The search for "aha!" moments | Matt Goldman
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2018
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
In 1988, Matt Goldman and a few friends created the Blue Man Group, an off-Broadway production that became a sensation known for its humor, blue body paint and wild stunts. The show works on the premise that certain conditions can create "aha moments" -- moments of surprise, learning and exuberance -- frequent and intentional rather than random and occasional. Now Goldman is working to apply the lessons learned from Blue Man Group to education, creating a school that balances academic mastery, creative thinking and self and social intelligence. "We need to cultivate safe and conducive conditions for new and innovative ideas to evolve and thrive," Goldman says.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features theater director Matt Goldman, |
| 0:04.0 | recorded live at TED NYC, 2017. |
| 0:08.0 | So it's 1969, New York City, |
| 0:14.0 | third grade music class. |
| 0:17.0 | And our teacher brings us into a room with nothing but a piano and chairs. |
| 0:23.6 | And one by one, he calls us up, and he plays middle C and A.S. says to sing it. |
| 0:30.6 | Da-da-da-da-da-da-la-la. |
| 0:32.6 | And you're either instructed to go to the right side of the room or the left side of the room. |
| 0:41.0 | And when all 35 kids are done, the left side of the room, which I was a part of, |
| 0:48.2 | was told to stand up and go back to home room. |
| 0:54.6 | And none of us ever received another music class again in elementary school. |
| 1:02.5 | An in-club and an out-club was established, |
| 1:06.3 | and I didn't even know what the gating test was in the moment. |
| 1:13.2 | A few years later. |
| 1:15.5 | English class. |
| 1:18.5 | First paper of a first of a new semester, |
| 1:23.4 | and I get the paper back, and it's C plus, |
| 1:29.1 | with the cment, and it's C plus with the comment, |
| 1:31.1 | good as can be expected. |
| 1:37.4 | Now, honestly, I didn't mind a C plus. |
| 1:40.9 | I was just happy it wasn't a C-minus or D. |
| 1:44.9 | But the goodest can be expected comment, |
... |
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