Reflections on Analytical Thinking for Children

Abstract

Introduction: All Hammets are liars. John is a Hammet. John says, "I am lying." Is John lying?

My fourth grade had puzzled over this paradox for two days, alternately frustrated and then exhilerated as they thought they had the right answer. To accept that there was no right answer was very hard indeed until one little girl challenged to draw a conclusion stated, "It's just like a circle: it goes around and around, and you can't get off." Then she proceeded to draw an image on the board- a circle with two arrows, one at the top, and one at the bottom to represent a paradox. Her young mind had been stretched and challenged to go beyond its usual boundaries.