Foreword
When shastra Vedi approached Sandepani school for its science fiction publishing program with the objective of developing scientific imagination, it overlapped with a mission of our own that we had been pursuing, that is taking the attention of serious educators and those in the field of pedagogy all over the world.
Researchers all over the world has been observing the alarming phenomenon of cognitive offloading. Simply put, children now excessively rely on technology like Chat GPT and other models for doing even basic cognitive tasks. This offloading of basic cognitive tasks from oneself to another machine has spiked since the Covid pandemic. These are vital cognitive activities which takes regular practice and exercise to master. And the regular and healthy flexing of these cognitive skills are key to the development of the foundational skills like critical thinking, self reflection, retention, analytical skills etc.
Researchers are now observing that children whose cognition are routinely offloaded to machines and devices does not just risk addiction, but are getting more and more lazy in interpreting knowledge. This is known by the word Epistemic laziness, where children detach from engaging with ideas and tasks that has become cognitively difficult for them. For example, children are less likely to spend time sitting before a paragraph that they do not understand or introspect on a problem that might confuse them. This has serious implication for society and the future of our species as a whole.
While Shastra Vedi was rallying educators to get children to write science fiction with the ultimate vision of committing science to the non violent progress of society and the peaceful service of Human kind, we were parallelly formulating our program with like minded educators all over the world to develop a comprehensive program to bring the children back into the traditional habits of reading and writing with the aim of re centering their own cognitive resilience in the fast changing conditions of the world. And we Jumped at the opportunity.
It was therefore an extremely enriching experience to work with Shastra Vedi, training children to write imaginatively, allow them to make mistakes, help them sit through the occasional writers block and boredom. It was meaningful to help them ground themselves in the process of writing and helping them wield the most foundational cognitive skills repeatedly.
The first phase of this initiative couldn’t have ended better, with the publication of their writings. This is sure to improve their confidence and a long- term reward for their hard work. Much more meaningful than the instant gratification of scrolling through devices that platform algorithms offer, in service of the tech platforms that uses the said data for targeted advertisement.
The success of this initiative has convinced us to continue the initiative beyond this one time. And we hope the people to take note and engage with the works of our students.
Regards
Assistant Director of Sandepani School
Anandhapadmanabhan Vijayakumar