The beginnings of scientific curiosity.

Children are a distillation of human curiosity. On their tongues may be heard questions that adults would never think to ask, partly because many adults have stopped actively thinking about the world around them: they just take it for granted. Therefore, the most interesting of questions, can often come from the youngest of interrogators.

Recently, Fintan, 9, has displayed a notable increase in the number of scientific questions, he asks. This is not an entirely expected development since his early interests were elsewhere than science.

A couple of weeks ago, at bedtime, Fintan spoke into the darkness, his voice most thoughtful.

“Daddy: can you shoot bullets in space?”

What a wonderful question, I thought, before answering.

“Yes, in fact the bullet in space would go faster and further than in the atmosphere, because there would be no air to slow it down. What I mean is that if you shoot a bullet in the air, it is at its maximum speed as it leaves the gun. Then it begins to slow down owing to friction with the air. In space, it just wouldn’t slow down.”

The silence was ruminative as he listened to me.

“However,” I continued, “that assumes that you are using an explosive for the bullet that doesn’t need oxygen to work. As long as that is so, you can shoot bullets in space.”

I thought this a very interesting moment, for it called to mind the periods of questioning that Ainan went through and Tiarnan is going through – and the flavour of the question is much the same, too. Perhaps, an interest in science might prove to be universal in my children – which makes me wonder whether it is potentially universal in all children. Do parents snuff out an interest in science, by not answering a child’s questions and engaging with them properly? Why is science seemingly a minority interest, when the questions of children can be so scientific, at their core?

I like the style of question that Fintan comes out with. Typically he identifies, in his question, a problem that is not immediately explicable, or sometimes seems contradictory or impossible, at first glance. His mind is attracted by the exceptional and the bizarre, as well as the mysterious in everyday life. This is a valuable kind of thinking since it is often in an interest in such phenomenon that new things will be noticed – if not new to the world, at least new to the child – and in such thinking such thoughts, does a mind grow and does a child’s conception of the world, deepen.

I am left with one thought, though. What would it be like for my children asking so many scientific questions – as they all do or have done – were I a typically scientifically illiterate parent? Were such a circumstance so, I would be unable to answer their questions, their curiosity would go unfed and it is quite possible that their questioning tongues, would eventually fall silent as they learnt, by disappointing experience that it was pointless to ask, or think of such matters, since no enlightenment would ever be forthcoming. In an uneducated household, the scientifically curious child may find their minds stifled. We are fortunate, therefore, that I lived a childhood of scientific curiosity myself – for that experience has better prepared me for the challenge of raising scientifically curious children. Of course, I am not unaware that one circumstance may cause the other: that being disposed to science, may be reflected in one’s genes, and so, too, reflected in the children. Not only that, but one’s interest (an environmental factor), may spark the interest of the children. I think, however, it is more genetic than environmental, since I have never pushed my interests on to my children, but have always waited for them to take the initiative by asking relevant questions: I have let their characters emerge naturally. Thus it is, I see some genetic influences at work, in how their minds are formed and in the ways in which their thoughts are guided to certain kinds of curiosity.

In all, the situation is very rewarding. For I get to have the chance to nurture minds akin to my own, in some way, just as once I attempted to nurture my own mind, largely unaided (since the nature of my interests created an enforced self-reliance on the matter). It is pleasing that, at least, I can be there for my children, when their curiosity strikes.

Carry on questioning, Fintan...and all my boys!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

The nature of the Self, in the mind of a child.

Tiarnan is rather philosophical for a six year old. Today, he was having a serious little chat with his mother, when he suddenly asked, with the utmost intensity:

“Who is in control of me?”

His mother, Syahidah, focussed on him, somewhat startled at the question.

“Is it me, me, or is it my brain?”, he continued, drawing a distinction that seemed a little mystifying to her.

“Who do you think is in control of you?”, she prompted, acceptingly.

“Just me.”, he said, simply. “...and God, sometimes. God controls the whole world – but I am in control of me!”

He seemed happy with that conclusion.

Syahidah was quite happy, too, to have heard him think so. Listening to Tiarnan is rather refreshing. He ponders the world, asking questions of matters, that adults have come to overlook, or take for granted. He then reflects on them, deeply, answering them from within the context of his experience – yet, meaningfully, nevertheless. Tiarnan is a little philosopher and, in many ways, is proving to be a deep thinker, prone to pondering mysteries and cracking the enigmas of life. It is notable that the questions that concern him most could all be lumped under the heading: “The Meaning of Life”...for its nature and context are his primary interests. He really wants to understand what it means to be alive. He doesn’t just accept that he is alive and go from there...he is really questioning what life is and what it means to experience the living state. Yet, he is only six years old and has never read any philosophical or religious work of any kind. He is thinking for himself, afresh.

All of this leads me to wonder whether, as an adult, he might become a writer, who ponders deep questions and answers them for his readers. If so, that would be an altogether familiar outcome, for those who are privy to my writings of yesteryear (hint: not the general public, as yet).

Intellectually, Tiarnan has many a likeness to my own preoccupations – though his are in juvenescent form. That doesn’t disguise the fact, though, that he seems driven by the same motivations to question, understand and explain his world. Once again, I marvel at how much genetic influences appear to play in the formation of our minds, our characters and our interests.

I look forward to Tiarnan’s many interesting questions and ponderings, in the future.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

One of my earliest memories.

My earliest memories are quite surprising in a way. It is commonly held that people don’t have memories before the age of three or so – but I don’t believe that. My experience and that of my children, suggest that much earlier memories are possible, for some people.

One of my earliest memories places me in a baby’s cot. I don’t know how old I was exactly, but I can deduce from the limitations on my movement that it was very early – certainly in the first few months of life. I remember lying down staring up into the air above my cot – and waiting, in expectation. I was waiting for the dust motes in the air, to appear again. I knew that if a shaft of light crossed above my cot, in just the right way, then little tiny things would become visible in the air. Of course, I didn’t know what they were – but I could see them, at such times. Whenever I saw them, I would reach up to them, to try to catch them, between my finger and thumb.

Looking back, now, on this early memory, I am struck by the coordination I displayed: I really was able to control my hand and target these dust motes, with the pincer movement of my finger and thumb. I am also struck by something else. I recall, very clearly, thinking that I knew when the light would return (the next day, at the worst) and the dust motes would be visible again. I had an understanding of the passage of time, and knew something of the cyclical nature of the pattern of light. I also recall having memories, then, of earlier times on which I had seen the dust motes. So, I had a definite “memory line” into the past, even in my first few months – and I had conscious access to it.

There is something else clear about this memory. I was alone, in that cot, in that room, for what seemed like long periods, for me. I didn’t cry or complain – or cannot recall doing so, whilst I waited for the dust motes, so I assume that my parents thought me content and left me to myself, in those periods. The texture of my thoughts, then, is still clear to me now. I recall being very alert indeed, studying the tiniest nuance in my environment. I believe I was looking for changes – and the only things changing were the pattern of light and the dust motes – other than that, the room was static. My thoughts don’t seem childish in recall. They seem very focussed and attentive – and, what is more, analytical. I was analyzing my environment and trying to discover ways it could be interacted with and manipulated – yet all I was moving, was my hands.

So, on that early occasion, I was already conscious of my past, conscious of the passage of time and the cyclical nature of day and night, able to reflect on my memories and compare them with the present, able to coordinate my hands, precisely – and able to analyze my environment. I was also aware of my self, as a being, in that situation, reflecting on my world. This is not how we are told to see little children. Yet, that is how I remember my thoughts at the time.

I have other early memories, too – but I shall think carefully before describing them, here. I thought it best to put this one on record, in case I never get around to recording my early memories, just to leave an account of how I was thinking at this early stage.

I wonder: what you are your early memories? Please leave tales of your early thoughts and feelings, below.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Fintan's deft rejoinders.

Fintan, seven, is, as I have noted, before, a boy who surprises. He has a disarming manner which lulls one into a sense that all is to be as expected - and then he pounces with one of his characteristic unpredictabilities. If an "unpredictability" can be characteristic, of course.

Today, he bested me, twice, in conversation.

I was discussing reading with him. "Reading is the most important skill in life.", I opined, seriously.

"Reading?", he doubted, openly, "Not walking?", he continued, with one of his little smiles that says so much with so little.

He had me there. I imagined then, a life of utter immobility and compared it to a life of illiteracy. He was right: immobility was worse than illiteracy. The former quite deprived one of a rich life - the latter, however, might not affect one, anywhere near as drastically, if one's choices were carefully made.

He had won, without even trying. I just nodded, a little, in acknowledgement of his point.

Later that day I said: "I am going to buy a dog."

Fintan looked at me, his eyes sparkling, with amusement at what was to come. "You don't want to buy a dog, you should rent one."

Again, he had a point, for we are very unlikely to live in Malaysia for the length of a dog's life: what would we do then, when the time came to leave? He had identified the essential problem with my proposal - and proposed his own slightly whimsical solution.

I like the way he challenges my assumptions, points them out to me and punctures them. He does it so casually, as if, perhaps, it were an automatic reflex with him. I think it is, actually. I think he sees the problem with what is said to him, the moment it is said. He sees the cracks in things - the flaw that should be highlighted for a better understanding of the situation. It is a useful way to think, particularly if developed, as he grows up. It should allow him to avoid many a problem and to act, I should hope, with a certain care and wisdom.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy being defeated by my son's ripostes. It makes me smile, to hear him so.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to:http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)