Afrikan/Black Deep Thought

WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS
WHICH ENCAPSULATE THE
MAIN IDEAS OF THIS
PRESENTATION

"Simply put, Education is Power. When education
is properly done, it opens the door to power. A
True Education has one purpose, and one
purpose alone; and that is to Train the Student
to be a Proper Handler of Power. I cannot say it
enough, education is all about power, and all
education must lead to some kind of exercise of
power. A proper education must, ultimately,
improve one's understanding of what power is,
how power manifests itself, and how one has to
have power in order to be a total human being."

• "The only protection against injustice in man is
POWER.....[Spiritual], Physical, Financial and
Scientific."

• "The events which transpired five thousand
years ago, five years ago or five minutes ago,
have determined what will happen five
minutes from now, five years from now or five
thousand years from now. All history is a
current event."

• “The Ultimate FUNCTION of Education is to
secure the survival of a people.”
• “Knowledge must be wielded to a sense of
purpose, people-hood and destiny. Then it
becomes protective of your survival as a
people. It is measured by how it protects your
survival as a people, nationhood.”

• “What problems must we solve as an Afrikan people? Our
problems include the problem of being dominated, not
controlling our nations, being poor in the midst of
affluence. What goals do we want to reach? What quality
of life do we want to enjoy? What kind of people must we
become in order to solve the problems that we must solve
as a people? What institutions must we develop so that we
can act in terms of our interests? What kind of social and
educational experiences must we expose ourselves and
young to become the kind of people we need to become to
solve the problems we need to solve? Unless education,
politics and economics are designed to solve our problems
as a people they are pointless. What kind of education and
knowledge and information and skills and so forth must we
develop so that we can build the institutions, develop the
relationships, attitudes to be the people we need to be?”

• Popular beliefs on essential matters must be
examined in order to discover the original
thought.

[Book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions]

“A student…has constantly before him a
number of competing and incommensurable
solutions to these problems, solutions that he
must ultimately examine for himself.”
[TO EXAMINE REQUIRES THE SKILL OF
THINKING CRITICALLY AND CREATIVELY!]

• "Only the CURIOUS will learn and only the
RESOLUTE will overcome the obstacles to
learning. The quest quotient [ABILITY TO
QUESTION] has always excited me more than
the intelligence quotient [ABILITY TO
MEMORIZE]."

• "Strange times are these in which we live
when old and young are taught in falsehoods
school. And the one man that dares to tell the
truth is called at once a lunatic and fool"

[Book: The Prince]
“And it ought to be remembered that there is
nothing more difficult to take in hand, more
perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its
success, than TO TAKE THE LEAD IN THE
INTRODUCTION OF A NEW ORDER OF THINGS.
Because the Innovator has for enemies all those
who have done well under the old conditions,
and lukewarm defenders in those who may do
well under the new.”
[CHANGE IS SELDOM WELCOMED BY THOSE
WITH A VESTED INTEREST IN THE STATUS QUO!]

• “Anyone can produce a new fact;
the thing is to produce a NEW
IDEA.” [Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic
Among the Azande]

• “Trivia are not knowledge. Lists of
facts don't comprise knowledge.
Analyzing, hypothesizing,
concluding from data, sharing
insights, those comprise
knowledge. You can't Google for
knowledge.”

BRITISH ROTE MEMORIZATION
• “…What is called education… it is mainly ROTE
LEARNING, the ability to MEMORIZE phrases,
concepts and other required data. THINKING is
neither required or expected. CRITICAL
ANALYSIS and EVALUATION of subject matter
are not required. But the ability to ABSORB
AND RECALL is required. The brilliant scholar,
then, is one who can readily quote authorities
and remember well his bibliographical sources.”
[Dr. Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of
Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race From
4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.]

• “…Far from acting as a
liberator, Western formal
education came to most
countries as part of
IMPERIALIST DOMINATION.
It was consistent with the
goals of imperialism: the
economic and political
control of the people in one
country by the dominant
class in another. The
imperials powers attempted,
through schooling, to train
the colonized for roles that
suited the colonizer.”

ORIGINS & PURPOSE OF METHODOLOGY
• “The spread of schooling [in Afrika] was carried out in
the context of imperialism and colonialism-in the spread
of mercantilism and capitalism- and it cannot in its
present form and purpose be separated from that
context…Schooling promoted change from one hierarchy
to another-from the traditional hierarchy of the colonized
culture to some form of the hierarchy of European
mercantilism or capitalism…The structure of schools..was
based in large part on the needs of metropole investors,
traders and culture….schools used to develop indigenous
elites which served as intermediaries…used to
incorporate indigenous peoples into the production of
goods necessary for metropole markets; they were used
to help change social structures to fit in with European
concepts of work and interpersonal relationships…”
[Martin Carnoy, Education as Cultural Imperialism.]

SKILL SET EMPHASIZED
• Knowledge [Information] – Recall or recognize
information, ideas and principles in the
approximate form in which they were presented.
• Comprehension – Understanding the main idea
of material heard, viewed or read. Interpret or
summarize the ideas in own words.
• PURPOSE: TRAINING; PERFORMANCE AS
AUTOMATON, MIDDLE LEVEL MANAGER
• INADEQUATE SKILLS FOR LEADERSHIP &
DEVELOPMENT!

RESULTS OF ROTE MEMORIZATION
• SENSE OF CULTURAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL & THEOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY:
COGNITIVE DEPENDENCY - DEPENDENT
THINKING!
• INABILITY TO FORMULATE NEW IDEAS!
• FEAR OF TAKING INITIATIVE!

TOWARDS A METHODOLOGY OF
INSTRUCTION FOR

WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS ON
TEACHING & LEARNING
• There are two kinds of error: blind credulity
and piecemeal criticism. Never believe a word
without putting its truth to the test;
discernment does not grow in laziness; and
this faculty of discernment is indispensable to
the Seeker. Sound skepticism is the necessary
condition for good discernment; but
piecemeal criticism is an error.
[AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

TEACHING & LEARNING
• An answer brings no illumination unless the
question has matured to a point where it gives
rise to this answer which thus becomes its fruit.
Therefore learn how to put a question. [AFRIKAN
NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]
• What reveals itself to me ceases to be
mysterious—for me alone: if I unveil it to anyone
else, he hears mere words which betray the
living sense: Profanation, but never revelation.

TEACHING & LEARNING
• Concerning EDUCATION: all cognition comes
from inside; we are therefore TAUGHT only by
ourselves, but the TEACHER gives the keys.
• Concerning the ‘WAY OF EDUCATION': the
LEARNER has need of a TEACHER to guide him
and lift him up when he falls, to lead him back
to the right way when he strays. [AFRIKAN
NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]

TEACHING & LEARNING
• Understanding develops by degrees.
• An answer if profitable in proportion to the
intensity of the quest. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY
PROVERB 4500 BCE]
• In every vital activity it is the PATH [METHOD,
WAY] that matters. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY
PROVERB 4500 BCE]

TEACHING & LEARNING
• We mustn't confuse mastery with mimicry,
knowledge with superstitious ignorance.
• Experience will show you, a TEACHER can only
point the way. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY
PROVERB 4500 BCE]
• By knowing one reaches belief. By doing one
gains conviction. When you know, dare.

TEACHING & LEARNING
• The seed cannot sprout upwards without
simultaneously sending roots into the ground.
• The seed includes all the possibilities of the
tree. The seed will develop these possibilities,
however, only if it receives corresponding
energies from the sky. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY
PROVERB 4500 BCE]

TEACHING & LEARNING
• To teach one must know the nature of those whom one is
teaching. [AFRIKAN NILE VALLEY PROVERB 4500 BCE]
• Whoever does not inform his children of his grandparents
has destroyed his child, marred his descendants, and
injured his offspring the day he dies. Whoever does not
make use of his ancestry has muddled his reason. Whoever
is unconcerned with his lineage has lost his mind. Whoever
neglects his origin, his stupidity has become critical.
Whoever is unaware of his ancestry his incompetence has
become immense. Whoever is ignorant of his roots his
intellect has vanished. Whoever does not know his place of
origin, his honor has collapsed.
[15th Century Timbuktu Poem]

TEACHING & LEARNING
• True TEACHING is not an accumulation of
knowledge; it is an awakening of
Consciousness which goes through successive
stages.
• To know means to record in one's memory;
but to understand means to blend with the
thing and to assimilate it oneself.

HOW?
• HOW DO WE AWAKEN INDIVIDUAL
CONSCIOUSNESS? [TO EDUCATE IS TO EDUCE –
TO DRAW OUT OF THE STUDENT THAT WHICH
THE CREATOR HAS GIVEN THEM – THEIR
PURPOSE FOR BEING.] BLOOMS TAXONOMY
PROVIDES AN OUTLINE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS
TASK!
• HOW DO WE BLEND WITH THE INFORMATION?
[COGNITIVE CULTURE – THE WORLD IN YOUR
HEAD SHAPED BY CONCEPTS. IDEAS BECOME
INCARNATE WITHIN US AND RESHAPE US!]

WORLD-VIEW
• Any word, thought or social, political, economic
and religious aspect of reality is filtered through
the lens of what is called a world-view. A world-
view, which is a group as well as an individual
phenomenon, encompasses mental pictures of
reality, that rest upon the use of shared
assumptions about how the world works.

WORLD-VIEW
• In essence, a world-view is a Cognitive Culture,
or the mental organization in each individual's
mind of how the world works. The common
aspects of our individual cognitive culture make
up the cultural world-view of the group, which
shapes the social culture, which is the way
people relate to one another in daily activities,
and how they cooperate together for the
perceived good of society.

WORLD-VIEW & BLOOMS TAXONOMY
• BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF COGNITIVE
BEHAVIOR IS A TYPOLOGY WHICH SUGGESTS
A MEAN’S FOR SHAPING & ADDING TO A
WORLD-VIEW [COGNITIVE CULTURE] BY
ENHANCING COGNITION OR COGNITIVE
ABILITY THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ONE’S LATENT POWER
OF CRITICAL
AND CREATIVE THINKING!

BLOOMS TAXONOMY
TYPES OF LEARNING/EDUCATIONAL DOMAINS
• Cognitive Domain: Mental Abilities [Shaped by
Culture – Hence COGNITIVE CULTURE
(Knowledge/Information-IN-FORMING/SHAPING)
• Affective Domain: Emotional Areas (Attitude/Way
of Thinking/Addition to World-View/Perceptual
Paradigm)
• Psychomotor Domain: Physical Skills (Skills)

COGNITIVE DOMAIN
• The Cognitive Domain (Bloom, 1956) involves
knowledge and the development of
intellectual skills. This includes the recall or
recognition of specific facts, procedural
patterns, and concepts that serve in the
development of intellectual abilities and skills.

LEVEL 1: COGNITIVE DOMAIN
• Knowledge: Recall Data or Information.
• Key Words: defines, describes, identifies,
knows, labels, lists, matches, names, outlines,
recalls, recognizes, reproduces, selects, states.

• Comprehension: Understand the meaning,
translation, interpolation, and interpretation
of instructions .
• Key Words: comprehends, converts, defends,
distinguishes, estimates, explains, extends,
generalizes, gives an example, infers,
interprets, paraphrases, predicts, rewrites,
summarizes, translates.

• Application: Use a Concept in a new situation or
unprompted use of an Abstraction
[THEORY/WHAT IF?]. Applies what was learned in
the classroom into novel situations in the Afrikan
Global Community.
• Key Words: applies, changes, computes,
constructs, demonstrates, discovers, manipulates,
modifies, operates, predicts, prepares, produces,
relates, shows, solves, uses.

• Analysis: Separates material or concepts into
component parts so that its organizational
structure may be understood. Distinguishes
between Culturally Defined Facts and Inferences.
• Key Words: analyzes, breaks down, compares,
contrasts, diagrams, deconstructs, differentiates,
discriminates, distinguishes, identifies, illustrates,
infers, outlines, relates, selects, separates.

• Synthesis: Builds a structure or pattern from
diverse elements. Put parts together to form a
whole, with emphasis on creating a new
meaning or structure.
• Key Words: categorizes, combines, compiles,
composes, creates, devises, designs, explains,
generates, modifies, organizes, plans,
rearranges, reconstructs, relates, reorganizes,
revises, writes.

• Evaluation: Make judgments about the value
of ideas or materials.
• Key Words: appraises, compares, concludes,
contrasts, criticizes, critiques, defends,
describes, discriminates, evaluates, explains,
interprets, justifies, relates, supports.

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN
• The Affective Domain (Krathwohl, Bloom,
Masia, 1973) includes the manner in which we
deal with things Emotionally, such as Feelings,
Values [CULTURE], Appreciation, Enthusiasms
[TO BE POSSESSED BY SPIRIT – FOR EXAMPLE:
OF A CULTURE], Inspiration, Motivations, and
Attitudes.

LEVEL 1: AFFECTIVE DOMAIN
• Receiving Phenomena: Awareness,
willingness to hear, selected attention.
• Key Words: asks, chooses, describes, follows,
gives, holds, identifies, locates, names, points
to, selects, sits, erects, replies, uses.

• Responding to Phenomena: Active participation
on the part of the learners. Attends and reacts to
a particular phenomenon. Learning outcomes
may emphasize compliance in responding,
willingness to respond, or satisfaction in
responding (motivation).
• Key Words: answers, assists, aids, complies,
conforms, discusses, greets, helps, labels,
performs, practices, presents, reads, recites,
reports, selects, tells, writes.

• Valuing: The worth or value a person attaches to a
particular object, phenomenon, or behavior. This
ranges from simple acceptance to the more complex
state of commitment. Valuing is based on the
internalization of a set of specified values [CULTURE],
while clues to these values are expressed in the
learner's overt behavior and are often identifiable.
• Key Words: completes, demonstrates, differentiates,
explains, follows, forms, initiates, invites, joins,
justifies, proposes, reads, reports, selects, shares,
studies, works.

• Organization: Organizes values into priorities by
contrasting different values, resolving conflicts
between them, and creating an unique value
system. The emphasis is on comparing, relating,
and synthesizing values.
• Key Words: adheres, alters, arranges, combines,
compares, completes, defends, explains,
formulates, generalizes, identifies, integrates,
modifies, orders, organizes, prepares, relates,
synthesizes.

• Internalizing values (characterization): Has a
value system that controls their behavior. The
behavior is pervasive, consistent, predictable, and
most importantly, characteristic of the learner.
Instructional objectives are concerned with the
student's general patterns of adjustment
(personal, social, emotional).
• Key Words: acts, discriminates, displays,
influences, listens, modifies, performs, practices,
proposes, qualifies, questions, revises, serves,
solves, verifies.

PSYCHO-MOTOR DOMAIN
• The Psychomotor Domain (Simpson, 1972)
includes Psychological Direction of Physical
movement, Coordination, and use of the
Motor-skill areas. Development of these skills
requires practice and is measured in terms of
Speed, Precision, Distance, Procedures, or
Techniques in Execution.

LEVEL 1: PSYCHO-MOTOR DOMAIN
• Perception: The ability to use sensory cues to
guide motor activity. This ranges from sensory
stimulation, through cue selection, to
translation.
• Key Words: chooses, describes, detects,
differentiates, distinguishes, identifies,
isolates, relates, selects.

• Set: Readiness to act. It includes mental,
physical, and emotional sets. These three sets
are dispositions that predetermine a person's
response to different situations (sometimes
called mindsets).
• Key Words: begins, displays, explains, moves,
proceeds, reacts, shows, states, volunteers.

• Guided Response: The early stages in learning
a complex skill that includes imitation and trial
and error. Adequacy of performance is
achieved by practicing.
• Key Words: copies, traces, follows, react,
reproduce, responds.

• Mechanism: This is the intermediate stage in
learning a complex skill. Learned responses
have become habitual and the movements
can be performed with some confidence and
proficiency.
• Key Words: assembles, calibrates, constructs,
dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds,
heats, manipulates, measures, mends, mixes,
organizes, sketches.

• Complex Overt Response: The skillful performance of
motor acts that involve complex movement patterns.
Proficiency is indicated by a quick, accurate, and highly
coordinated performance, requiring a minimum of
energy. This category includes performing without
hesitation, and automatic performance.
• Key Words: assembles, builds, calibrates, constructs,
dismantles, displays, fastens, fixes, grinds, heats,
manipulates, measures, mends, mixes, organizes,
sketches. NOTE: The Key Words are the same as
Mechanism, but will have adverbs or adjectives that
indicate that the performance is quicker, better, more
accurate, etc.

• Adaptation: Skills are well developed and the
individual can modify movement patterns to
fit special requirements.
• Key Words: adapts, alters, changes,
rearranges, reorganizes, revises, varies.

• Origination: Creating new movement patterns
to fit a particular situation or specific problem.
Learning outcomes emphasize creativity based
upon highly developed skills.
• Key Words: arranges, builds, combines,
composes, constructs, creates, designs,
initiate, makes, originates.

ADDITIONAL PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAINS
• Imitation — Observing and patterning
behavior after someone else. Performance
may be of low quality.
• Manipulation — Being able to perform certain
actions by following instructions and
practicing.
• IMITATION & MANIPULATION: ARE DIRECT
RESULTS OF FOCUS ON KNOWLEDGE &
COMPREHENSION ONLY!

ADDITIONAL PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAINS
• Precision — Refining, becoming more exact. Few
errors are apparent.
• Articulation — Coordinating a series of actions,
achieving harmony and internal consistency.
• Naturalization — Having high level performance
become natural, without needing to think much
about it.
• Perception — Response to stimuli such as visual,
auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile discrimination.

EXPECTATIONS OF TEACHER
CRITICAL/CREATIVE INSTRUCTORS CREED
• I will be interested, excited and enthusiastic
about you, the course and the material.
• I will demonstrate for you that this material is
relevant to your life.
• I will Challenge you to THINK about the
subject.
• I will always QUESTION you.

• I will always ask questions, give activities and
assignments that will require you to clarify a
problem, make observations relevant to the
solution of the problem, and make
generalizations based on your observation.
• I will always engage you in defining, questioning,
observing, classifying, generalizing, verifying,
applying and evaluating concepts, information
and problems.

• I will always ask for the REASONS and CAUSES of
a problem.
• I will encourage you to interact with each other.
• I will always focus on the PROCESS OF THINKING.
• I will not accept a single statement as an answer.
• I will help you to be an EFFICIENT AND
EFFECTIVE PROBLEM-SOLVER.

• I will encourage you to engage in Contingent
Thinking.
• I will help you to depend on yourself as a
thinker.
• I will not judge the quality of your thinking,
you will.
• I will help you to develop your own criteria for
judging the quality, precision, and relevance of
ideas.

• I will always assume that you are in the continual
process of acquiring skills, assimilating new
information, formulating or refining
generalizations.
• I will draw out of you latent and potential
talents.
• I will have confidence in your ability to learn.
• I will have confidence in my ability as a Professor.

• I will Control my Thinking.
• I will Control my Actions.
• I will be abiding, adamant, persevering,
faithful and relentless in my Purpose of
helping you to develop your God-given
Critical/Creative Thinking Skills.
• I will identify with the Higher Ideals of:
Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity,
Righteousness, Propriety, Truth and Justice.

• I will have evidence of having a Mission in life.
• I will have deep insight.
• I will persevere in helping you with the work
you will do.
• I will be ready and prepared to teach.

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENT
• I expect you to accept responsibility for your
learning. My role as the Professor is to facilitate
your development as an independent critical and
creative thinker. Be an active thinker.
• I expect you to have confidence in your ability to
learn.
• I expect you to enjoy solving problems.
• I expect you to rely on your own judgment.
• I expect you to not be afraid of being wrong.

• I expect you to think carefully before giving an
answer.
• I expect you to look at things your point of
view and other points of view.
• I expect you to have a respect for ‘facts’.
• I expect you to be skilful in distinguishing
between statements of a ‘fact’ and other
types of statements.

• I expect you to know how to ask ‘meaningful’
questions.
• I expect you to be persistent in examining your
own assumptions.
• I expect you to use definitions, metaphors and
analogies as instruments of your thinking.
• I expect you to be cautious and precise in
making generalizations.

• I expect you to continually verify what you
believe.
• I expect you to be a careful observer.
• I expect you to recognize that language tends
to obscure differences and control
perceptions.
• I expect that you do not need to have an
absolute final irrevocable resolution to every
problem.

• I expect you to Control Your Thinking.
• I expect you to Control Your Actions.
• I expect you to be abiding, adamant,
persevering, faithful and relentless in your
Purpose.
• I expect you to Identify with the Higher Ideals
of: Harmony, Balance, Reciprocity,
Righteousness, Propriety, Truth and Justice.

• I expect you to have evidence of having a
Mission in life.
• I expect you to have deep insight.
• I expect you to have confidence in my ability
as a Professor.
• I expect you to persevere in the challenging
work you will do.
• I expect you to be ready and prepared to
learn.

IMPLEMENTATION
THROUGH
CRITICAL/CREATIVE THINKING

GUIDELINES 1: PURPOSE
1. All reasoning has a PURPOSE.
• Take time to state your purpose clearly.
• Distinguish your purpose from related
purposes.
• Check periodically to be sure you are still on
target.
• Choose significant and realistic purposes.

GUIDELINES 2: PROBLEM SOLVING
2. All reasoning is an attempt to FIGURE
SOMETHING OUT, TO SETTLE SOME QUESTION,
TO SOLVE SOME PROBLEM.
• Take time to clearly and precisely state the
question at issue.
• Express the question in several ways to clarify its
meaning and scope.
• Break the question into sub questions.
• Identify if the question has one right answer, is a
matter of opinion, or requires reasoning from
more than one point of view.

GUIDELINES 3: ASSUMPTIONS
• All reasoning is based on ASSUMPTIONS.
• Clearly identify your assumptions and
determine whether they are justifiable.
• Consider how your assumptions are shaping
your point of view.

GUIDELINES 4: POINT OF VIEW
4. All reasoning is done from some POINT OF
VIEW.
• Identify your point of view.
• Seek other points of view and identify their
strengths as well as weaknesses.
• Strive to be fair-minded in evaluating all
points of view.

GUIDELINES 5: INFORMATION
5. All reasoning is based on DATA, INFORMATION
and EVIDENCE.
• Restrict your claims to those supported by the
data you have.
• Search for information that opposes your position
as well as information that supports it.
• Make sure that all information used is clear,
accurate, and relevant to the question at issue.
• Make sure you have gathered sufficient
information.

GUIDELINES 6: CONCEPTS/IDEAS
6. All reasoning is expressed through, and
shaped by, CONCEPTS and IDEAS.
• Identify key concepts and explain them clearly.
• Consider alternative concepts or alternative
definitions to concepts.
• Make sure you are using concepts with care
and precision.

GUIDELINES 7: INFERENCES & CONCLUSIONS

7. All reasoning contains INFERENCES or
INTERPRETATIONS by which we draw
CONCLUSIONS and give meaning to data.
• Infer only what the evidence implies.
• Check inferences for their consistency with
each other.
• Identify assumptions, which lead you to your
inferences.

GUIDELINES 8: IMPLICATIONS
8. All reasoning leads somewhere or has
IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES.
• Trace the implications and consequences that
follow from your reasoning.
• Search for negative as well as positive
implications.
• Consider all possible consequences.

QUESTIONING
THE HEART OF CRITICAL THINKING

QUESTIONS
• Questions are Factual, Interpretive and
Evaluative. They are Factual in that they have
only one correct answer according to one
POINT OF VIEW. They are Interpretive in that
they provide an answer and draw conclusions
and make prescriptions from a POINT OF
VIEW, and must be supported with evidence.
They are Evaluative in that they ask for some
kind of opinion, belief, and statement of
consequences.

QUESTIONS
• There are these four ways of answering
questions. Which four? There are questions that
should be answered categorically
[straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are
questions that should be answered with an
analytical (qualified) answer [defining or
redefining the terms]. There are questions that
should be answered with a counter-question.
There are questions that should be put aside.
These are the four ways of answering questions.
[Buddha]

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
• These are the questions which give meaning and
purpose to our lives in relation to one another
and the group [I AM LAKINI WE ARE], Our
Collective Spirit [WE ARE ALL MINUTE
EXPRESSIONS OF THE CREATOR], Our community
[THE NATION], Our People [AFRIKANS- AT HOME
& ABROAD]. These Questions are central to our
lives. They help to define what it means to be
human.

EXAMPLE
• Can famine be prevented?
• How does the past affect the future?
• Is history a history of progress?

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS
• These are questions designed to explore
possibilities, probabilities and test
relationships. They usually project a theory or
an option out into the future, and ask What if?
• Hypothetical Questions are especially helpful
when trying to decide between a number of
choices or when trying to solve a problem.

EXAMPLE
• What do you think would happen if ________
occurred? [IF THEN QUESTIONS]

TELLING QUESTIONS
• Telling Questions lead us right to the target.
They are built with such precision that they
provide sorting and sifting during the
gathering or discovery process. They focus the
investigation so that we gather only the very
specific evidence and information we require,
only those facts which "cast light upon" or
illuminate the main question at hand.

EXAMPLE
• What is the Human Development Index for
Tanzania for the year 2011 and how has the
number changed in the past 20 years?

PLANNING QUESTIONS
• Planning Questions require that we think
about how we will structure our search, where
we will look and what resources we might use
such as time and information.

EXAMPLE
• Sources: Who has done the best work on this
subject?
• Sequence: What are all of the tasks which
need completing in order to generate a
credible product which offers fresh thought
backed by solid evidence and sound thinking?
• Pacing: How much time is available for this
project?

ORGANIZING QUESTIONS
• Organizing Questions make it possible to
structure our findings into categories which
will allow us to construct meaning.

EXAMPLE
• How shall we use the different Human
Development Index numbers for the past 20
years to gain meaning? [Compare and
Contrast]

PROBING QUESTIONS
• Probing Questions take us below the surface
to the "heart of the matter.“ These questions
are based on 1) Logic - We check to see if
there is any structure to the way the
information is organized and displayed. 2)
Prior Knowledge - We apply what we have
seen and known in the past to guide our
search. 3) Trial-and-Error - Sometimes,
nothing works better than plain old "mucking
about."

EXAMPLE
• Once the data is collected what should be
done with the it?

SORTING & SIFTING QUESTIONS
• Sorting & Sifting Questions allow us to cull
and keep only the information which is
pertinent and useful. Relevancy is the primary
criterion employed. We create a questions
which allows all but the most important
information to slide away. We then place the
good information with the questions it
illuminates.

EXAMPLE
• Which parts of this data are worth keeping?

CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS
• Clarification Questions lead to the defining of
words and concepts so as to clear up any
ambiguity.

EXAMPLE
• How did they gather their data? Was it a
reliable and valid process? Do they show the
data and evidence they claim to have in
support of their conclusions? Was is
substantial enough to justify their
conclusions?

STRATEGIC QUESTIONS
• Strategic Questions focus on Ways to Make
Meaning. Closely associated with the Planning
Questions formulated early on in this process,
Strategic Questions arise during the actual
hunting, gathering, inferring, synthesizing and
ongoing questioning process.

EXAMPLE
• How can I best approach this next step?, this
next challenge? this next frustration?

ELABORATING QUESTIONS
• Elaborating Questions extend and stretch the
import of what we are finding. They take the
explicit and see where it might lead. They also
help us to dig below surface to implicit
(unstated) meanings.

EXAMPLE
• What does this mean? What might it mean if
certain conditions and circumstances
changed?

UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS
• Unanswerable Questions are the ultimate
challenge. They serve like boundary stones,
helping us to tell us when we have pushed insight
to its outer limits. When exploring essential
questions (most of which are unanswerable in
the ultimate sense) we may have to settle for
"casting light" upon them. When wrestling with
these Unanswerable Questions we may never
find Truth, but we may illuminate . . . extend the
level of understanding and reduce the intensity of
the darkness.

EXAMPLE
• How would life be different if . . .

INVENTIVE QUESTIONS
• Inventive Questions turn our findings inside
out and upside down. They distort, modify,
adjust, rearrange, alter, twist and turn the bits
and pieces we have picked up along the way
until we can shout "Aha!" and proclaim the
discovery of something brand new.

EXAMPLE
• What does all this information really mean?
• Can any information be regrouped or
combined in ways which help meaning to
emerge?
• Can I display this information or data in a way
which will cast more light on my essential
question?

PROVOCATIVE QUESTIONS
• Provocative Questions are meant to push, to
challenge and to throw conventional wisdom
off balance. They give free rein to doubt,
disbelief and skepticism.

EXAMPLE
• Where's the content? substance? logic?
evidence?
• What is the source? Is the source reliable?
• What's the point? Is there a point?

IRRELEVANT QUESTIONS
• Irrelevant Questions take us far afield, distract
us and threaten to divert us from the task at
hand. And that is their beauty! WHAT AT FIRST
MAY LOOK IRRELEVANT MAY WITHIN IT
CONTAIN NEW INSIGHTS.

DIVERGENT QUESTIONS
• Divergent Questions use existing knowledge
as a base from which to BEGIN. They move
more logically from the core of conventional
knowledge and experience than irrelevant
questions. They are more carefully planned to
explore territory which is adjacent to that
which is known or understood.

IRREVERENT QUESTIONS
• Irreverent Questions explore territory which is
"off-limits" or taboo. They challenge far more
than conventional wisdom. They hold no
respect for authority or institutions or myths.
They leap over, under or through walls and
rules and regulations.

CONTINGENT QUESTIONS
• Contingent Questions are questions that are
asked depending on the response given to a
previous question.

DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS
• Dichotomous Questions have two possible
responses.

HOW TO QUESTION
NILE VALLEY METHOD OF QUESTIONING

Conceptual Clarification Questions

• Get them to think more about what
exactly they are asking or thinking
about. Prove the concepts behind
their argument. Basic 'tell me more'
questions that get them to go
deeper.

Conceptual Clarification Questions
• Why are you saying that?
• What exactly does this mean?
• How does this relate to what we have been
talking about?
• What is the nature of ...?
• What do we already know about this?
• Can you give me an example?
• Are you saying ... or ... ?
• Can you rephrase that, please?

Probing Assumptions
• Probing of assumptions makes them
think about the presuppositions and
unquestioned beliefs on which they are
founding their argument.

Probing Assumptions
• What else could we assume?
• You seem to be assuming ... ?
• How did you choose those assumptions?
• Please explain why/how ... ?
• How can you verify or disprove that
assumption?
• What would happen if ... ?
• Do you agree or disagree with ... ?

Probing Rationale, Reasons and Evidence

• When they give a rationale for their
arguments, dig into that reasoning
rather than assuming it is a given.
People often use un-thought-
through or weakly understood
supports for their arguments.

• Why is that happening?
• How do you know this?
• Show me ... ?
• Can you give me an example of that?
• What do you think causes ... ?
• What is the nature of this?
• Are these reasons good enough?

• How might it be refuted?
• How can I be sure of what you are
saying?
• Why is ... happening?
• Why? (keep asking it -- you'll never get
past a few times)
• What evidence is there to support what
you are saying?
• On what authority are you basing your
argument?

Questioning Viewpoints and Perspectives
• Most arguments are given from a
particular position. So attack the
position. Show that there are other,
equally valid, viewpoints.

• Another way of looking at this is ..., does
this seem reasonable?
• What alternative ways of looking at this
are there?
• Why it is ... necessary?
• Who benefits from this?
• What is the difference between... and...?
• Why is it better than ...?


• What are the strengths and
weaknesses of...?
• How are ... and ... similar?
• What would ... say about it?
• What if you compared ... and ... ?
• How could you look another way at
this?

Probe Implications and Consequences

• The argument that they give may
have logical implications that can
be forecast. Do these make
sense? Are they desirable?

Probe Implications and Consequences

• Then what would happen?
• What are the consequences of that assumption?
• How could ... be used to ... ?
• What are the implications of ... ?
• How does ... affect ... ?
• How does ... fit with what we learned before?
• Why is ... important?
• What is the best ... ? Why?

Questions About the Question
• 1. And you can also get reflexive about the
whole thing, turning the question in on itself.
Use their attack against themselves. Bounce
the ball back into their court, etc.

Questions About the Question

• What was the point of asking that
question?
• Why do you think I asked this
question?
• What does that mean?

QUESTIONS ABOUT QUESTIONS
1. Which of the questions can you answer with
absolute certainty? How can you be certain of
your answer?
2. What information will enable you to answer
other questions with absolute certainty? Where
will you get the information?
3. Which questions restrict you to giving factual
information? Which do not? Which questions
require no facts at all?
4. Which questions require the greatest amount of
definition to answer them?

5. Which questions require the testimony of
experts? What makes one an expert?
6. Which questions assume the answerer is the
expert?
7. Which questions may have false assumptions?
8. Which questions require predictions as answers?
9. What kinds of information may improve the
quality of a prediction?

10. What is the purpose of the question?
11. What are the sub-questions of the question?
12. Have you seen similar questions before?
13. What type of question is it? [Essential,
Historical, Political, Economic, etc.]
14. What are the assumptions of the question?
15. What is the point of view of the question?
16. What data, information, and evidence are
required to answer the question?

17. What are the concepts and ideas in the
question?
18. What does the question infer?
19. What interpretations does the question
make?
20. What are the implications of the question?
21. What are the consequences of the question?

CURRICULUM ADJUSTMENT
• Critical & Creative Thinking
• Grammar
• Rhetoric
• Logic
• Arithmetic
• Geometry
• Music
• Astronomy

CRITICAL & CREATIVE THINKING
• Emphasizes thinking skill development.

OVERVIEW
• Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic are disciplines of moral
nature by means of which the irrational tendencies are
purged away. Geometry and Arithmetic are sciences of
transcendental space and numeration, the
comprehension of which provided the key not only to
the problems of one's being; but also to those physical
ones, which are so baffling today, owing to our use of
the inductive methods. Astronomy deals with the
knowledge and distribution of latent forces, and the
destiny of individuals, places and nations. Music (or
Harmony) means the living practice of philosophy i.e.,
the adjustment of human life into harmony with God,
until the personal soul became identified with God.

GRAMMAR
• Is the key by which alone the door can be opened
to the understanding of speech. It is Grammar
which reveals the admirable art of language, and
unfolds its various constituent parts—its names,
definitions, and respective offices; it unravels, as
it were, the thread of which the web of speech is
composed. These reflections seldom occur to any
one before their acquaintance with the art; yet it
is most certain that, without a knowledge of
Grammar, it is very difficult to speak with
propriety, precision, and purity.

RHETORIC
• It is by Rhetoric that the art of speaking
eloquently is acquired. To be an eloquent
speaker, in the proper sense of the word, is far
from being either a common or an easy
attainment: it is the art of being persuasive
and commanding; the art, not only of pleasing
the fancy, but of speaking both to the
understanding and to the heart.

LOGIC
• Is that science which directs us how to form clear
and distinct ideas of things, and thereby prevents
us from being misled by their similitude or
resemblance. Of all the human sciences, that
concerning man is certainly most worthy of the
human mind, and the proper manner of
conducting its several powers in the attainment
of truth and knowledge. This science ought to be
cultivated as the foundation or ground-work of
our inquiries; particularly in the pursuit of those
sublime principles which claim our attention.

ARITHMETIC
• Is the art of numbering, or that part of the mathematics
which considers the properties of numbers in general. We
have but a very imperfect idea of things without quantity,
and as imperfect of quantity itself, without the help of
Arithmetic. All the works of the Almighty are made in
number, weight, and measure; therefore, to understand
them rightly, we ought to understand arithmetical
calculations; and the greater advancement we make in the
mathematical sciences, the more capable we shall be of
considering such things as are the ordinary objects of our
conceptions, and be thereby led to a more comprehensive
knowledge of our great Creator and the works of the
creation.

GEOMETRY
• By this science, the architect is enabled to construct his
plans and execute his designs; the general, to arrange
his soldiers; the engineer, to mark out grounds for
encampments; the geographer, to give us the
dimensions of the world, and all things therein
contained; to delineate the extent of seas, and specify
the divisions of empires, kingdoms, and provinces. By
it, also, the astronomer is enabled to make his
observations, and to fix the duration of times and
seasons, years and cycles. In fine, Geometry is the
foundation of architecture, and the root of the
mathematics.

MUSIC
• Is that elevated science which affects the passions by
sound. There are few who have not felt its charms, and
acknowledged its expression to be intelligible to the heart.
It is a language of delightful sensations, far more eloquent
than words; it breathes to the ear the clearest intimations;
it touches and gently agitates the agreeable and sublime
passions; it wraps us in melancholy, and elevates us in joy;
it dissolves and inflames; it melts us in tenderness, and
excites us to war. This science is truly congenial to the
nature of man; for by its powerful charms the most
discordant passions may be harmonized, and brought into
perfect unison; but it never sounds with such seraphic
harmony as when employed in singing hymns of gratitude
to the Creator of the universe.

ASTRONOMY
• Is that sublime science which inspires the
contemplative mind to soar aloft, and read the
wisdom, strength, and beauty of the great
Creator in the heavens. How nobly eloquent of
the Deity is the celestial hemisphere!—spangled
with the most magnificent heralds of his infinite
glory! They spear-to the whole universe; for there
is no speech so barbarous, but their language is
understood; nor nation so distant, but their
voices are heard among them.

COURSE MATERIALS
• Lecturer created Textbooks and Research
Compendiums [A collection of articles and
book selections which are pertinent to given
course, accompanied by Higher Order
Thinking Questions.]

REFERENCES
• Bloom B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook
I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.
• Dave, R. H. (1975). Developing and Writing Behavioral Objectives.
(R. J. Armstrong, ed.). Tucson, Arizona: Educational Innovators
Press.
• Harrow, A. (1972) A Taxonomy of Psychomotor Domain: A Guide
for Developing Behavioral Objectives. New York: David McKay.
• Krathwohl, D. R., Bloom, B. S., & Masia, B. B. (1973). Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals.
Handbook II: Affective Domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.
• Pohl, M. (2000). Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Models and
Strategies to Develop a Classroom Culture of Thinking.
Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.
• Simpson E. J. (1972). The Classification of Educational Objectives in
the Psychomotor Domain. Washington, DC: Gryphon House.
• James, George G.M. (1954) Stolen Legacy.

Afrikan/Black Deep Thought

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais procurados

Mais procurados (6)

Semelhante a Afrikan/Black Deep Thought

Semelhante a Afrikan/Black Deep Thought (20)

Mais de Ambakisye-Okang Dukuzumurenyi, Ph.D.

Mais de Ambakisye-Okang Dukuzumurenyi, Ph.D. (11)

Último

Último (20)

Afrikan/Black Deep Thought