Thinking Assembly

On Monday 23rd February, Mr Zaleski led a junior school assembly all about thinking, what it is, how it developed, and how it might change in the future.

He began by sharing his personal interest in great apes and spoke about a visit he once made to Virunga National Park. Using this as a starting point, he explained how scientists have discovered that great apes are capable of impressive thinking skills. They can solve problems, use simple tools and even show basic forms of communication.

Mr Zaleski then helped the pupils consider an important question: if apes can think, what makes human thinking different? He explained that, while gorillas can use a stick as a practical tool, humans can imagine many different possibilities for the same object. A simple stick, for us, could become a bow, a musical instrument, or even a tool for making fire. Human thinking is creative and flexible, and, unlike apes, we can plan far into the future and think in terms of ideas, not only immediate needs.

He also showed how people in the distant past imagined inventions long before they existed. What once seemed like fantasy has become everyday reality in the 21st century, including computers and smartphones. This demonstrated to the pupils how imagination and creative thinking often come before technological progress.

Mr Zaleski finished the assembly by encouraging the children to look ahead. He invited them to wonder how artificial intelligence might think in the future and how it could be different from human thinking. The assembly left pupils with much to reflect on, not only about how we think, but also about what makes us uniquely human.