6. Intensity, Math, Set

Subtraction

Intensity

I attended a workshop last week (post for another time), and during intro conversations, we were asked to share what we viewed to be a positive characteristic of ourselves. My partner answered with “intense” and then described several examples of that intensity (I’d agree “intense” was an accurate reflection). In later conversations, Japanese culture and the idea of mastering a craft came up. I was reminded of the following exchange between William Green and Pico Iyer, an author known for travel writing and insights into the cross-cultural human experience. Iyer shares the idea of increasing intensity and focus by removing distractions.

William Green: …you mentioned in Autumn Light this Japanese idea that I guess runs through many other cultures as well, but is particularly Japanese, of subtraction, which I guess we see in haiku and in the aesthetics of Japan. This idea of taking away things to add to their intensity. Can you talk about this idea as it relates to the environment in which you are? Because most of us are accumulating more stuff. We’re constantly trying to buy more possessions, fill the gaping hole in our lives with more things, and you in a way have gone the other approach. Can you talk about what you get out of a lack of clutter out of subtraction?

Pico Iyer: …in the classic Japanese tatami room, there’s nothing there except a scroll and a vase, and because there’s nothing there but two things, you bring all your attention to those two things and you find the whole universe in it. I have Indian DNA, which tends to be the opposite, maximalist. My head is very cluttered. My desk could potentially be very cluttered, and I think part of the challenge there is that in a crisis or in a moment of need, you can’t put your hands on what’s really important because there’s too much there. Whereas in a room with very few things, you instantly know and cherish and bring all of yourself to what is important and realize that you don’t need anything else. I think it might have been from you in a podcast you did or in your book that I had somebody say that knowledge is about gaining more and more, and wisdom is about taking more and more away. Whether it not came from you, it does make a lot of sense. Of course, it’s part of the process of growing older, but I  learned about the luxury of absence, I suppose, coming to Japan, which is as you said that the culture of the haiku and the brushing ink painting, where really, almost everything is left to imagination.

Source.

A recent study “Are children spending too much time on enrichment activities?” highlights that overscheduling is negatively impacting the learning and mental health of students. Some of the reasons include the opportunity costs of less time to think and sleep.

Many youth seem to be spending so much time on enrichment that, on average, their last hour on these activities is actively harming their non-cognitive skills with no offsetting gain to their cognitive skills.

Source.

I often find myself thinking, “Am I doing enough?” when thinking about how our kids are spending time. Options abound and friends seem to be doing it all - piano, dance, tap, tae kwon do….. and as I stress about doing enough, our 6YO asks, “Ok, ready to build a pillow fort?” And sometimes, that’s enough.

Math

“Eternity is in love with the productions of time.” - William Blake

This quote was shared at a recent parent talk focused on math education. There’s some math that is fast (timed tests, etc.) but the idea of “productions of time” reflects how some of the best mathematicians are often slow - they take years to discover something. The system is broadly set up to train people mathematically not the way a mathematician would think about how to further one’s development in mathematics. The idea of working on something for a long period that stands the test of time is really another way to think about learning.

The speaker (PhD in math) and raising a mathematically gifted daughter shared some advice:

• Look for unexpected connections to math in everyday life. There’s math everywhere, there’s art everywhere, and tying examples to real life makes it more likely kids will be interested.

• Joy and excitement from discovery - the idea of discovering concepts and then being patient and letting them find it, not rushing to tell them the answer.

• Above all, let them have fun.

Set

The same speaker above recommended the game Set, which we’ve started playing, that involves pattern recognition, logic, and speed. The rules are easy to understand, and kids, teenagers, and adults can all play together pretty easily. The game consists of 81 cards, each uniquely combining four attributes:

1. Shape: Each card features one of three shapes (such as ovals, squiggles, or diamonds).

2. Color: The shapes on the cards are in one of three colors (such as red, green, or purple).

3. Number: Each card displays one, two, or three shapes.

4. Shading: The shapes on the cards are either solid, striped, or outlined.

The objective of the game is to identify "sets" of three cards from the cards laid out on the table. For three cards to make up a set, they must satisfy the following rule for each of the four attributes: the attributes must all be the same on each card, or they must all be different. This rule applies to shape, color, number, and shading simultaneously.

Players work at the same time to identify sets among the twelve cards laid out on the table, with no turns. When a player sees a set, they call out "Set" and then point out the three cards. If the selection is correct, they remove the cards as part of their score, and three new cards are laid out.

Highly recommend!