Have you ever had a situation that bothered you for weeks at school, an issue you couldn't seem to resolve, only to find the solution came to you when you least expected it? The late psychologist Wolfgang Kohler called this the "bus, bath, and bed" phenomenon:
"After periods during which one has actively tried to solve a problem, but has not succeeded, the sudden right orientation of the situation, and with it the solution, tend to occur at moments of extreme mental passivity..."
A well-known physicist in Scotland once told me that this kind of thing is generally recognized by physicists in Britain. "We often talk about the Three Bs," he said. "The Bus, the Bath and the Bed. That's where the great discoveries are made in our science."
Ever wondered why so many educational meetings end in frustration? In schools the norm is to present a problem at a meeting, with a goal of brainstorming a solution together by the end of the hour. If a leader can resist that urge, and present the issue with a goal of discussing possible solutions at a meeting the next day or week, one’s colleagues will have their own flashes of insight while sitting in traffic, or dashing through their rote morning routines. The lesson for educational leaders is to practice and model the same patience that teachers need to exhibit in the classrooms. Is there research that demonstrates that the "wait time" for "weighty thinking" needs to be exponential?
Brenda Power, choiceliteracy.com, tells us that anyone can harness the power of the "Three B's" for problem solving in a few practical ways. Keep a small notepad and pen at your bedside or on your car's armrest console for when those solutions emerge suddenly in traffic or almost out of a dream. In educational meetings plant a seed and give your colleagues time to mull it over. You will definitely get more interesting and inspired suggestions by way of the bed, bath, or bus.
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