Poem: "To Raise New Questions"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This is the freebie for the August 2015 crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "personal time" square in my 8-1-15 card for the As You Like It Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family.


"To Raise New Questions"


Victor and Igor made a point
of spending some personal time
with each of the village children
who showed particular interest
in learning, instead of just
listening as expected.

Victor talked about botany
and linguistics with Crina,
going over the names of
herbs and their uses.

Igor talked about zoology
with Nandru and Tivador,
teaching them about how
to find fish in a river and
how to breed livestock
for desired traits.

They explored scientific method
with Ágota, who was interested
in the kind of recordkeeping that
her father used in brewing.

They listened to Anca
chatter about metallurgy,
which was not a science
that either Victor or Igor
had studied much before,
but she had already learned
a surprising amount of what
Imre the blacksmith knew.

The heart and soul of science
lay not in knowledge already gained,
but in the inquisitive mind that understood
how to raise new questions.

* * *

Notes:

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science."
-- Albert Einstein

The scientific process includes a lot of different activities, and it's more complex than most people realize. Discourse within a scientific community is a vital part of this. Victor and Igor don't have a scientific community locally ... so they're making one, out of peasants.

Comments

Love this

[dialecticdreamer]

I think my favorite part is when they're in fields they aren't expert in and still act as mentors.

The links, as always, only add more depth to the discussion, and thank you for those, too!

Re: Love this

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I think my favorite part is when they're in fields they aren't expert in and still act as mentors. <<

Anyone who knows the scientific method can teach that process, and from there it's just customizing to the subject matter of the field. For the last century or so, people have tended to hyperspecialize, but that wasn't always so. Used to be, a scientist was someone who studied the world, and it was common to know a bunch of different fields -- art, math, medicine, it all got lumped together, Renaissance man style.

Victor will read anything in a language he knows. Igor is better at practical, kitchen-sink science. Put them together, and they can nail the bottom rungs on the ladder for any field. They just don't know as much as a real expert would, but they know more than most people, even as a casual study.

There are probably farmers in the village who know a lot more about breeding livestock, but they're not taking time to teach that to the younger children -- it's something they tend to save for teens or young adults who are closer to taking over a farm of their own. Victor and Igor are a lot more willing to answer questions on anything and everything, because they're investing in the knowledge base of the village. Raising it reduces the amount of work they have to do fixing dumb problems that could've been avoided. One case of bottle bombs was enough.

>>The links, as always, only add more depth to the discussion, and thank you for those, too!<<

You're welcome. I like teaching people how science works. It's not just about lab work. It's about wandering through the woods and asking, "Why does that go like that?"

Re: Love this

[lone_cat]

Figuratively speaking, they're teaching ladder-building, and it probably helps that they're obviously building ladders for themselves.

Re: Love this

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, exactly. To scientists, learning is a natural part of everyday life. Victor and Igor learn as much as they teach. They spread it around, and then people can do more. So when something goes wrong, it can be handled rationally.

[lynnoconnacht]

This is lovely! I think my favourite bit is Anca's stanza as well. But you know I also have a massive soft spot for Crina.

I love how supportive this series is of learning and asking questions. <3

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>This is lovely!<<

:D

>> I think my favourite bit is Anca's stanza as well. But you know I also have a massive soft spot for Crina. <<

Part of the fun in this poem is that Victor and Igor are still learning new things themselves -- and don't mind if one of their teachers is a little girl.

>>I love how supportive this series is of learning and asking questions. <3<<

That's good to hear. I want to encourage that.

Re: Thank you!

[pinkrangerv]

You're making me want to pick up my math books again...but then I'd have to stop reading this. :p