How many inventions do you suppose came about because of the curiosity of children?
I watched “The History of Glass,” on PBS last night. It started with the Italians discovering, and perfecting, the art of glass blowing to make art objects.
Then somebody, in some tiny Italian town, discovered that if you take a piece of domed glass, that is flat on the bottom, it magnifies things, such as the tiny script of hand written Bibles. And glasses eventually evolved out of that (as did the printing press, which started as a modified version of the grape press.)
Then, another glass blower, in that same small town, saw his kids playing with a couple of pieces of domed glass. They were holding one piece in front of the other. He realized that this made things that were far away look very close. And the telescope was invented.
And then the microscope. And fiber glass. And fiber optics. It was a fascinating program. To me, anyway.
But this got me to wondering. Kids can think outside of the box in ways that most adults can’t. In the 80’s, when we had our first computer, my 2 year old was sitting on my lap and started banging on random keys…and that’s how I discovered short cut keys.
So shall we use our imaginations and create scenarios of inventions that could have evolved because of the curiosity of children?
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3 Answers
All of them. No inventions would have happened if the inventors hadn’t been curious children. So many things have been invented by children which weren’t realized as final works until they were grown.
There are several personality characteristics that can be the foundation for a creative thinker.
1. Futuristic My cousin has this. His job is to meet with companies around the world, find out what their IT needs are for 5–10 years down the road, then go back to his engineering team and invent it. He has over 200 patents.
2. Ideation Essentially, this is taking two or more non-related ideas and putting them together for a new solution.
3. Maximizer This is about taking an existing person, product or process and making it better.
The key is to recognize these natural talents and find a way to nurture them. For example, here is a list of 10 great inventions dreamt up by children. Several of the kids were encouraged by their parents. Others, like the guys who invented Popsicles and Trampolines, didn’t perfect their idea and see it to fruition until adulthood. This is often because parents don’t get it. Sad, but true. Fortunately, there are those “dreamers” that aren’t willing to give up.
Based on this, I beg to differ with the statement that children think outside of the box better than adults do. It has more to do with encouragement or lack-there-of, the latter supporting @Here2_4‘s post.
The last statement in the details is unclear to me: So shall we use our imaginations and create scenarios of inventions that could have evolved because of the curiosity of children? Is this asking for potential inventions based upon something a child expressed and was initially dismissed? If so, that is the real question and worthy of asking.
All of them. Curious children become inventive adults.
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