Picture Yueyang City, a thriving waterside city in China. As clouds fill the horizon something else begins to take shape behind the clouds. Suddenly there in the mist is a distant city that cannot possibly be there. Yet there it is.
I don’t know about the validity of the photo or what really went down here, but this is yet another curious event that falls into the realm of the creative research experience I want to offer in the fall about unsolved mysteries. I don’t expect students to be able to solve this one. In truth, I doubt it is even real. Still, it corresponds with the age old phenomena of Fata Morgana, which deserves research and attention. Humans have been seeing illusions for years. Our brains are wired to fill in the blanks where they can in order to allow an image to meet expectations. This is, in many ways, the fundamental science behind magic tricks.
Teaching the writing of research papers is terribly boring work on the surface, because people don’t often desire to be there. Likewise they lack the fundamental drive to do the deeper research necessary to suss out a critical thinking problem. Instead of thinking like Sherlock Holmes they want to think like Sam the Google searcher. Having interesting problems to unravel should stimulate that hidden desire to learn more. Maybe I’ll even get them to step outside the box a little as well, opening their minds to new ideas and experiences.
Some Thoughts:
- I’m happy. Worried I’m not being the best partner, but still happy to be able to be a partner.