Thinking Citizen Blog — The Master Key to the Minds of Seven Billion People
By: John Muresianu
Tags: Learning, Thinking Citizen Blog, Education, Thinking

Thinking Citizen Blog — Friday is Education and Education Policy Day

Today’s Topic — The Master Key to the Minds of Seven Billion People

In 1987, cognitive scientists Jill H. Larkin and Herbert A. Simon wrote an article entitled “Why a Good Diagram is (sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words.” This was obviously a play on the saying that a “Picture is Worth a Thousand Words” which has been traced to a newspaper article in 1911, to Napoleon, and, ultimately, to Confucius, Picking up on this theme, I have argued that all good diagrams are not created equal. And that one in particular — the three by three matrix is worth billions. Last week, I made a plea that each of you take advantage of this incomparably powerful tool to distill the three most important things you have learned in your life with three examples to illustrate their importance. This matrix would be a priceless gift to friends and family for the holiday season. I am eagerly awaiting your submissions. Alternatively, your matrix could focus on a more narrow topic from your field of expertise — say the most important three things about the law, medicine, economics, physical fitness, art, music. Or even narrower like the kidney, sonnet, or the dead lift. Today, a continuation of last week’s post. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

WHY MAKING SUCH A MATRIX IS SO HARD — Part One

1. Distillation means exclusion. It means rejection. It means saying no. The more you know, the harder it is to pick and choose. It’s like admitting you have a favorite child.

2. Nowhere to hide. Making the matrix is about making decisions. Clear decisions. It makes you vulnerable to attack. It’s so easy to hide behind a smokescreen of complexity.

3. Could mean more work. The more you think deeply about something important, the more you may realize that you have ignored some important dimension of it. And if you have not gone there, there is probably a powerful psychological reason for not doing so.

WHY MAKING SUCH A MATRIX IS SO HARD — Part Two

1. Not trained to do it.

2. Not in the habit of doing it.

3. Not paid to do it.

FAMILY DINNER — DAILY MATRIX EXCHANGE

1. What did you learn today?

2. Start with one thing. Build up to three.

3. Start with one reason for each choice. Build up to three.

NB: Parents should lead by example. Better late than never. Little step by little step. Little square by little square. A powerful three by three matrix is born.

FOOTNOTE ON LARKIN AND SIMON

1. Jill Larkin had a Masters in Physics and a PhD in mathematical education from the University of California, Berkeley.

2. Herbert Simon, a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago had received a Turing Prize in 1975 and a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Why a Diagram is (Sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words

Jill H. Larkin

Herbert A. Simon

Click here for the last three years of posts arranged by theme:

PDF with headlines — Google Drive

The most relevant pages to today’s topic are pages 84 to 86, 122–129, 132–3

of the “Education Book.”

YOUR TURN

Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to education or education policy. Or the coolest thought however half-baked you had. Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to education or education policy that the rest of us may have missed. Or just some random education-related fact that blew you away.

This is your chance to make some one’s day. Or to cement in your own mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something that is dear to your heart.