Decoding the piano.

Music tinkles throughout our house, from the piano that had long sat idle, until recently. Ainan has taken to playing music, on its black and white keys. This, however, is a bit of a surprise.

Five years ago, when Ainan was six years old, we tried to introduce him to the piano. We secured for him a piano teacher, of Chinese descent. For several months, Ainan duly took piano lessons. However, he chafed under the regimen. He didn’t like the order of it, what he perceived as rigidity and repetition. He became uncooperative towards the lessons. In due course, we stopped inviting his teacher because it had become clear that the relationship was not working. Ainan was unwilling to learn in the style that was being imposed. He rebelled against it, in his own, quiet way...of simply not doing what was asked.

We found this a surprise at the time, since Ainan liked to compose his own tunes on the piano, even at that early stage. Perhaps that should have been a clue to us as to his real interest: he wasn’t, then, interested in the mechanics of piano playing, but in the art of composition. Had his lessons focussed on the latter and attempted to evoke that behaviour, perhaps we would have had better results and more cooperation from him. Unfortunately, we didn’t come to that understanding then.

So, it was a great surprise to me, to find Ainan playing the piano, on his own, in the front room, a few weeks ago. The tune was complex, evocative and somewhat elusive. It really surprised me that he was able to play such a tune, after five years of not touching the piano.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“It is the music to Portal 2.”, he said, matter of factly.

I understood then, what that meant. Ainan had reconstructed the music to the videogame, by “reverse engineering” it, on the piano – using his ear, to judge which notes were to be played, in which order. I said nothing, but this fact quietly impressed me – for it said one thing, clearly: he had to have a clear memory of the music in his mind, whilst he did so, for the PS3 player was in another room, quite far away, and could not be heard from the piano. Ainan was expressing his memory of a piece of music, through the piano, by playing it, in real time...without any lessons more recent than five years ago.

A few days later, I heard more family music playing. It was Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Ainan played both hands (as he had with Portal), different notes on each, rendering Moonlight Sonata accurately.

Again, I was struck by what he was doing. He was taking an internal memory of a piece of music, to the piano and reconstructing it on the keyboard – then playing it, in real time, with both hands as they should be – without any music to guide him, for none could be played near him. Furthermore, Ainan has never learnt to read music, so he was not playing Moonlight Sonata from the page...and, indeed, there was no music to play it from.

All of this struck me as very revealing of who Ainan is. He would much rather work out the piano for himself, than be taught how to do it. When we tried to have him taught, he rebelled – but when we left the piano alone, quietly, in a room...he eventually found it, sat at it and began to play.

Ainan enjoys the act of autodidacticism. He would rather teach himself, than be taught. He would rather decode the piano and how it works and is played, on his own, than be taught how to do it. This act, embodies his profoundest nature, very well. In seeing him play the piano, without prompting, or lessons, we are seeing Ainan at his truest, deepest, self.

This recent development reminds me of how Ainan taught himself computer programming when he was six years old. He also reverse engineered it. He sat down at a computer keyboard and typed in statements that he thought might represent VBS (Visual Basic), commands. He watched what the computer did as a result and learnt, thereby, what each phrase did, and how the computer responded. He kept on typing and trying phrases and syntax, until he had, overtime, reconstructed the programming language, for himself and deciphered how it worked. He did this without any programming lessons – he just worked out how VBS worked, on his own. Thus, it is with the piano, recently: he has simply decoded it for himself.

Seeing how he learns, and how he teaches himself, I do wonder at the necessity and value of traditional education. Ainan’s achievements show that a child can teach himself essentially anything, on his own, by trial and error and experience of the thing itself. Ainan also shows himself to be rather better than a typical child, his age, at learning. Could it be, that traditional education is not helping people as much as it should? How is it that Ainan’s self-directed tinkering, can be superior in outcome – as it typically is, with him - to all that careful inculcation and “well-crafted” traditional lessons?

The lesson here is that some children, at least, are able to learn without the aid of traditional schooling. Indeed, as Ainan shows, in some cases, such children PREFER to learn without the aid of traditional schooling and find traditional schooling to be an encumbrance against which they rebel.

I am happy that Ainan has rediscovered the piano. I am happier still to note the way that he has done so. I am left, now, however, with a conundrum: having seen him play the piano on his own, should I encourage him to get lessons...or should I continue to leave him to his own devices? Would he now be responsive to tuition, or is it his own interest that propels him and propels him alone?

For now, I will let him tinker on, in his own way. In the meantime, I will ponder the question of whether to intervene, or not.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

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A curiously personalized personal computer.

Ainan's computer does things my computer doesn't. Furthermore, it isn't because he has bought software I haven't got - it is because Ainan has made his computer behave that way.

Somehow, he has taught himself how to programme certain aspects of his computer. Making particular entries brings up unique message boxes, with comic messages in them (written by Ainan). One popular programme launch button has even been booby trapped so that pressing it shuts the computer down. Ainan thinks this is hilarious, since anyone, but him, who uses his computer is likely to run into that and various other problems. Ainan has made his computer quirky. It has a personality all of its own, with a set of responses that no other computer has.

Even after all these years, in his company, Ainan still manages to surprise me. He has never had a single computer programming lesson. He has never been to a computer class. Yet, he has taught himself, from online files, how to get his computer to behave in a personalized manner. He is programming the responses he wants from it.

As I watch him teach himself things no-one has ever ventured to teach him and master them with what seems effortless ease, I come to the conclusion that, if every child was like Ainan, schools would be entirely superfluous. A child like Ainan doesn't need a school to learn anything - they just need books (or the internet equivalent) and their own innate curiosity.

I am reminded that, when Ainan was six, he taught himself Chemistry, from the internet. Here he is, then, again, teaching himself some programming skills - also from the internet.

A resourceful child needs only a net connection (or a well-stocked library) to educate themselves. I don't see in what way schools are superior to the process I observe in Ainan. At his age, school would not yet even have started to teach Chemistry or programming - yet Ainan is quite able to learn these things on his own, already. School, perhaps, only has utility for those unable to teach themselves. Those who are, however, are probably hampered, rather than enabled by the requirements of school.

To date, almost everything Ainan knows has been learnt at home - much of it by himself. School plays little part in his education.

Back to the topic in hand: mercifully, he has not, yet, booby trapped my computer with any quirky behaviour - but I rather enjoy watching the things that his does, when one tries to interact with it in a normal way.

It is good to see him add another area of skill to his repertoire. He seems to be laying down all the key skills he would need to be scientifically and technically proficient, as an adult - and he is making the selections himself.

By the time, he reaches the age when schools actually begin teaching the skills he is acquiring, he will already be expert in all of them. It would almost be funny, if it wasn't so sad. You see, schools should really allow kids like Ainan to develop when they want to - and not put them on a "go-slow" programme, which would bore them.

Luckily, Ainan has his own solution: it is called an internet connection, a pile of books and lots of curiosity.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Chemistry experiments beyond the book.

When does being a student end and being a scientist begin? When the student goes beyond the book and does something new.

Ainan regularly goes beyond the book. He does his own thing. He thinks up his own experiments. This past week or so, provides an example.

Ainan has a chemistry set at home. It is pretty basic since I haven't seen anything sophisticated on sale in Singapore. One surmises that, in this age of threats from far and wide, that this is probably policy. The kind of chemistry set which used to be so readily available when I was a child (one with plenty of different chemicals in plentiful supply) doesn't seem to be so easy to find. At least, not in the shops here.

Nevertheless, given the severe limitations of the chemical resources available to him, Ainan has managed to find something new to do with his chemistry set.

The details of his reactions are unknown to me - but I saw them in action. In one he combined two seemingly uncoloured items, to produce a virulent blue product. It was quite the strongest colour. "This is a dye, Daddy.", he announced.

It seemed like it would make a good dye, to me.

"That experiment is not in the book, is it?" I checked, for I had read it myself and saw nothing remotely resembling this reaction in it.

He shook his head, in confirmation.

"How do you know how to do that?"

He just sort of shrugged. "I know.", he said, before launching off into a rapid-fire explanation of what exactly he had done - which I failed to follow well enough to describe here.

Then he did it again. He produced another tube of clear fluid, dropped another fluid into it - and produced a rich brown colouration. "And this is another dye." he declared.

Sure enough the colour was rich enough to be so used, to my eyes.

I don't know what the reactions were - but I know this: they weren't in the book. Nowhere in the materials provided to him, was this particular suggestion present. He had, therefore, gone beyond the book.

I think when a child does this - when they venture out onto their own and make something new (to them, at least) out of the resources to hand - they are demonstrating that they have the instincts of a scientist, of an independent thinker.

I am left to wonder what he would do - or try to do - had he a greater range of resources to hand. Given the constraints on chemical purchases here, I don't think a home lab is a feasible possibility. We will just have to get him consistent access to a fully-equipped lab. (As regular readers will know, this has proven anything but easy, here in Singapore. Lab owners seem most reluctant to let an interested young scientist into them. They only cater to bored older ones, who have lost their enthusiasm.)

Of course, there are dangers inherent in open experimentation. Some end products are not to be made lightly. It is clear, in this instance, however, that he knew what he was doing.

Furthermore, he is aware of the dangers of chemical synthesis - and knows how to steer clear of making commonly known dangerous products. So, I am not concerned that he would stumble on a dangerous outcome. He knows what to avoid. Nor would he ever deliberately seek to make a substance that would be hazardous to him.

However, if you have an experimentally minded child, it might be wise to supervise them, lest they be less circumspect than I know Ainan to be.

Of course, if you have a commercially bought chemistry set, it is unlikely that any of the chemical possibilities found within it, could result in a dangerous outcome - so that is another layer of safety.

These concerns aside, I was pleased to note that Ainan was applying his imagination to the possibilities inherent in the relatively few reactants available to him. I now have two samples of dye in my house to prove it: one a deep blue, the other a rich brown - both quite beautiful.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Ainan explores mathematics

Mathematics, at school, for a Primary 2 student is not a very exciting affair. Indeed, in Ainan's school they have got as far as addition and subtraction - and no further. Needless to say, Ainan had long begun to fret at the pace of things and had all but adjudged maths to be boring. Then something wonderful happened: he began to discover it for himself.

A couple of weeks ago, Ainan picked up a maths book and began to read. He soon found it more interesting than he had thought. Within days, he was beginning to enthuse about maths - and the range of mathematical ideas that he has absorbed in that short time is quite remarkable.

His conversation now concerns transcendental numbers, irrational numbers, perfect numbers, primes, semiperfect numbers, weird numbers, powerful numbers, mathematical constants, folke's constant, skewe's number (any spelling mistakes are my own since I am rendering what I here him speak of), factorials, roots, squares, cubes, powers, indices, sublime numbers, amicable numbers (he was particularly taken by these), imaginary numbers, (and many others) he has taken to inventing his own constants, writing equations, playing with functions, designing mathematical challenges...it just goes on. He has even written a maths book to encapsulate his new experience in words and pictures.

I also note something interesting. He has begun to absorb mathematical facts in great detail - much as he did with chemistry. His speech is peppered with numbers to the seventeenth decimal - which he has learnt as easily as you or I might remember our own names. He knows pi to seventeen decimal places. He knows e to a similar precision. He knows many, many different numbers, each of which are examples of the classes of numbers that he has come to know. He remembers the products of all the calculations of mathematical functions that he has been playing with. (For instance, he learnt many "conjective numbers"). He is beginning to draw relationships and associations between numbers and divine his own patterns within them. He is making number references in his speech - defining the numbers he sees in the everyday world in terms of other numbers about which he knows something interesting.

What is amazing about all of this is that mere days ago none of it existed. He had not developed any spontaneous interest in maths at all - apart from an interest in hyperdimensional four, five and higher dimensional shapes which he had nursed for over four years.

Ainan has just decided, one day, to look at maths. This is the same thing that happened one day, with chemistry - and look how far he has come with that, in a short time.

Even now, Ainan retains an ability to surprise me.

Now that his interest in maths has awakened, he is asking that I buy maths texts for him - so I shall make a trip tomorrow to do just that. I think Ainan's best teacher is himself. So, I will let him do just that - pick up a book and teach himself maths.

It is a happy moment for me, as a father, to see him develop this interest in mathematics - because I know how important it is to support his primary interest in the physical sciences. Without good maths behind him, some branches of the physical sciences would have been forever closed to him. Looking at how he has begun to enthuse about maths, I don't think that will be a problem for him. If he tackles maths as he has chemistry, there is no telling just how "numerate" he will be in a few months time.

(If you would like to read more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, three and Tiarnan, fourteen 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.)