Log on:
Powered by Elgg

Michelle Millet :: Blog :: Archives

September 2006

September 06, 2006

default user icon
Michelle Millet

Blink

1. What reaction do you have to the concept of rapid cognition, particularly as it influences your activity as a scholar?

As I spoke with my group members in class on Wednesday, we came to the conclusion that the rapid cognition that we have experienced came from experience.  As an educator I can get to know my students well enough that I can tell what they are going to do before they do it.  I can prevent behavior problems before they start.  I can tell a substitute what to look for in assignments as in who will probably need help, who could help him or her, and who will misbehave and what they will most likely do.  When I am out on playground duty I can usually tell if there is something not right.  We always call it the instinct that we develop as we continue teaching and being around children.  Also as an educator my job is to make sure I reach all students.  That means coming up with explanations, ideas, activities for the students to help then master the objectives and standards.  Sometimes, the explanation I plan works and the lesson is brilliant.  Other times I need to make changes on the spot because the original lesson idea is not right for the class.  I will need to change the activity or my mode of explanation.  This usually needs to be done on the spot—the “I know what to do now” moment.  It is following your gut, your instinct that tells you what the children are learning.

As a scholar, I can have an idea of where to go next.  I can have theory or a hypothesis of what the research is telling me, but then I need to do more research to back up the research that I have found.  I don’t believe that you can have valid research on intuition alone.  I believe that it needs to be tested, but I also feel that intuition helps us reach our conclusion.  It also helps us start with our original idea.  Our research my not prove the idea, but the original intuitive idea helped us start the research and helped direct the research along the way.

 2. What is your favorite story/example in the book?The first example I can think of is one of the first examples in the book.  I love the card example.  I truly believe that our instinct will tell us immediately that something is wrong.  However I think that as we get older we are wired to doubt our immediate instinct.  I believe that we are taught to test the theory before we make a rash judgment.  Gladwell states “We have some experiences.  We think them through. We develop a theory.  And then we finally put two and two together.  That’s the way learning works.”  (9)  This quote describes how teachers are taught to teach students.  However a team of scientists thought differently.  They attached a machine to gamblers to measure the sweat on their palms.  They placed two decks of cards in front of the gamblers, one red and one blue.  The red decks are a big risk.  The rewards are high, but you lose very big.  When you pull from the blue decks the risk is minimal.  The researchers discovered that most of the gamblers started to show signs that the red deck was bad on the tenth card, but wasn’t able to verbalize the hunch until forty cards later.  I would have been interested to see how that experiment would be different if it had been done on kids.  There are some kids that we deem “more mature” and these kids would probably not follow that first gut feeling and occasionally pick cards out of the red deck to test the theory because they feel “What if I am wrong?”  The children that we feel are impulsive might not test their gut feeling.  They might ignore the red deck of cards completely and keep pulling from the blue.  They may not even realize why.
           

3. Which CGU scholar is mentioned in the book? 

No extra credit for me.

Posted by Michelle Millet | 0 comment(s)

September 13, 2006

default user icon
Michelle Millet

The Soul of a New Machine

Michelle MilletTDNY 401OThe Soul of a New Machine 1. Why is the book titled "Soul of a New Machine"? I think that the book is titled Soul of a New Machine because it talks about the people behind the machine.  It talks about the process and the effort that goes in to making the machine.  It talks about the people that the consumer doesn’t really think about.  Behind every invention, there is an inventor.  The inventor is not always remembered.  Kidder talks about the people that develop new computers and their efforts into making them.  He doesn’t just speak about the machines themselves.  He takes the reader into the life of the engineer.  He brings that process of building something technological to life for the reader. 2. How would you characterize Tracy Kidder's writing style? Kidder writes in a very narrative style.  He writes about the story of the developments in a story form.  He writes in first person and in third person.  He tries to make this story one that could be read by people who are not familiar with computer jargon.   My complaint of Kidder’s work would be that the average person really can’t read the story and not feel overwhelmed by the computer talk.  Sometimes details are given that do not advance the story, but the reader can get caught up in what they are.  It seems that the target audience for this book was people who work in the computer engineering field, not the average person who just uses computers.  3. Who is your favorite character and why? My favorite character is Tom West.  I like him because he seems very contradictory.  He dresses very casually, but gets excited with these brain waves that no one else can really understand.  He is an engineer and an “ethical” man (when he wanted to look at the new VAX he would have told the maintenance man the truth of who is was and what he was there for), however he had no problem taking the computer apart to see how the other company developed it and tried to figure out how to make a better, cheaper model.   He also seemed to know when to relax.  The people talked about his barbeques and how much fun they used to have there.  West was also well liked by the people that he worked with.  His team was genuinely affected when West decided to leave the group.   

Posted by Michelle Millet | 0 comment(s)

September 25, 2006

default user icon
Michelle Millet

Alan Wicker

Reaction to Guest Speaker—Alan Wicker             Alan Wicker started his presentation showing a picture from Spanish class Amerigo Vespucci (1589).  He wanted to know our perception of the picture.  He noted that people saw that the artist represented the other as cannibals to show crudeness and gold in the picture shows the prime motivations of the conquistadores.  As I have seen in talking to people and taking history classes, people will interpret things (like pictures) from their cultural perspective.  For example if you talk to someone from England about the Revolutionary War he or she will have a very different view on the war than an American.  It has to do with the way society has taught its youth.  It has to do with the way that people look at themselves.  In this picture, someone from the native society would think that this picture is a representation of the time that their culture was taken.  However, someone from the conquering culture would say that is a representation of the day they arrived to civilize the barbarians.  He quoted Berger—“Let us assume that two persons from entirely different social worlds began to interact.”  See the picture of a social/historical construction.            Wicker said, “Understanding does not start with a blank slate.  We bring a set of beliefs, knowledge and assumptions.”  This view in education is called constructivism.  Constructivism is a learning theory that is based on experiences has in the past.  It states that one comes into a learning situation with information that has already been acquired.  If the new information conflicts with what he or she has already knows and believes then the person is in a state of disequilibrium.  Therefore, the student can either ignore the new information or assimilate the new information into his or her prior knowledge.

Posted by Michelle Millet | 0 comment(s)

default user icon
Michelle Millet

Leonardo's Laptop Chapters 1-5

Leonardo’s Laptop Chapters 1-5 (5) A mere 72 pages of Leonardo’s writing fetched over $30 million in 1994. It isestimated that he created over 13,000 pages of works over his lifetime (thoughfewer than 5,000 pages survive).a. As more and more work is committed to electronic media, do you thinkelectronic documents will exist in the future that will be so highly valued?            I think it would be hard to value electronic media as highly as paper and pen (or parchment and ink).  I think that the written hand has more value because it is harder to forge.  Anyone can type or draw something on the computer and say it was developed by someone else.  However, I feel that it is harder to do that to written work.  b. The fragile nature and uniqueness of paper could make the existence ofaround 35% of da Vinci’s work impressive. If he had the ability to storehis works on computers, discuss whether you think the percentage of hiswritings available today would be higher or lower and explain yourreasoning.            That would depend on the technology.  Unfortunately with the advances of the technology, the files of da Vinci would have to be converted to the “upgraded” version of the technology.  I think that the more of the works would be available because there is less of a chance of being lost.  Da Vinci could have backed up his files and possibly more of the world could enjoy his work.  This of course would make it less valuable, but da Vinci probably wouldn’t have really cared.            On the other hand, if his technological sketches and medical “breakthroughs” were sketched secretly, someone else may not have been able to see the documents.  Da Vinci might have encrypted the files so that no one else could have seen his work.  (2) The sales of digital cameras have increased enormously, yet people do still buy “traditional” cameras and have darkrooms in their basements. How would you envision the environment of the photographic hobbyist 15 years from now?            I think there will always be people who want to develop their own pictures.  I feel that although there are some advantages to taking a picture digitally and then downloading it on to a computer, there are some people who like the idea, the art and talent behind developing their own pictures. Developing pictures means that the individual is interested in the process and no the product only.  The developing process means that the individual has more say in how the picture comes out.  15 years from now I think that the digital camera will be more accessible to the public—because it will be cheaper.  I think that there will be a new technology that upper and upper-middle class will be able to obtain and the other classes will be able to afford the digital camera.  With all this new technology I think there will still be people who like to develop pictures the “old fashioned way.”

Posted by Michelle Millet | 0 comment(s)