In class VI, we were introduced to the novel world of brainy adventures. It was like this super smart journey that charged up our neurons to think in different directions!

Our brain blast-off started with ThinQ – this crazy land like Hogwarts where questions ruled, and answers were like missing puzzle pieces waiting to be found. Our curiosity made us ask more questions to our teacher, and we got to dive deep into logical stuff like figuring out patterns, solving tricky contradictions, and conquering challenging quests like Percy Jackson!

Then, we went even deeper into brain town with critical thinking – where we got to play detective in this super thrilling ‘thief case.’ We had to be Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, piecing together clues and making smart guesses until we cracked the case with our super sharp minds!

Numbers turned into secret codes revealing patterns like stars in the night sky, and we got to crack their code language. And we had this tricky challenge of decoding an alien language! It was like something out of a sci-fi movie and made our imaginations run wild, exploring new worlds right from our classrooms!

Every week, we eagerly awaited this class, where exams were absent, and no answer was stupid answer. This incredible journey wasn’t just about learning random stuff. It was like this mega mix of smart ideas and hands-on fun that enriched us, making our ‘ThinQ’ ability razor-sharp.

ThinQ program is introduced to us in Std 6. It is one of my favourite.

ThinQ is an acronym for Think, Inquire, and Question.

So, what exactly is ThinQ?

It encourages the learner to think laterally and look for alternative possibilities. At first the questions asked seemed to have obvious answers but on deeper introspection there appeared to be remarkable intricacies in the questions. ThinQ is like exercise for our mind. We are given time for independent thinking, then group discussion. We never rush to find the answer, we work on it slowly and steadily. We go step by step to reach the answer, keeping in mind that every question need not be answered immediately, some questions may take long time to answer. Our teacher never tells us the answer directly. It allows us to use own thinking to reach the answer and that’s what makes ThinQ unique.

I believe that some experiences at the right time in one’s life shape the destiny of an individual. I’d like to believe that the same was true of the first workshop I attended on ‘Inquiry-Oriented’ learning organized by ThinQ. I was always naturally curious about everything, but as time passed a certain disillusionment had set in regards to my future, as I could see no further than the dreaded engineering/medical paths one is expected to walk on. It may be an exaggeration, but it was as though I was in a dark cave my whole life and someone struck a tiny match, with enough brilliance to eclipse the sun- that is how I felt about those workshops. I loved them so much I demanded more of them. Science had been a process of memorization, mathematics a dull walk through formulae upto that point- it all changed that fateful day. The process of Inquiry, albeit difficult, was incredibly rewarding and satisfying, due to which one felt as an actual scientist, or historian or someone who mattered because you were discovering it for yourself, rather than being told. They remain some of my fondest memories of childhood.

I am extremely grateful to my school for giving me an opportunity to participate in this experience- due to which I myself aspire to be a scientist one day. Needless to say, my greatest love and gratitude to Tara and Mo, for their words have affected me more than anyone’s ever since.

The ThinQ program taught me to analyze any problem critically and go beyond what might seem as the solution at the surface to the deepest complexities and nuances of the problem while generalizing it to be helpful in solving similar problems.

My first ThinQ session was in 6th Standard. That session taught me to ask questions. “Why?”, “How” and “What for” were the most commonly used. The sessions that succeeded from there made me think – Why is stuff the way it is?

ThinQ was about not just taking whatever textbook statements were given for granted but wondering and ThinQing why that is. To ask. To inquire. ThinQ sessions were really engrossing as there was nothing given to you and everything to find out. It gave a new meaning to the sentence “ThinQ and Answer.” It has helped me a lot and will continue to improve my thinking in the future.

I am really grateful to our school, our school principal Pallavi Naik ma’am and our mentor Anjali Gulanikar ma’am for giving me this opportunity to explore my ability in critical thinking, research and creativity. I always look forward to my interactions with ThinQ, which have always been such a wonderful experience. Ever since ThinQ was introduced to me in class 6, the objective of the sessions was never to find answers quickly, but to understand the problem entirely, and ‘think’ about the possible solutions.

I am really fortunate to get a chance to attend various discussions with Mo, Tara and Madhav. During the last few sessions, I learnt that while doing research, a meaningful debate can happen only after the relevant concepts have been clarified, the concepts that the words refer to are agreed on: and the proposition that the debating parties disagree on is clearly articulated.