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By Frank Palatnick.
Boron is the fifth element in the periodic table.
It was discovered by Sir Henry Davy, an English chemist and two French chemists in 1808. Boron is used for glass and ceramics. It is also used for controlling nuclear reactors. It also is found to maintain the integrity of cell walls in living organisms.
The fifth element in the table of educational elements is ‘ belief in the student ‘. Just like boron maintaining the integrity of cell walls of organisms, belief in the student’s capabilities maintains the integrity of the ‘ dialogue ‘ needed to enable and empower that student/traveler. In order for the traveler to be inspired to create new ideas, the facilitator/guide as well as the community of stakeholders must believe in the traveler.
Any negative aura or non belief will create a numb, non motivated individual that will be a loss to the world. In the movie ‘ Lean On Me ‘ as well as similar movies, we see an excellent example of belief. Belief must also include ‘ Belief In Oneself ‘ .
That can be instilled by believing in them. Being inspired to improve him or herself as well as society must come from both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can include statements like ” Yes, you can ” or ” I believe you can do that ” or ” I have faith on you ” or any number of similar statements. It can also be created by, if good enough, submitting work for contests.
Believing in the student can also be intrinsically established by allowing him or her to see all the possibilities of his/her understandings. The student/traveler should be able to continue on his or her journey of investigation and discovery with the belief that he or she will have a positive impact on society.
In Mendeleev’s table Carbon is the sixth element.
In 1789 A.L. Lavoisier, a French chemist, discovered carbon. Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical element in the universe by mass after hydrogen, helium and oxygen. Carbon is abundant in the Sun, stars, comets and in the atmospheres of most planets. Carbon, under extreme pressure, become diamonds. Carbon has various uses. It is used in dating fossils. It is used in nanotechnology. It is used in pencils as graphite. Carbon is essential to all known living systems. Without it, life as we know it could not exist.
In the facilitative element table, the sixth element is ‘ Creativity of the traveler ‘ . Our travelers, just like carbon, are diamonds in the rough. Through extreme guiding empathy, motivation and nurturing travelers can shine like diamonds. And just like carbon being needed for life, travelers are needed for our lives to be better.
Just like pencils, travelers can leave a positive indelible mark on humanity. Just like the carbon dating process, travelers can leave that mark through time. Just like the innumerable ways that carbon nanotubes can be used in medicine, agriculture , transportation, conductive plastics, structural composite materials, flat panel displays, gas storage and nano surgery, travelers can create innumerable ways, ideas and methods to improve the world.
Creativity is found in the part of the brain called the left frontal lobe. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging as well as other neural diagnosing and imaging techniques, scientists have found that the left frontal lobe is the part of the brain that shows great activity when individuals, including travelers, are given a problem to work on.
If we, as facilitators, can assist or stimulate that area through nurturing empathy, compassion and humanism, then the traveler will shine stronger then a diamond. In 2013, the National Institute of Health embarked on a project to map every neuron and axion in the human brain called the BRAIN Initiative. In this context BRAIN stands for ‘ Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies ‘ . To show the impact of the traveler, there are numerous travelers working on this project.
In conclusion, we, as stakeholders, must stimulate the traveler to create.
