My brother pointed out this great TEDtalk to me yesterday by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh, called Apes that write, start fires and play Pac-Man. it’s a great watch, and if you have 20 minutes I would certainly recommend you have a look, as it is quite amazing how much these primates are like us, and how much they can learn. I was also intrigued by what she said about how they learn:

“The most important thing is not to teach them.”

The Bonobos pick up things very naturally and freely  as long as they are in an environment that is fun, with meaningful individuals that they like to interact with. They watch, experiment and learn. And in this Bonobos are probably a lot like us. I think most of us are starting to understand that learning isn’t about knowledge transfer. It is about making connections to concepts, activities and individuals that are meaningful to us in some way. And doing so is not something we can be told to do, it is something we have to want to do, and allowed to do freely, because it has a relevance, an importance to us.

Anyway, I thought it would be a good motto for 2009: The important thing is not to teach them!

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