Why do we learn?
We learn to solve problems! The world we live in is full of problems that need expert thinkers to solve them every day. Who are expert thinkers? You are, or will be one day soon if you challenge yourself to ask questions, seek answers, and synthesize the data you collect in your research process. A young mind enjoys asking questions because their is so much the young brain does not know still. Questions are wonderful, but children should not just ask an adult a question, wait for the adult to answer, and be done with the information they heard. No! A child should take that information and dig deeper into learning the facts about that topic and then sharing what he or she has learned with others. When we share information, we tend to want to discuss or debate the topic more. Sharing information with others also stimulates new ideas in our brains, which brings us back to questioning, collecting facts, synthesizing data, and formulating a solution or conclusion.
Reading informational text and conducting research on topics you are interested in is the best place to start in your journey to becoming an expert thinker and problem solver. Your challenge after reading this post is to ask at least one essential question, which is a question that is important and will make you remember what you learn from it, per day. You should ask this question to yourself, a parent, a guradian, a teacher, the principal, an older sibling, or even a fellow classmate and formulate the answer with that person or by yourself. The final part of the challenge is to share both your question and your solution with another person.
Here are some examples of essential questions to ponder over:
1. Does Florida have reason to fear a natural disaster? Which ones or Why not? (Science)
2. When should I multiply? When can't I multiply? When is multiplication most useful? Can multiplication make things smaller? (Math)
2. Why would the Europeans want to come to the colonies? (Social Studies)
3. What is the connection between reading and writing? (Language Arts)
4. How would our culture be different without computers? (Technology)
5. Why is art necessary? (Art)
6. In what ways would learning a foreign language be beneficial? (Foreign Language)
7. Why should you spend time stretching before and after an athletic event? (Physicial Education)
