I was reading an article "The Power of Question" by Richard N Zare in the Science Education Journal
Resonance (
http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/) August 2009 volume, published by
Indian Academy of Sciences (
http://www.ias.ac.in/). I quote some portion from the article.
".. some question is at the center of every scientific and technological advance, and fundamental questions underlie every humanistic quest to comprehend the world about us. The question is a central aspect of both learning and knowledge creation. Yet, students often seem to value more the answer than the question... It is my contention that posing a new question may be the more valuable pursuit – for it is by questions that we probe the unknown and discover new paths to take for ourselves..."
He then described about a platform for children upto the age 18 for raising a good question and justifying that question's merit.
"... This competition, which some have nicknamed the “
kid Nobel,” is meant to foster inquisitiveness and creativity in young people around the world. It is open to anyone, from anywhere, so long as the participant is under eighteen years of age (
http://www.moleclues.org/). Children as young as eight from all over the planet participated in the competition via the free science-discussion Molecular Frontiers website (
http://www.molecularfrontiers.org/) where they could chat with young scientist mentors or their peers in an environment that was designed around our moto: Curiosity–Creativity–Honesty–Knowledge. The competition entrants, in addition to asking a short question related to molecular science, had to explain to the judges why they thought theirs was an important question, where they have already looked for the answer, why they were unsatisfied with the answers they received, and what they suggest scientists do to obtain better answers. The winning entries sounded simple at first glance, yet quickly made for furrowed brows among the world-caliber scientist jury. For instance, Vladimir Leopards, age 15, wondered
“Why aren’t plants black?” noting that since black absorbsmore sunlight than green, why haven’t plants evolved to take advantage of this extra energy available for photosynthesis?.."
Sri Ramakrishna dev told that to be innovative we should always be like children who are always questioning and wondering...
Also I read an interview of Mr. Kumar (?) of famous Super 30 free coaching centre in Patna, Bihar (
http://www.super30.org/) for poor students to prepare for IIT JEE, that
it's very important for a good teacher not to give correct answer to students but to pose right question to the students so that they themself come out with correct answer.
(I first heard of them while watching the movie Rang De Basanti in TV.. During breaks, they showed about 5 exceptional people from different parts of our country who are trying to make our society better by their unique efforts..)
