Possession is 9/10 of the Law (even for adults):
In one study, trying to determine how 2 year olds determine ownership, they observed that whoever is identified as having the item first is the owner, no matter what. The only exception they could see was if it was explicitly stated the "owner" gave the item as a wrapped gift to the second person. Then the children identified the second person as the owner. The researchers concluded:
"...the most important next step was to find out where young children get this rule about first possession from. They surmised that it could be learned from hearing utterances like ‘‘It’s her doll, she had it first’’, or it could be innate, the product of a "cognitive system dedicated to reasoning about ownership."Maybe there's something innate that God gave us to bring us back to him when we consider who "owned" us first.
Illustrations and Object Lessons - A Math Lesson for Preachers:
In a study that found practical examples used to teach abstract functions in Math class were more debilitating for students when they were required to perform the same function in a new situation -- simply: "Students taught with the metaphorical aid of water jugs, slices of pizza or tennis balls in a container, were unable to transfer what they'd learned." The study concludes:
"Kaminski's team said that although concrete examples might be more engaging, it seems they may also constrain students' ability to transfer relevant knowledge to a different situation.The thought that immediately came to my mind is how we attempt to teach children and youth the more ethereal truths of Scripture (i.e. God's being, the Trinity, regeneration, prayer, etc) with our own "slices of pizza and tennis ball" analogies. However, after considering that almost 66% of teens leave the church and their faith after they leave youth group, maybe there is some insight into this study that is relevant for Bible teachers and youth pastors: if we want Disciples of Christ to possess a usable and transferable knowledge of a transcendent God, maybe we shouldn't try so hard to make him "understandable". Sometimes the abstract and the Mystery that is our Creator and Savior is essential to embrace.
The researchers concluded: "If a goal of teaching mathematics is to produce knowledge that students can apply to multiple situations, then presenting mathematical concepts through generic instantiations, such as traditional symbolic notation, may be more effective than a series of 'good examples'.""