This speaks to both engaging students in education and everyday research.
It begins on pg 211 when Mr. Feynman is in Brazil teaching a group of science students who were becoming teachers. They were dong well on their written and oral PhD exams- but he became curious about their responses and questioned them further outside of the test. He found that they were quite good at memorization but not at critical or creative thinking. No thinking outside the box. He realized the students “shut down” class members who took up” valuable class” time asking questions that might lead to this type of thinking! Sound familiar.
It is a syndrome I find with my Nursing Students- they want to memorize- if I pose the question in a different way they have trouble solving the problem. We stress critical thinking skills are necessary but then we push for passing the NCLEX and stuffing them full of that data! I am wondering if we can find a balance so we can graduate a Nurse who is truly prepared for anything.