Stretch5 min
What would change your mind?
The idea. If nothing could change your mind, you are not thinking — you are just holding on.
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You think wide wings fly further. Fine. What would you have to see to stop thinking that?
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If the answer is “nothing,” then it was never really a guess about the world. It was a thing you liked.
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A good version: “If the skinny one beat the wide one three throws in a row, I would change my mind.”
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Now you have a test. And you can run it this afternoon.
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This is also how you spot someone who is not being straight with you: ask what would change their mind. Watch what happens.
Question 1 · Binary
“Wide wings fly further.” Which of these would actually change your mind?
Question 2 · Free choice + reason
Something you believe about paper airplanes. What would change your mind about it?
Keep this one. It goes straight into the project.
Question 3 · Transfer
Someone tells you a fact. You ask what would change their mind, and they say “nothing.” What have you just learned?
For the parent — Parent note
What we taught. Name in advance what would make you abandon a belief.
Why it is here. It is the difference between a guess and a preference, and children — and adults — mix them constantly.
What to listen for. “Nothing would change my mind” — said proudly. Do not correct it. Just ask what they would need to see.
A phrase worth borrowing at home. “What would change your mind?”