Thinking about thinking

Yesterday, I read about William Kamkwamba,a young man from Malawi who at fourteen built a functional windmill from junk. It reminded me about a story a classmate told me in college. Her twelve year old son was not doing well in school. So what did his parents do? Take away privileges until his grades came up? Send him to an expensive after-school tutoring center? Put him on drugs so he wouldn't act out his frustration?

No, they bought him a camera. He then had a reason to bring together all he needed to know in school. His camera, in the time before digital cameras, helped him focus on learning; the technology of lens and shutters, the chemistry of photographic development, the need to be able to read well to learn more about photography. He wanted to give his photos as gifts but his allowance was limited. So he learned the math to measure and cut wood and his parents bought him a miter box so he could make frames for his photos. He could relate his new-found love of photography to his education.

I've been reading a lot about right brain/left brain thinking lately. And my thought is this: we need both. Our society sometimes seem to reward left brain over right brain thinking But to be creative and successful, we need a little of both. We need to look at old bike parts and see electric light bulbs shining or understand F-stops to capture the beauty of a sunset. We need to marry technique and vision.

So what have you tried lately?