The Power of Novelty

The Power of Novelty

The best thoughts come at the most unexpected times.

On the drive to Wednesday night soccer practice, my 13-year-old son started to tell me about how the drive had him thinking about his science class and the things they were learning.  “Like right now, I’m thinking about inertia.”

No, this is not about to turn into a lesson on Newton’s Laws, and all the things that you have long since forgotten from your own science background.

And, YES!  This did quickly become a lesson from me to my son about brain science, pedagogy, and life.  Poor kid.  He never stood a chance!

After we clarified the meaning of inertia (and he reminded me about the importance of “wait time”… he got the meaning of inertia on his own, but I bit through my tongue for at least 3-4 minutes before it happened), I tried to explain to him how adults use the word inertia in colloquialisms. 

“Some guy is sitting on the couch watching football on a Saturday afternoon.  His wife comes in and says “I thought that we talked about you cutting the grass and washing the car?  You’re still sitting in the exact same spot I left you!!”  To which the husband shrugs and says “Yeah… inertia.”

Ok. Crickets, right?  I know.  But that’s where we are at right now in my humor development. 

Anyway, he then started telling me about things he wonders.  Would he really fly through the windshield if the seatbelt didn’t hold him back?  How long could he last in the woods with only beef jerky and a flashlight?  If someone else could climb into his body, would they experience the sensation of his back and bottom pressing on the car seat as pain?

Each and every one of them tempting, but I can’t resist that last one.  So I start to explain to him that there is a system in his body – the reticular activating system – whose job it is to decide what is worth paying attention to.  We talk about how there is a non-stop barrage of sensory information bombarding the brain from second to second.   The brain cannot possibly pay attention to all of it, so it throws most of it in the garbage can.  The RAS helps take care of that process.

The things that make it through this gatekeeper tend to be things that are either threatening (activating our fight or flight response) or novel!  We can drive past 100 telephone poles, and the RAS says “pole, pole, pole… who cares”.  But when one of those polls is one fire, or leaning over the street, or bright yellow, or has a red-tail hawk perched on it, NOW we are paying attention.

As teachers, we are up against significant competition for students’ attention.  Devices are omnipresent.  Headphones (earbuds? Did I date myself??) are semi-permanently attached to their heads.  The internet is everywhere.  So how do we make our content matter?  It has to get past the RAS.  Since threatening our students and activating their fight or flight should not be considered as one of our options, we need to remember the power of novelty!

Drop me a line and let me know your favorite ways to shake up the room, build curiosity, or grab their attention and get them wondering what on earth you are up to.  I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time, Do yourself proud. Be a leader.

Chuck