Pedagogic Strategies for Unlocking Thinking Potential
Abstract
The quality of life of Kenyans and other people in the world is dependent upon the ability of
individuals in that society to provide solutions to problems affecting the family, the community
and the nation at large. The existence of a mass of individuals able to use their minds creatively
to develop new ideas in order to come up with new products, new processes, new machines and
other devices determine whether a country is poor or wealthy. The rich and developed countries
may not have the requisite natural resources but they have individuals who are able to use their
intellectual potential to create wealth. People who are not able to use their thinking potential
effectively end up becoming sources of cheap raw labor for others and consumers of expensive
finished products including ideas and technology. Education is the main key input in unlocking
the thinking potential. The many benefits of education may not be achieved unless we teach our
students (learners) how to think effectively and how to realize their creativity and thinking
potential more effectively than they are doing today. We must develop in our learners the ability
to create new products and processes that will solve many of our human, social and economic
problems. This paper attempts to explore this aspect of trying to find effective strategies that we
can use in our teaching to unlock their thinking potential to become initiators and developers of
appropriate technologies to create wealth for our people.