Abstract reasoning is a growing teaching trend - but what is it?

Remember Archimedes and the Eureka moment? Or Newton and his apple? We had never asked ourselves the extremely simple basic questions they asked, but that is why they managed to question what is taken for granted unthinkingly. Teachers are now applying abstract reasoning principles in teaching to spark curiosity and inventiveness in kids.  

What is abstract reasoning and where do we see it applied?  
Guess what we would not get if we did not have abstract reasoning in science? Electricity, gravity, steam power, and of course, computers. Abstract thinking helps us to transform simple thoughts around basic questions into new, imaginative adaptations. We reach this abstract thinking process when we break through the concrete-thinking boundaries taught by experience.  

How is abstract thinking being introduced by educators?  
Abstract thinking is the ability to delve into the obvious and unearth concepts that are not directly visible, but may be the driving force behind a lot of things. Teachers are using these steps to apply abstract thinking to life:  

• Classifying objects and experiences: A child switches on the computer. He or she does not pay attention to the boot process since it’s a given experience  
• Dealing with situations afresh: The boot process stops and shows up an error message. Instead of automatically going to the start-up menu, the child actually reads the prompt and chooses to scan the disks for the first time  
• Drawing conclusions based on information and observation: The kid realises there’s a bad sector as it is indicated in the scan  
• Planning sequential action: The child decides to scan that sector and rectify errors by deleting or repairing files. So far, the child has not needed anything extra except patience and the mindset to keep clicking on simple command prompts, which he or she had never done before  
• Identifying solutions to the issue noticed: As the system starts up normally, the child realises what is the actual method of starting up a computer, what can hamper it, and what can be done to rectify it. It’s a light bulb moment for the kid  

Since children do not wake up one day magically able to make these connections, teachers of all subjects are encouraging this thought process now. To start with, children just have to ask themselves, “Why does this happen?”