Module 2: What's the big idea?

According to Sparks, observing goes well beyond the ability to see something; it is defined more in terms of looking intently at an object or issue, not limited to just using our visual perception, but observing with all our senses. Then, once our senses have been aroused, we can begin to engage our thoughts about the object or issue in a way that would have been missed had we merely given it a quick glance. Imaging is what begins to happen after we have honed our ability to truly observe. Sparks says it this way, “What we can observe, we can imagine; what we can imagine, we image” (p. 57). Imaging also includes all of our senses as observation does and requires practice on our part. The difference, however, is that observing is where we gather information about a given thing or idea, imaging is what we put out after our observations have been made; imaging leads us to create.

The best examples of these two thinking skills comes from watching both of my daughters (ages 7 and 3) and the way they interact with different objects. My seven year old is always observing—she will smell it, touch it, listen to it, and examine it with her eyes to see how it works. She is keen on knowing details, whether it is an object, a story, or even a private conversation. Furthermore, both of my daughters exhibit strength in imaging. They have created lead ropes for their toy horses out of old (and some new) purse straps. For them, boxes become stables, couch pillows become bridges, grapes and pretzels become dumbbells, and the list goes on.

As I was wondering when this ability to observe and create (or image) began to be stunted, I found myself telling my oldest daughter—who had just asked if she could look at a home accent piece we had just purchased and then proceeded to pick it up and touch it—that “looking” was with her eyes only. It was me who actually learned the lesson here (especially after I had just finished reading chapters 3 and 4). So, for my own personal benefit—and for the benefit of my children—I have found that my creativity is strengthened each time I allow myself to observe things by more than just “looking”; this was reinforced by this module’s “Zoom In” project. I picked up several items (everything from a toothbrush holder to a tool used to attach screen to doors and windows) examining them with all my senses, trying desperately to come up with creative new uses for each one of them. This assignment helped me understand what it takes to “train” my observational skills as addressed in Sparks, and to not miss “seeing” something because of my preconceived ideas of what it should look like.

Following Vermeij’s example of being forced to use his sense of touch to observe shells because of blindness, I think many times it takes forcing ourselves to regularly use the senses we are used to ignoring until those senses become a natural part of our observation skills. This works for education as well. We should incorporate each of these senses into teaching in order to train (or force) students to be more creative observers, especially since this is a key first step for students to use their own creativity to create images and to ultimately invent. These two thinking skills can be used to creatively teach students to understand different elements of figurative language by showing them different pictures, videos, songs, objects, etc. and asking them to observe their findings. For example, students can understand personification better by observing differing objects and discovering how those objects display human characteristics. Does the grass appear to be bowing to the wind? Does the bruised apple seem to have a tragic story to tell? Does the tape seem to hiss every time its sticky tongue is pulled? After observing, students can then display their creativity by taking a common object and making it look like it has some type of human quality. Students could take the idea of the tape’s sticky tongue even further to create a picture of personification:

“The ravenous tape was looking for anything to ingest when it happened upon its unsuspecting prey.”

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