual response to a film, by the way.

We shan't be going to another Potter movie. In that way, we will be expressing our freedom to choose, as advised by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and no months, or Tiarnan, seventeen months, go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Ainan counts calories

Ainan has his own brand of humour. Sometimes his jokes are rather technical in nature, requiring knowledge of some branch of science or other, to be understood. I find these interesting because he is finding humour where others would only see obscurity.

At other times, his remarks are more accessible. Today he remarked:

"Butter has the same energy per kilogram as TNT. It is just that it tastes better and doesn't explode."

I know which I'd rather spread on my toast, same energy or not.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and seven months, a scientific child prodigy, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and no months, or Tiarnan, seventeen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Volksblad, South African Newspaper

Ainan, 7, was written of by the Volksblad newspaper, South Africa, on the 12th July 2007. I cannot read the article since it is in Afrikaans, but from what I can discern it is an article which begins by talking of Ainan but then cedes into an article about giftedness in general. It appears to ask some Professors to comment on what giftedness is.

The article is pasted below so as to preserve it. Thanks to Volksblad of News 24, for taking an interest in Ainan's story.

Dié seuntjie (7) sit onderwysers ore aanJul 12 2007 09:48:22:063PM - (SA) Amy Johnson

KAAPSTAD. – ’n Sewejarige seuntjie van Singapoer is die jongste kind ter wêreld wat die O-vlak chemie-eksamen met vlieënde vaandels geslaag het en is reeds besig om vir die A-vlak eksamen voor te berei.

Dié eksamen word gewoonlik deur 18-jariges afgelê.

Ainan Celeste Cawley word as ’n wonderkind beskou en is blykbaar die jongste wetenskaplike op rekord ter wêreld.

Ainan het op die ouderdom van ses maande begin stap. As kleuter het hy ’n groot belangstelling in wetenskap en kuns getoon en hy was ses jaar oud toe hy glo sy eerste wetenskaples aan ’n groep kinders by ’n skool in Singapoer aangebied het.

Sy pa, mnr. Valentine Cawley, was glo self ’n begaafde kind en meen hy kan ’n steunpilaar vir Ainan wees.

Ainan het skole in Londen en Singapoer bygewoon, maar volgens sy pa “is die standaard van die onderrig nie goed genoeg nie” en wil hulle hom nou by ’n universiteit inskryf.
Volgens ’n plaaslike opvoedkundige sielkundige, dr. S.T. Potgieter, is Ainan ’n “seldsame verskynsel”.

“Dit is nie iets wat gereeld voorkom nie, hy is ’n begaafde kind. Sy IK is hoër as 145. ’n ‘Gemiddelde mens’ se IK is tussen 90 en 110. Hierdie kinders het spesiale aandag nodig en die huidige skoolstelsel maak net voorsiening vir die gewone kind,” het Potgieter gesê.

Prof. Hennie Steyn, verbonde aan die fakulteit opvoedkunde aan die Noordwes-universiteit, het gesê die gemeenskap moet hom soos ’n gewone kind met ’n spesifieke aanleg aanvaar.
Volgens Mensa se webwerf het begaafde kinders nie net intellektuele stimulering nodig nie, maar ook emosionele ondersteuning. Die ouers van ’n begaafde kind word aangeraai om die spesiale vermoëns van al hul kinders raak te sien en moet dit vermy om net die een te prys.
Cawley meen daar wag ’n blink toekoms op sy seun.

“Hy is op sy gelukkigste wanneer hy dink, leer en eksperimente uitvoer. Wetenskap is soos al die speelgoed in die wêreld wat saam gegooi is, en niks maak hom gelukkiger as om daarmee te speel nie.

“Dit is juis sy houding teenoor wetenskap wat eendag van hom ’n goeie wetenskaplike sal maak.”