Thanks Dr. Markovic for the answer.

Good point your raised that they should be done harmoniously. Good high quality researchers can do that, but most people unfortunately can not due to the educational systems we follow. 

Einstein discovered his relative theory when he was less busy in educational system and life (during his work at patent organization) and Newton did the same due to the stop of teaching at Cambridge. 

It seems to be connected to escaping education and having time for thinking. 

Nowadays, we are like so. We lead a busy life and we have a lot of activities to do everyday and have a very little time to think creatively.  It is true in academic fields too.

Thanks Dr. Sudev. Great point you raised here about having a lot of activities. Maybe we all need to be back to simple life to have another Newton and another Einstein. 

Thanks Dr. Markovic for the answer.

Good point your raised that they should be done harmoniously. Good high quality researchers can do that, but most people unfortunately can not due to the educational systems we follow. 

Einstein discovered his relative theory when he was less busy in educational system and life (during his work at patent organization) and Newton did the same due to the stop of teaching at Cambridge. 

It seems to be connected to escaping education and having time for thinking. 

Learning without thinking causes a person to be confused.

Thinking without learning causes a person to be dangerous.

No learning and no thinking causes a person to be burden with ignorance.

Learning and thinking, but without doing makes a person inexperience.

Learning, thinking and doing helps a person finding the right path to life's enjoyment.

I think you do have to think about what you have learned, otherwise have you really learnt anything..

Dr. Paul, Dr. Laura, 

Thanks for the answers. I totally agree that we have to think, learn and do. 

I agree with all the responses but i think environmental factors affect our thinking and learning

wise  question and wise answers. Sure we have to learn and think. 

If one wants to be creative, one must create balance between learning and thinking. Learning gives way to thinking, and thinking re-enforce further reading and learning.

For me, I can read a few articles and then I have to ponder the items.  I allow my mind some time to absorb the information by performing an unrelated yet focused task. For example, I can play Mahjong or wash the dishes and the information will have some time to gel in my head. Then, I can summarize what I have learned and be compelled towards unique observations.  Quiet meditation is also an important part of the process.  If I do not take the time to approach new information this way, I will be at a loss regarding how to approach my new venture.  To be productive, I have to be slightly distracted in order to give my mind an opportunity to process what I already know before I can pull out something original.  Or else I will have a blank screen in front of me and that has been done before!

Dear Dr. Beth,

Nice technique. Actually, I have read once that by distracting ourselves from the issue we are allowing our subconscious minds to take over. Subconscious minds are expected to be 93% (while conscious is 7% only) of our mind power. Thanks for sharing your techniques of absorbing information/new topics.

I agree that learning and thinking should be balanced. Some minimal knowledge is always important to start thinking.

My personal experience is that after listening to something new (like talks at the conferences) some new ideas come to my mind spontaneously. They are not necessarily about the work that I am doing now but could be useful for some work in future. It is important to write them down for future elaboration.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Attention is the fundamental instrument we use for learning, thinking, communicating, deciding, yet neither parents nor schools spend any time helping young people learn how to manage information streams and control the ways they deploy their attention."

                                      ---------   Howard Rheingold

Thinking is Central to Learning

Thinking is central to learning because learning is a process where we modify or strengthen world views, beliefs, opinion, attitudes, behaviours, skills, understandings and knowledge.

The richer and deeper the thinking, the richer and deeper the learning.

If we are are serious about empowering our students as learners then we must focus on thinking. Empowering someone as a learner won't happen unless we empower them as thinkers.

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

--- Confucius

A real learning strongly stimulates thinking and, therefore, creativity. Otherwise, I should have some doubts about the real learning.

Dear Dr. Subhash, Dr. Behrouz, Dr. Ierardi,

Thanks a lot for your answer. I totally agree that thinking is the center of learning. I still think that our educational systems give little time for a student to be creative and a lot of time to memorize/learn the facts. I think deep learning is something crucial for inventions and new discoveries. 

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.

--- Bruce Lee

Learning gives creativity. Creativity leads to thinking. Thinking provides knowledge. Knowledge makes you great.'

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn".

                ----------    Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Hazim, Dr. Behrouz, Dr. Subhash: very nice quotes. Thanks a lot for sharing them.

More and more I dig deep into the history/stories of people who created things (developed new ideas/new products), I find them spent little time knowing the issue and more time thinking about creating them. Along the way of creating them, they might spend some time learning about the aspects of the topic. 

I do not want to take it to extreme, but I think we should all give ourselves time to stop learning and start thinking. We should take the basics about a topic and start thinking of creating new ideas/concepts. 

Thanks again,

Learning and thinking re-enforce each other!

Yes we are doing like thai..

“Five percent of the people think;

ten percent of the people think they think;

and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”

― Thomas A. Edison

Below average people think less, so they are considered in general flock.

Dear Colleagues,

Good Day,

"Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book."

                                 ---------  Edward Gibbon

I think we humans have been able to balance the two because if we have the world would have been a better place. So I think the two should be harmonized 

Creativity and Innovation comes from knowledge and every time a person digs deep this reshape the knowledge and information he has possessed.

Learning and thinking re-enforce each other.