Where My Great Ideas Come From



To me, generating great ideas is a process--a process that begins with me. I believe in the "slow hunch" idea that Steven Johnson mentioned. It is much more exciting to believe that ideas happen as "Eureka!" moments, because most people don't care about the long and excruciating processes that led to the idea. Great ideas often come from years of study and training to become an expert. The journey to expertise is not an easy or short one, and so before great ideas can form, a lot of thought, metacognition and reflection must happen first. This is represented by the photo of me in the corner looking particularly thoughtful.

As explained in How People Learn, great ideas come from building on existing knowledge while seeing something familiar in a new way. The example given in the reading is about children applying the knowledge they have of mathematics from their play to mathematics lessons in the classroom. The underlying concepts are the same and the existing knowledge is there, but the children must be able to transfer their knowledge to new circumstances and use it in new ways. This is why the background of the photo I created is of the ocean, but in purple--it represents knowledge being used in a new and different way. The ocean is something I know a lot about and out of everything in my life (excluding Game of Thrones) I am probably closest to being an "expert" about this topic. To have a great idea though, I must use this knowledge and see things in a new way. 

The circle of the normal colored ocean represents diving beneath the surface. How People Learn explains one of the main differences between novices and experts as understanding facts and formulas versus understanding big ideas. To me, this made me think of a surface level of understanding versus a deeper understanding. A novice will understand the surface of a field, such as the example about using memorized equations to solve a physics problems. An expert will understand things at a deeper level and they will solve the same physics problem using larger physics concepts rather than memorized equations. Deeper understanding supports the growth of great ideas and a surface level understanding rarely leads to revolutionary ideas. This concept is represented by diving deeper beneath the surface of the water. 

Once a deeper level of understanding is reached and the initial concepts of the idea have had time to marinate, the time for collaboration has arrived. As Steven Johnson discussed, collaboration is a vital aspect to the development of great ideas. Collaboration has been a key word for me all through out this course and our explorations of reflection. I think it is incredibly important to share thoughts and ideas with others because no one thinks in the exact same way. This means that other people may have ideas or suggestions that you did not even consider. Ideas often turn into great ideas in collaborative settings where ideas can be pooled together and combined to create one giant super idea, if you will. This is why I included a photograph of my best friend and my boyfriend at their graduation this past spring. These two people are people that I would share my ideas with and the photo at graduation also symbolizes that they are educated and intelligent, furthering the creation of great ideas. Learning in all forms helps breed great ideas and college is a great place to develop these skills. Continuing to see things in a new and different way is still important at this stage, which is why this photograph was placed upside down.

As a reflective practitioner and as a thinker, this image represents all of the things that are important to me: a topic I am passionate about, encouraging alternative ways of thinking, viewing information in new ways, and collaboration with other intelligent individuals. 



Comments

  1. CharWallNovember 7, 2017 at 4:44 PM

    I really like your take on the idea of initial learning. Using the ocean is not only a great representation of your knowledge base, but also your passion. The pursuit of knowledge seems vast when you consider the ocean, but we mustn't forget its depth. I also liked how you emphasized the importance of self in the generation of your ideas. Collaboration is important in the overall development of ideas, but they wouldn't be yours without you. That doesn't mean you need to avoid collaboration, as you mentioned. Collaboration is critical for reexamining ideas and improving on them. They also may give you the kick to get you to that eureka moment, even though you have been on the edge for months. Altogether, the image seems to be a good representation of who you are as a reflective practitioner.

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