Transformers and the analytical mind.

Ainan, 10, likes computer games as much as any other young boy. However, his approach to playing them, might not be as common.

About a week ago, I noted something odd. Every time Ainan played his Transformers computer game on the PS3, he would write down some numbers.

"What are you doing Ainan?"

"Oh, I am compiling statistics on the relative performance of different Transformers, under different combat conditions."

I paused a little at that. Most kids would just play the game.

"Why are you doing that?"

"I just want to find out which are the best at doing various things."

His attention was not on me. It was on the numbers he was compiling. I left him to it.

This little incident, though, made me think about what life was like for a child scientist. The need to analyze, examine and understand is ever present, in such a child - and even invades their everyday activities. Indeed, I think that doing something like Ainan was doing, last week, is indicative of a mind with a scientific bent. Any child who pauses to analyze his world, to put its nature into numbers or laws or observations, is a child who is thinking like a scientist. So, even if they have never actually done such a thing in the context of a science lesson in school, if you find them doing it in their everyday life, then, assuredly, you have a young scientist on your hands.

Ainan is always analyzing his world. He does so, I think, without even realizing that he is doing so. That he should so unconsciously sit down and turn a game of Transformers into an exercise in scientific observation, is just typical. Ainan, of course, wouldn't see anything unusual about it. To him, it would be a natural product of his curiosity about the game world, to do so.

This kind of playful curiosity about the world and its nature - even if applied to an imaginary game world, such as Transformers, is good preparation for real science. The very same processes that are used in science, are being used by Ainan in his analysis of the game. The only difference between that and what others would declare as "real science" is the subject matter. Indeed, the very same thought processes and analyses could be applied to a real world experiment, in a different context.

Yet, I wonder: how would other children view Ainan's analytical interest in the underlying power structure of the game? Would they think it acceptable, or odd? Or would they, indeed, be interested in the results for how it might inform their own game playing? Would they, too, see it as a natural extension of a child's interest in playing a game well, for enjoyment?

I will probably never know, since I don't think I am going to ask another child about it. For now, however, I will just let Ainan be and let him enjoy his analysis of the Transformers world. Does it really matter how many - or how few - other children might do the same kind of analysis? Not really. It only matters that the task has meaning and enjoyment for Ainan. Any other consideration is unnecessary.

Happy game playing Ainan.

(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.html

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Education should be free.

Education should be free, everywhere, everywhen. There should be no fees at any stage of the educational process. To do otherwise, is to compromise the whole purpose, nature and intent of education itself.

Why do I say this? Well, to ask a fee for education - any fee at all - is to ensure that some potential students will be excluded not on the basis of ability but on the inability to pay. The higher the fee, the higher the barrier to those of limited means and the more who will be excluded.

Singapore, like America charges for its education. Thus, like America it is an unequal system where opportunities differ depending on the wealth of one's family. This should not be so.

Today, Ainan returned to Singapore Polytechnic to continue with Chemistry. Unprecedentedly, however, he laboured alone in the labs, the seat beside him, where his lab partner had sat, on all other occasions, remained empty.

Half-way through the class, I asked the lecturer if she knew where Ainan's lab partner was: was she sick...or had she dropped out of the course?

The answer was as feared. Ainan's experimental partner had returned home to Malaysia. The lecturer then voiced my own thought: "I don't know why...she had no problems with the lab work."

I agreed with her. Ainan's partner had been as competent as she had been warm, to Ainan. I very much doubted whether a lack of ability to cope was the reason.

"I think it is probably financial. Singapore is very expensive for a Malaysian - and the economy is not good now."

The lecturer agreed. "Such a pity...she was such a nice girl, too."

"Yes." She had been a very good partner for Ainan.

As I returned to the bench to sit beside Ainan, I reflected on what this meant. Ainan's lab partner had come all the way from Malaysia, to secure a "better education" for herself. She had parted from home and family to do so. Now, however, in all likelihood, she had been forced to give up her dream to return home to Malaysia, her qualification incomplete, her education cut short. The probable reason: money.

I don't think that a lack of money should be allowed to impede anyone's education. Education should be regarded as a basic right - and should be as free as the air we breathe (presently free anyway...). To place a charge upon it, is to ensure that many cannot benefit from it. This means that families whose circumstances are straitened may pass on their limited circumstances to their offspring, whose limited educations will perpetuate the same straitened circumstances. A greater injustice is harder to imagine. Each generation should be allowed to be set free from the limitations of the one before - and the only means to allow that is to ensure that all education is free to all.

Some will object that the girl in question is Malaysian and should therefore pay for a Singaporean education. However, were education free to outsiders Singapore would find little trouble in drawing the best from around the world to its doors - some of whom would go on to settle here. So, there is an advantage even in such a policy.

Whether or not education should be free to non-nationals is not a central issue. The point is that education, in Singapore and America, is not even free to nationals. It should be.

When I grew up, in the UK, Universities were free to all. Indeed, the State paid a fee to each student to cover their living costs at University. This meant that there was social justice: even the poorest could afford to get a University education. It meant that there was great social mobility, with those of poorest background able to rise to the top of the professional tree, if they made the necessary effort - for the doors were not barred by financial means. It strikes me as a better system than those nations that seek a fee everytime knowledge is imparted. Such countries are paying a very high price in the lost potential of their youth.

I wonder, now, whether Ainan's lab partner will ever become the Chemist she had dreamed of being. Will her family be able to afford her education? Will she have to settle for a lesser role in life, wishing away her days on might-have-beens? It is sad - for she would have been a warm and welcome presence in any lab - for not only was she able, but amiable too.

I wish her well on finding a way forward - and I wish well, too, all who are in her situation: stalled in their educations for want of the money to pay for them.

There is a better way: education should be free for all, everywhere, everywhen.

(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)

A young experimenter's decibel test

Today, I found Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, standing still upstairs, shouting, on his own. It was a strange kind of shout...a long drawn out shout that maintained the same volume and didn't seem to be saying anything in particular.

Understandably, this drew my attention. He stopped shouting, on seeing me, only to continue again almost at once. His face was very intent. He seemed to be concentrating on some inner sensation. Then I noticed something funny. He had yellow earplugs stuck in his ears.

Suddenly, it all made sense: Tiarnan was doing a little experiment on how well the earplugs blocked noise. He was testing them with a sound of a volume known to him: his own voice.

I took the earplugs from his ears - and he soon stopped shouting. Then I put them back in again for him, properly. His shouting resumed. Then he stopped. I spoke to him at normal volume and he smiled, knowing, for sure, then, that these earplugs worked. Satisfied with what he had learnt, he took out the earplugs.

He soon found other things to experiment with. It is interesting to watch him behave in this way, for it so calls to mind the early behaviour of his eldest brother, Ainan, who was always investigating things, for himself. Perhaps, Tiarnan, too, has a scientific bent, among his other gifts. We will see. For now, I will continue to enjoy his daily actions, surprising as they often are.

The next question, of course is: how did he get the earplugs in the first place, when they are kept on the top shelf above my desk?

Tiarnan kept mum on the issue. I am left to assume that some deft climbing was involved. Toddlers can be resourceful little creatures. I will have to find better hiding places for all the things I want to keep from him. (Not that earplugs are one of those things.) Yet, looking at the way he is, nothing short of a locked box will do the trick. Until he finds out how to open it, of course. Oh well...

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven 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, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

What is Beauty? (Again)

I tried to post on Beauty, yesterday, but today I observe that no post appeared. How uncanny. No record of it appears on my saved posts, either.

It seems that such a question cannot be asked on a blogger console.

I will, therefore, tell the tale again.

Two days ago, we went to Fort Canning Park, in Singapore. This is a converted military fort with all the old fortifications in place, but now purposeless. It provides a very interesting and architecturally stimulating environment with, as you might expect from a fortified hill, good views and pleasant walks.

That, however, was not the highlight of my day which provoked me to write.

I had given a bottle of water to Tiarnan, 21 months, who ran off with it to drink in peace. After a minute or so, he sat down on the grass, legs splayed in a V and continued to quaff his drink. Suddenly, without any warning, he tipped the whole bottle of water over his head - then laughed loudly, freely, purely, as the water coursed over his head, down his face and onto his clothes.

It was a beautiful moment seeing him revel so in the sensations the water created. Perhaps he just wanted to feel what the water would be like on him, in that moment. Or perhaps he was just hot, on this typical Singapore day, in which the heat never relents. Whichever it was, his freedom in simply tipping a load of water over himself and laughter at the feeling, was most sweet to see.

He stood up then, his wet clothes clinging to him, along with sand and soil from the ground and ran over to me.

He couldn't have been happier - and neither could I.

Beauty is many things. For me, this is Beauty. Perhaps, if you are a parent, you too will share this view.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one 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, 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.)

What is beauty?