WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.280 Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the next session here at the Festival of Ideas. 2 00:00:04.420 --> 00:00:10.420 As part of the Peppering of Poets program through the festival, I'm going to start off with a poem. 3 00:00:10.940 --> 00:00:12.420 It's called The Simple Life. 4 00:00:14.180 --> 00:00:18.740 Someone told me that with Google Earth, you can see right into suburban backyards, 5 00:00:19.020 --> 00:00:23.340 where people are skinny-dipping, or at very least showing enough bare skin, 6 00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:26.620 shamelessly full frontal, or bums in the air, 7 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:30.300 to make a pretty good story during the rounds of the late-night party circuit. 8 00:00:31.540 --> 00:00:33.720 That's what someone told me about The Simple Life. 9 00:00:35.620 --> 00:00:42.160 Someone told me that when you're fishing for yellowfin whiting in deep tidal channels along the city's northern beaches, 10 00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:47.220 you'd better not be using frozen bait when the bloke beside you is using live worms, 11 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:52.000 because until he reaches his bag limit, you won't get so much as a nibble. 12 00:00:52.760 --> 00:00:55.620 Yeah, that's what someone told me about The Simple Life. 13 00:00:57.460 --> 00:01:01.520 Someone told me that honeybees are becoming extinct, 14 00:01:02.220 --> 00:01:08.560 that some type of fungus or virus or organism from outer space is killing them off, 15 00:01:09.260 --> 00:01:13.180 that as a consequence, sooner rather than later, 16 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:23.720 the fragrance of apples and oranges and interflora's Valentine's Day roses will disappear beyond recall. 17 00:01:25.020 --> 00:01:26.600 That's what someone told me about The Simple Life. 18 00:01:26.600 --> 00:01:33.720 Someone told me that The Simple Life is a bit of a myth, 19 00:01:34.660 --> 00:01:42.220 almost totally unachievable in our transnational age of digital technology and wireless communication. 20 00:01:44.820 --> 00:01:52.900 So should you pause a moment and list the sentences you never quite completed? 21 00:01:54.600 --> 00:01:56.060 No supercomputer? 22 00:01:56.160 --> 00:01:56.580 No supercomputer? 23 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:01.100 Networked or otherwise could calculate all their possible endings. 24 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:04.640 That's what someone told me. 25 00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:08.280 Yeah, that's what someone told me about The Simple Life. 26 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:10.300 chimney 27 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:23.240 is a poet but he's also a professor of anatomy at Flinders University. 28 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:27.620 So thank you Ian, that's wonderful and I think I'm right in saying I'm going from memory here 29 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:31.460 Percy Bissu Shelley once described the poets as the unacknowledged legislators 30 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:34.920 of the world and so what a wonderful start. 31 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:39.760 I'm looking forward to the session as much as anyone here is because I've got to say I'm 32 00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:43.580 an unashamed admirer of Martin Westphal and it's a 33 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:47.800 delight to welcome everyone here today because at a time 34 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:51.540 when I think in the job that I do as the head of schools for 35 00:02:51.540 --> 00:02:55.700 DECS, a job that I took on five weeks ago, I get copious 36 00:02:55.700 --> 00:02:59.520 advice from everyone and anyone about what is happening in the complex lives 37 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:03.360 of children and some of that comes from sources 38 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:07.480 on Talkback Radio which is probably not as well informed as it might be. 39 00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:11.260 So it's very reassuring to have someone like Martin here today 40 00:03:11.780 --> 00:03:14.700 to talk about future proofing our children. 41 00:03:15.640 --> 00:03:17.480 Martin has a CV which is 42 00:03:17.480 --> 00:03:21.300 mind-blowing. He's the inaugural director of the Flinders Centre for 43 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:25.220 Science Education in the 21st century and what that organisation 44 00:03:25.220 --> 00:03:29.380 does at Flinders is that it supports quality teaching in science 45 00:03:29.380 --> 00:03:33.420 and mathematics education and Martin also does his 46 00:03:33.420 --> 00:03:37.060 best to inform in the best way possible 47 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.340 decision makers and policy makers in government and in the 48 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:45.080 education bureaucracy and we're going to make sure 49 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.340 in the time ahead that he gets a very 50 00:03:47.480 --> 00:03:51.260 good say in that. He has an enormous 51 00:03:51.260 --> 00:03:55.340 influence on what happens in the future of science education. He grew up in 52 00:03:55.340 --> 00:03:59.260 England. He was a keen rugby player. He completed his degree and PhD 53 00:03:59.260 --> 00:04:03.360 at Cambridge before moving to Oxford where he was a research fellow in 54 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:07.400 biological and medical science at Lincoln College. While at Oxford 55 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:11.200 Martin undertook a number of research projects including things like 56 00:04:11.200 --> 00:04:15.500 producing artificial DNA, work in discovering drugs 57 00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:17.340 for tropical diseases and 58 00:04:17.480 --> 00:04:22.140 for neurodegeneration. He also initiated a program of work in science 59 00:04:22.140 --> 00:04:24.980 education and public engagement with science 60 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:29.380 which is an incredibly important role at the moment 61 00:04:29.380 --> 00:04:33.480 where I think science has actually been belted 62 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.680 around in a way that it doesn't deserve. He left academic 63 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:41.160 life for some time, worked in the biotech industry and 64 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:45.600 also in science education. He returned to Oxford 65 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:46.580 in 2005. 66 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:51.220 As the deputy director at Oxford of the Institute for the Future of the Mind. 67 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.220 He ran the research program and this is something I think you'll see a lot of 68 00:04:55.220 --> 00:04:59.220 today. The research program on the influence of modern lifestyles and 69 00:04:59.220 --> 00:05:04.380 technologies in the lives of the young and the old. And throughout his work at 70 00:05:04.380 --> 00:05:07.900 the Institute for the Future of the Mind he worked with government, with teachers 71 00:05:07.900 --> 00:05:12.480 and parents to provide access to scientific evidence to inform decision 72 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:17.360 making about learning and education of young people. And I've seen Martin at 73 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.400 work in schools. He is awesome working with students and teachers and I had the 74 00:05:21.400 --> 00:05:26.440 pleasure of having him in the school that I worked in. In 1999 he was named 75 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:33.160 by the Times newspaper as the scientist of the new century. He's 76 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:36.960 regarded as one of the world's preeminent neuroscientists. He moved to 77 00:05:36.960 --> 00:05:42.620 Adelaide, luckily for us, in 2007 with his wife Val and his two boys. Val teaches in 78 00:05:42.620 --> 00:05:45.720 one of the schools and his boys attend local schools. 79 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:52.020 So can I say Martin, welcome. I think we're in for a treat in the next hour. Thank you very much. 80 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:02.380 Thanks Gary, thanks for that introduction. And look, whenever I'm introduced like that I think, 81 00:06:02.440 --> 00:06:06.940 I sound very sciencey don't I? And I do, I'm a scientist. And I'm going to talk to you today 82 00:06:06.940 --> 00:06:11.480 about some of the evidence, scientific evidence, about how the world's changing 83 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:16.580 and how that's changing young people and some implications of that from the future. 84 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:17.340 And I'll try and be really 85 00:06:17.340 --> 00:06:22.240 clear about what the evidence is telling us and what I think. Because there's a lot 86 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:25.820 of people pitching about what the future is going to look like and what they think 87 00:06:25.820 --> 00:06:29.880 the future is going to look like and actually we're terrible at it. We've been 88 00:06:29.880 --> 00:06:34.600 doing it for hundreds of years, probably millennia, and we're really poor at 89 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:39.040 predicting the future. And you know if we take some of my favourite predictions, 90 00:06:39.340 --> 00:06:43.560 this is a famous one from Popular Mechanics magazine, computers in the 91 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:47.020 future may weigh no more than 1.5 tonnes. Fabulous. 92 00:06:47.020 --> 00:06:52.120 A famous prediction and of course the people that made this prediction wouldn't recognise 93 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:56.480 the iPhone as being a computer because it's just not got the tonnage behind it to be a 94 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:02.620 proper computing device. It can be a bit more serious though. Predictions like this, William 95 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:07.760 Stewart was the surgeon general of the United States in the 60s talking about how we can 96 00:07:07.760 --> 00:07:12.620 close the book on infectious diseases. That prediction led to the opposite being true 97 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:16.800 because predictions like that meant that we didn't do any new research on new antibiotics. 98 00:07:17.640 --> 00:07:21.560 Antivirals and things like that. And now we find ourselves where people are actually 99 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:26.000 dying from infections that we used to be able to treat because of that prediction. 100 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:31.860 But perhaps my favourite one from the 60s is this one. This is David Reisman, a social 101 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:36.320 scientist. If anything remains more or less unchanged in the future, it will be the role 102 00:07:36.320 --> 00:07:43.280 of women. Wow. How wrong can one person be? That's brilliant. Even if you thought this, 103 00:07:43.320 --> 00:07:44.660 I don't think you'd say it out loud, right? 104 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:47.000 And of course, we're all going to be in the same boat. We're going to be in the same boat. 105 00:07:47.020 --> 00:07:51.300 And of course, these Israeli women fighting on the front line wouldn't recognise the 1950s 106 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:56.660 Good Wives Guide to have anything to do with their lives whatsoever. And so I could make 107 00:07:56.660 --> 00:08:00.320 predictions. I could stand here for an hour and just make predictions about the future. 108 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.040 You know, I can say, here's Adelaide in the future. I can be really specific about it. 109 00:08:05.080 --> 00:08:09.360 I can walk you through Adelaide in the future and I can say, you know, as we walk along 110 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.160 what North Terrace becomes, look, there's the State Library and you're laughing because 111 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:17.000 you know that as soon as I see it, I'm going to be in the same boat. 112 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:21.460 And if I start to make specific predictions like that, it's more likely that the future 113 00:08:21.460 --> 00:08:26.540 won't look like that than will look like that. And so I'm going to avoid doing that. I'm 114 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:30.980 not going to make predictions, but I am going to look at some of the trends that are happening. 115 00:08:31.520 --> 00:08:37.400 So if we look back a bit and say, okay, well, what's changed? What's changing? How is the 116 00:08:37.400 --> 00:08:41.780 world changing? Then of course, technology is one of the ways in which the world has 117 00:08:41.780 --> 00:08:46.980 changed. And lots and lots of research has been done looking at the way that the world's 118 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:52.580 changed. Information technologies, having all that information available to us has changed 119 00:08:52.580 --> 00:08:56.420 the way we think, has changed the world. And in education, it's been really interesting. 120 00:08:56.740 --> 00:09:02.580 This is from back in 2005, Ken Boston, who was a South Australian who went to the UK 121 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:08.200 to become the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, talked about, well, 122 00:09:08.220 --> 00:09:13.860 we've got this problem because downloading essays from the internet can't be controlled. 123 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:16.980 And that's a problem. And he said, well, we've got this problem because downloading essays 124 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:20.060 from the internet can't be controlled, but what about all that plagiarism that we've 125 00:09:20.060 --> 00:09:25.840 got? And the system responded in a really standard way to a change in the world. What 126 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:30.060 happened was, the world changed, all this information became available, and the kids 127 00:09:30.060 --> 00:09:33.880 changed with the world. The kids took a step forward and said, I'll get some of this information 128 00:09:33.880 --> 00:09:37.760 and I'll give it back to the system, because that's what the system was asking for. The 129 00:09:37.760 --> 00:09:41.340 system didn't know how to deal with that change, so what it did was, it did what we always 130 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:46.380 do, what we often do, it took a big step backwards, it went back to basics. Whenever you hear, 131 00:09:46.380 --> 00:09:47.500 back to basics in education. 132 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:48.800 What we're saying is, 133 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:49.460 we don't know what's going on, 134 00:09:49.520 --> 00:09:50.480 so we'll take a step back 135 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:52.260 and put an even bigger gap 136 00:09:52.260 --> 00:09:53.860 between the system and the kids. 137 00:09:54.160 --> 00:09:56.060 And it became a bigger and bigger problem. 138 00:09:56.120 --> 00:09:56.820 What they did in the UK 139 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.860 was 16-year-olds doing their GCSE exams, 140 00:10:00.020 --> 00:10:00.720 their public exams, 141 00:10:01.020 --> 00:10:02.720 they got rid of all school-based assessments 142 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:03.480 in some subjects. 143 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:04.780 They got rid of coursework. 144 00:10:04.880 --> 00:10:06.900 They went back to the Victorian era 145 00:10:06.900 --> 00:10:09.440 of everything being on the end-of-year exam. 146 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:11.660 Now, don't get me wrong, 147 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:12.680 I think there is an issue. 148 00:10:12.820 --> 00:10:15.100 This is coursework.info, 149 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:16.620 a site where you can go 150 00:10:16.620 --> 00:10:18.220 as a student in the UK. 151 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.060 You can see a list of subjects there. 152 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:21.820 If we just take the top of that list there, 153 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:22.460 I know you can't read it. 154 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.160 Maths, 1,000 essays. 155 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:25.480 This is actually a couple of years old. 156 00:10:25.640 --> 00:10:26.900 Last year they had a revamp. 157 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:28.920 Maths is up to 2,000 essays 158 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:30.040 and pieces of coursework. 159 00:10:30.660 --> 00:10:31.840 Another revamp this year, 160 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:34.080 maths up to 3,241. 161 00:10:34.280 --> 00:10:36.020 Here's Gemra's student telling us 162 00:10:36.020 --> 00:10:37.900 how it's a brilliant, easy website to use 163 00:10:37.900 --> 00:10:39.220 with a wonderful range of assignments. 164 00:10:40.300 --> 00:10:41.060 Of course it is. 165 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:42.960 We can go on. 166 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:44.100 I've just been back recently 167 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:44.780 and had another look. 168 00:10:44.780 --> 00:10:45.620 Here's Kim, a student, 169 00:10:45.700 --> 00:10:47.620 telling us how this site has helped her 170 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:49.060 to achieve better marks 171 00:10:49.060 --> 00:10:50.420 than she could ever have hoped for. 172 00:10:51.020 --> 00:10:51.460 Great. 173 00:10:51.640 --> 00:10:53.280 Because that's what the system values. 174 00:10:53.580 --> 00:10:54.820 It just wants the information. 175 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:57.040 It doesn't want the process in the UK. 176 00:10:57.320 --> 00:10:59.300 And it's causing lots of problems. 177 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:01.640 It's not keeping up with changes in the world. 178 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:03.700 My favourite, my real favourite, 179 00:11:03.760 --> 00:11:05.540 is if you look down this whole list of subjects, 180 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:07.420 the normal ones you'd expect of there, 181 00:11:07.560 --> 00:11:08.520 but look at the last one. 182 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:10.260 Work experience reports. 183 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:12.160 Wow. 184 00:11:14.780 --> 00:11:17.760 And so, this is an example 185 00:11:17.760 --> 00:11:19.680 of how we're undergoing this transition, I think. 186 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:22.920 From being question rich and answer poor. 187 00:11:23.300 --> 00:11:24.520 We used to be like that. 188 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:25.320 Knowing stuff. 189 00:11:25.620 --> 00:11:26.900 Having lots of knowledge. 190 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:28.100 Having skills. 191 00:11:28.180 --> 00:11:29.120 Knowing how to do things. 192 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:32.200 Used to be where all of the social 193 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:34.480 and economic and educational value lay. 194 00:11:35.020 --> 00:11:36.520 But now what we're finding is 195 00:11:36.520 --> 00:11:39.400 with things like Google, 196 00:11:39.640 --> 00:11:41.240 but now of course we see that YouTube 197 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:42.960 is actually the search engine of choice. 198 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:44.620 But if you actually want to know an answer to something, 199 00:11:44.780 --> 00:11:46.740 you go to sites like Wolfram Alpha. 200 00:11:47.400 --> 00:11:48.680 It'll actually tell you the answer 201 00:11:48.680 --> 00:11:51.400 rather than trying to plough through loads and loads of hits. 202 00:11:51.800 --> 00:11:53.420 If you want to know how to do something, 203 00:11:53.620 --> 00:11:55.460 go to Videojug and it'll walk you through it. 204 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:56.400 Change a tire on your car. 205 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:57.020 Tie a tie. 206 00:11:57.180 --> 00:11:57.760 Make chicken soup. 207 00:11:57.860 --> 00:11:59.220 Whatever it is that you want to do, 208 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:01.680 somebody's there who'll walk you through it. 209 00:12:01.680 --> 00:12:02.640 It'll walk you through that process. 210 00:12:03.060 --> 00:12:03.960 If you want to go to university, 211 00:12:04.280 --> 00:12:06.200 why turn up for that lecture on a Monday morning 212 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:07.100 at nine o'clock 213 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.300 when you can go to the same lecture at Stanford 214 00:12:09.300 --> 00:12:11.500 or Harvard or MIT or Oxford or Cambridge? 215 00:12:12.520 --> 00:12:13.900 Well, if it's about information, 216 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:14.760 if it's about the world, 217 00:12:14.780 --> 00:12:16.180 if a lecture is only about information, 218 00:12:16.540 --> 00:12:17.800 there's no reason why you should 219 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:20.020 because that information, those answers, 220 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.100 are available to us now using technology. 221 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:24.020 So what we're finding is 222 00:12:24.020 --> 00:12:25.980 we're now answer rich. 223 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:28.620 A lot of that information, a lot of those answers are there, 224 00:12:28.700 --> 00:12:30.060 but how do we make meaning out of it? 225 00:12:30.180 --> 00:12:30.980 How do we generate value? 226 00:12:31.300 --> 00:12:33.140 How do we take those answers that are out there 227 00:12:33.140 --> 00:12:35.940 and combine them in new ways to come up with something creative? 228 00:12:36.280 --> 00:12:38.160 How do we see what everyone else has seen 229 00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:39.920 but think what no one else has thought? 230 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:42.500 It's all about the quality of the questions 231 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:44.160 that we ask. 232 00:12:45.400 --> 00:12:46.560 And in that context, 233 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:48.180 if we think about what's not changed, 234 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:49.860 well, you know, if we think about some things 235 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:50.820 like university education, 236 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.880 maybe that's not changed so much 237 00:12:55.880 --> 00:12:57.040 in hundreds of years. 238 00:12:59.140 --> 00:13:01.060 You know, there's the academic reader 239 00:13:01.060 --> 00:13:02.920 standing out at the front literally reading 240 00:13:02.920 --> 00:13:04.480 because of the value of the books. 241 00:13:04.640 --> 00:13:05.420 And look at the lecture. 242 00:13:05.520 --> 00:13:07.420 It's the same as your undergraduate lecture. 243 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:09.100 We've got the front row paying attention. 244 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:11.740 We've got somebody bored at the top of the second row there. 245 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:13.560 Third row, somebody's having a chat. 246 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:14.200 Somebody's asleep. 247 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:16.780 There's a fight breaking out on the back row. 248 00:13:17.160 --> 00:13:17.480 You know? 249 00:13:18.040 --> 00:13:20.360 And so that change that we've seen 250 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:23.660 from the 14th century through to the 21st century, 251 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:24.780 well, we haven't seen a change. 252 00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:26.040 It's not changed. 253 00:13:26.400 --> 00:13:29.120 And so we've got this transition. 254 00:13:29.660 --> 00:13:30.600 We've got this change. 255 00:13:30.780 --> 00:13:32.580 We've got this increasing rate of change 256 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:34.500 that we've got to be able to adapt to. 257 00:13:34.880 --> 00:13:36.220 And knowledge is important, 258 00:13:36.520 --> 00:13:37.520 but it's not everything. 259 00:13:38.120 --> 00:13:40.360 When we think about education, 260 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:42.040 education, when it focuses on answers, 261 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:43.860 focuses on things that are right and wrong. 262 00:13:44.780 --> 00:13:46.600 And, you know, sometimes things are just wrong. 263 00:13:46.780 --> 00:13:47.760 Knowledge is important. 264 00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:49.240 You need to have that foundational knowledge. 265 00:13:49.420 --> 00:13:51.100 And things sometimes are just wrong. 266 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:54.780 And, you know, here's an example of... 267 00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:56.740 Regardless of your politics, 268 00:13:57.220 --> 00:13:58.600 there's a way of using a telephone. 269 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:00.680 And this is the wrong way to use a telephone. 270 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:07.040 And we invest a lot of social value in the answers. 271 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:10.020 We have a TV show that's about answers and wrong answers. 272 00:14:10.220 --> 00:14:11.300 People know this show, QI? 273 00:14:12.260 --> 00:14:14.760 QI is a show where students, 274 00:14:14.780 --> 00:14:16.000 Stephen Fry asks a question, 275 00:14:16.640 --> 00:14:18.580 and Alan Davis and the other comedians 276 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:19.260 will give an answer. 277 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.300 And if it's the misconception answer, 278 00:14:21.520 --> 00:14:22.800 if it's the wrong answer, 279 00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:25.720 then the lights go off and the sirens go, 280 00:14:25.820 --> 00:14:27.560 and they just get humiliated for doing so. 281 00:14:28.520 --> 00:14:29.660 I'm going to show you a little clip. 282 00:14:29.800 --> 00:14:33.580 And in the clip, Stephen Fry has just asked the question, 283 00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:35.300 how many senses do we have? 284 00:14:39.820 --> 00:14:40.640 Five or six. 285 00:14:41.060 --> 00:14:41.460 Ooh! 286 00:14:42.420 --> 00:14:44.540 Six, seven, eight, nine, four, 287 00:14:44.780 --> 00:14:45.740 three, two, one. 288 00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:47.220 Ten, eleven. 289 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:49.240 Nine, anything between nine and twenty-one, 290 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:50.020 I'll give you points for. 291 00:14:50.020 --> 00:14:50.140 Oh! 292 00:14:50.160 --> 00:14:52.000 Just think about what one means by it. 293 00:14:52.060 --> 00:14:53.240 Aristotle said five. 294 00:14:53.640 --> 00:14:54.980 Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. 295 00:14:55.300 --> 00:14:55.580 Right. 296 00:14:56.040 --> 00:14:57.120 So what about balance? 297 00:14:57.140 --> 00:14:57.880 What about hunger? 298 00:14:57.900 --> 00:14:58.540 What about thirst? 299 00:14:58.640 --> 00:14:59.360 Why aren't they senses? 300 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:01.540 Feedback from your relationship with the world. 301 00:15:01.640 --> 00:15:02.040 Pressure. 302 00:15:02.800 --> 00:15:03.200 Disappointment. 303 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:04.160 There are lots of... 304 00:15:04.160 --> 00:15:04.520 There are a lot of them. 305 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:06.820 Feeling heat. 306 00:15:07.400 --> 00:15:08.280 Where do you feel heat? 307 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:08.800 You don't... 308 00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:09.760 You don't touch heat. 309 00:15:09.960 --> 00:15:11.680 So there is thermoception. 310 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:14.120 Nociception, which is pain. 311 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:16.480 Equilibrioception, which is balance. 312 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:19.120 So why do they teach me that there are five? 313 00:15:22.660 --> 00:15:23.780 Good question, Alan. 314 00:15:26.540 --> 00:15:29.440 And there are really good reasons why we do teach primary kids 315 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:30.440 that they've got five senses. 316 00:15:30.540 --> 00:15:32.920 It's got nothing to do with telling them that they've got five senses. 317 00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:35.420 What it's got to do with is structure-function relationships. 318 00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:38.760 It's about saying, this thing does this job, 319 00:15:38.860 --> 00:15:40.440 these things do this job. 320 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.360 We've got these structures and they have this function. 321 00:15:42.660 --> 00:15:43.660 It's a concept. 322 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:44.380 It's an idea. 323 00:15:45.040 --> 00:15:47.480 But because of the value that we put on answers, 324 00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:49.180 Alan Davies has gone through his life 325 00:15:49.180 --> 00:15:50.780 thinking that he's got five senses 326 00:15:50.780 --> 00:15:52.400 and never thinking anything else. 327 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:53.680 Never questioning. 328 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:54.360 Never thinking. 329 00:15:54.380 --> 00:15:54.900 Never wondering. 330 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.480 Never building a conceptual understanding of the world. 331 00:15:57.780 --> 00:15:58.600 Five is the answer. 332 00:15:58.820 --> 00:15:59.540 That's good for me. 333 00:15:59.640 --> 00:16:00.440 How many colours in the rainbow? 334 00:16:00.560 --> 00:16:00.800 Seven. 335 00:16:00.920 --> 00:16:01.840 Pops into your head straight away. 336 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:02.480 You can't help it. 337 00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:02.880 Are there? 338 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:04.300 Are there seven colours in the rainbow? 339 00:16:05.280 --> 00:16:05.720 Don't know. 340 00:16:06.560 --> 00:16:08.380 I've got a question, but I haven't got an answer. 341 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:09.420 And that's fine. 342 00:16:10.420 --> 00:16:14.700 But knowing an answer actually makes us... 343 00:16:14.780 --> 00:16:15.260 makes us question poor. 344 00:16:15.680 --> 00:16:17.760 Focusing on the answers makes us question poor 345 00:16:17.760 --> 00:16:19.900 and makes it difficult for us to move forward. 346 00:16:20.940 --> 00:16:22.780 So, we've got these changes in the world. 347 00:16:22.860 --> 00:16:25.020 These are some examples of the way in which the world's changed. 348 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:27.660 How do we build capacity amongst young people 349 00:16:27.660 --> 00:16:29.500 to deal with those changes in the world? 350 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:32.640 Well, the first idea that I want to share with you 351 00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:34.740 is about taking control of thinking. 352 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:39.600 In a world that doesn't change, 353 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.240 habit and doing things, ticking over, 354 00:16:42.280 --> 00:16:44.020 knowing how to do something and doing it that way 355 00:16:44.020 --> 00:16:44.760 and carrying on with it, 356 00:16:44.760 --> 00:16:45.400 knowing how to do something and doing it that way 357 00:16:46.260 --> 00:16:47.300 is okay. 358 00:16:47.800 --> 00:16:50.960 But in a changing world, it's not sufficient. 359 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.400 Let me show you some examples from the literature. 360 00:16:53.700 --> 00:16:55.280 This is a study from 2007 361 00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:58.240 about surgeons, laparoscopic surgeons, 362 00:16:58.460 --> 00:16:59.660 keyhole surgery surgeons, 363 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:01.240 their ability to do the surgery 364 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:03.880 compared to their ability to play computer games 365 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:05.520 like Super Monkey Ball 2. 366 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:07.680 And what they did was 367 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:09.660 they took a standard training system 368 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:11.360 for keyhole surgery surgeons. 369 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:13.020 Some of it's video. 370 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:14.340 Of course, we do keyhole surgery. 371 00:17:14.760 --> 00:17:15.900 You might put a camera inside someone 372 00:17:15.900 --> 00:17:17.420 and be looking at the screen 373 00:17:17.420 --> 00:17:18.740 whilst you're doing the surgery. 374 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:20.580 It's a little bit like a video game. 375 00:17:20.800 --> 00:17:22.100 But some of it was real as well. 376 00:17:22.120 --> 00:17:24.000 They actually did some surgery on a pig carcass. 377 00:17:25.300 --> 00:17:26.260 Some of the people, 378 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:28.300 some men, some women, 379 00:17:28.360 --> 00:17:30.980 different levels of experience. 380 00:17:31.620 --> 00:17:33.300 And they said, okay, does it make a difference 381 00:17:33.300 --> 00:17:35.100 if these surgeons are game players? 382 00:17:36.800 --> 00:17:37.920 Oh, yes, it does. 383 00:17:39.060 --> 00:17:40.660 Those surgeons who were game players 384 00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:42.940 produced fewer errors and did the surgery faster 385 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:44.740 than the non-game playing colleagues. 386 00:17:46.020 --> 00:17:48.500 So they said, okay, does it make a difference 387 00:17:48.500 --> 00:17:50.160 if they're good at playing video games? 388 00:17:51.520 --> 00:17:52.040 Yes. 389 00:17:52.340 --> 00:17:55.200 Those highest scoring gamers were even better 390 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:56.740 and even faster at doing the surgery 391 00:17:56.740 --> 00:18:00.100 than the non-high scoring colleagues. 392 00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:02.640 So the researchers said, okay, 393 00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.240 we've got these surgeons who range from okay 394 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:07.360 through to really very good. 395 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:09.460 What can we find that correlates 396 00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:11.440 with the variance amongst those surgeons? 397 00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:13.360 They looked at a whole host of things, 398 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:13.820 including, 399 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:14.740 they looked at the number of people 400 00:18:14.740 --> 00:18:15.620 and the number of years of training. 401 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:16.720