In an elegant orchid garden, with the moonlight peeking through the clouds, Juliet is leaning over the high balcony of her house morose because she might never see Romeo again and frustrated that the only barrier between her and her beloved Romeo is that he is a Montague and she is a Capulet. Unknown to Juliet, Romeo who is hiding underneath her balcony is just as willing to drop his Montague name so that the two lovers can be united in love.
In this scene Shakespeare utilizes emotional dialogue such that even without stage directions, one can almost sense the body language of the characters such as sigh, or a shaking of the head. In addition, what Juliet and Romeo say reflect their inner thoughts and both characters use metaphorical and poetic language to converse.
Initially, I was confused about what Juliet and Romeo were talking about, and the words didn’t make sense because this type of language isn’t what I usually learn of speak in school and in my culture, however as I re-read the scene, I realized that I could relate to the subject of their conversation. In addition despite the old lexis, I have still managed to understand the holistic meaning of the scene because the words such as “thy” and “thee” are the ancient versions of “you” and “your”. This applies to our discussion in class as the words that Shakespeare chose to use was a communication too in his time period, and people would have understood it, and gradually these words have evolved to English of our time.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
William Wong : Sight
Sight is the power or faculty of seeing; visual perception of objects. For humans, the organ of vision is the eye where light rays reflected from objects are passed first to our cornea where it will be slightly refracted into our pupil. Our pupil can then control the amount of light that can pass through to help maintain image quality. Then the light rays are further focused by our lens into the rods at the back of the eye. These rods help process the light rays into electrical impulses to be sent to the brain. This makes the eye with no doubt the most complex sensory organ.
In the modern world of today, sight is perhaps the most important sense of all as I believe it is needed to get on with every day life. However there are people who cannot see because of various reasons such as sickness or genetic defects. Fortunately, most societies with its moral beliefs and values has helped and allowed the blind to contribute to society.
Source: http://www.nfb.org/, Encarta 2005, http://www.wikipedia.org/
In the modern world of today, sight is perhaps the most important sense of all as I believe it is needed to get on with every day life. However there are people who cannot see because of various reasons such as sickness or genetic defects. Fortunately, most societies with its moral beliefs and values has helped and allowed the blind to contribute to society.
Source: http://www.nfb.org/, Encarta 2005, http://www.wikipedia.org/
WoK2: Language -- Romeo&Juliet
Drawing on your sensitive appreciation of the Act II, scene ii passage viewed in class and handed-out, you are now to post a brief response (250 words) that:
- retells in one or two sentences what's going on (i.e. setting, characters, action) in terms of the central issue for Juliet (and what Romeo is prepared to do);
- relates this passage to our introductory class activities/discussion on language; and
- reflects what it's taught you about 'language' and 'words', in particular.
Make sure to include your first name in your post's title.
Please post your response by 8pm Tuesday night (Nov. 2oth) -- and please comment briefly on some else's post before our next ToK class on Thursday, November 22nd. (Tell them what you liked about their post... and what they got you thinking about).
To view the 1968 Franco Zeferelli version of this famous balcony scene, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jas0DT-mtPA
Friday, November 9, 2007
Norbert-Sound
After sight, hearing is the sense that provides the brain with most information about the surroundings. Then human ear can register a wide range of sounds compared to animals. This system, the auditory system, also gives us the sense of balance.
Balancing
Head movement swirl fluid insde the semicircular canals. They are sensory cells that fire nerve signals to the brain. They are arranged in pairs and each detects motion in one of the three dimensions.
Atmospheric Pressure
The Eustachian tube allows air from the throat to flow into the middle ear cavity, so as atmospheric pressure changes, the air pressure on either side of the eardrum can equalize, allowing the eardrum to vibrate without any restrictions. This is why our ear ‘pops’ when we go downhill, because the pressure is increasing.
Hearing
Sound waves funnel into the canal and strike the eardrum. Then vibrations are created. The movement travels along then three tiny ear bones, ossicles. They span in the middle ear and are our body’s smallest bones. They contract when sound hits the eardrum. The ossicles vibrate the oval window into the cochlea. Then the membrane shake, which then pulls microscopic hairs, and the hairs transfer nerve signals to the brain.
Damage
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People accused manufactures of MP3 players failed to put warning messages on the packaging to urge customers not to crank the volume to high up. They also recommended customers should invest in in-ear canal filters or noise-isolating headphones, thus reducing the need to increase volume.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6982184.stm
Book: '€˜Human Body'€™ Author: Steve Parker
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Touch -- Zoha
Everything humans do involves using one or more senses. It is through the senses that infants discover the world. Humans experience these sensations through interactions with the environment; interpreting the meaning of these sensations for actions is called sensory processing.
Touch is our oldest, most primitive and pervasive sense. It's the first sense we experience in the womb and the last one we lose before death Not only does the skin have a main job of protecting the young infant, but it also exposes the infant to the sense of touch. It lets your infant feel it's way around and feel the differences between a soft blanket and a hard wood floor.
Touch may be considered one of five human senses; however, when a person touches something or somebody this gives rise to various feelings: the perception of pressure (hence shape, softness, texture, vibration, etc.), relative temperature and sometimes pain. Thus the term "touch" is actually the combined term for several senses. In medicine, the colloquial term "touch" is usually replaced with somatic senses, to better reflect the variety of mechanisms involved.
http://social.jrank.org/pages/557/Sensory-Development-Touch.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatosensory_system
Touch is our oldest, most primitive and pervasive sense. It's the first sense we experience in the womb and the last one we lose before death Not only does the skin have a main job of protecting the young infant, but it also exposes the infant to the sense of touch. It lets your infant feel it's way around and feel the differences between a soft blanket and a hard wood floor.
Touch may be considered one of five human senses; however, when a person touches something or somebody this gives rise to various feelings: the perception of pressure (hence shape, softness, texture, vibration, etc.), relative temperature and sometimes pain. Thus the term "touch" is actually the combined term for several senses. In medicine, the colloquial term "touch" is usually replaced with somatic senses, to better reflect the variety of mechanisms involved.
http://social.jrank.org/pages/557/Sensory-Development-Touch.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatosensory_system
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Chloe Chan: Smell
Our sense of smell is valuable and powerful, it contributes to discreet parts of our lives. Smell plays a major role to taste, without it we cannot tell if something tastes delicious or not because we can only taste sweet, salty, bitter, sour.
Our noses warm, moisten and filters the air we breathe, it also has the ability to smell odors. Odor molecules inhaled float upwards towards two small areas at the top of the naval cavity. This area is covered with 5 million tiny nerve cells which can detect 10,000 different smells. Nerves cells are different shapes and only specific molecules can fit them. Our cells send signals to the brain allowing us to recognize particular odors.
We naturally have preferences for certain smells. Our preference for certain smells has much to do with our past experiences and what we are used to as a child. It is so powerful that it can alter our preference of people and places, most of the time this happens unconsciously. As well as these things, smell can alert us to things such as danger when we smell gas. Evidently our sense of smell plays a very wide role in our lives.
http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000150.html
http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell_human.html
http://www.senseofsmell.org/feature/odor/odor_whitepaper_1.php
Our noses warm, moisten and filters the air we breathe, it also has the ability to smell odors. Odor molecules inhaled float upwards towards two small areas at the top of the naval cavity. This area is covered with 5 million tiny nerve cells which can detect 10,000 different smells. Nerves cells are different shapes and only specific molecules can fit them. Our cells send signals to the brain allowing us to recognize particular odors.
We naturally have preferences for certain smells. Our preference for certain smells has much to do with our past experiences and what we are used to as a child. It is so powerful that it can alter our preference of people and places, most of the time this happens unconsciously. As well as these things, smell can alert us to things such as danger when we smell gas. Evidently our sense of smell plays a very wide role in our lives.
http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000150.html
http://www.sirc.org/publik/smell_human.html
http://www.senseofsmell.org/feature/odor/odor_whitepaper_1.php
Ming Fung: Touch
People might think our skin is the organ of the sense of touching. However it is the sensory receptors that does the job, there are more than 4 million of these things in our skin. This system detects experiences such as touch or pressure, temperature (that;s why we feel cold), pain, itch, tickle, etc... When someone touches something, we get perception of the pressure, therefore we can make out what is the object we are touching, like texture, shape, etc...
When we touch, signals go through things called neurons to the brain. Which the brain determines what we are touching, telling us what we are feeling and how it feels. If we get burnt by flame, the signal is too urgent to be sent to the brain, but stops half way at the spinal cord. This gives a fast reaction, moving away from the thing that is hurting us.
Source: http://www.wikipedia.com/ http://www.askjeeves.com/ http://www.answerbag.com/
When we touch, signals go through things called neurons to the brain. Which the brain determines what we are touching, telling us what we are feeling and how it feels. If we get burnt by flame, the signal is too urgent to be sent to the brain, but stops half way at the spinal cord. This gives a fast reaction, moving away from the thing that is hurting us.
Source: http://www.wikipedia.com/ http://www.askjeeves.com/ http://www.answerbag.com/
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Robert Win - Sound
How are we able to hear things?
People are able to hear sound frequencys from 20 - 20,000 Hz using their Ears and the organs within, as well as the Brain. Our outer ears which stick out from the sides of our heads, are like noise cones which receive and channel sounds to travel down the ear canal. When sound reaches the Ear drum, it vibrates the ear-drum, at the frequency of the orginal sound (every sound has a different frequency, unless they are identical sounds). The vibrations are converted by the cochlea, which is a snail like shaped organ which is filled with fluid, into signals which can be sent and read by the brain. The brain then decodes and reads the signals, and that is how we are able to hear things, and distinguish one sound from another.
Information provided by: http://www.wikipedia.com/, http://www.discovery.com/ and http://www.askjeeves.com/
People are able to hear sound frequencys from 20 - 20,000 Hz using their Ears and the organs within, as well as the Brain. Our outer ears which stick out from the sides of our heads, are like noise cones which receive and channel sounds to travel down the ear canal. When sound reaches the Ear drum, it vibrates the ear-drum, at the frequency of the orginal sound (every sound has a different frequency, unless they are identical sounds). The vibrations are converted by the cochlea, which is a snail like shaped organ which is filled with fluid, into signals which can be sent and read by the brain. The brain then decodes and reads the signals, and that is how we are able to hear things, and distinguish one sound from another.
Information provided by: http://www.wikipedia.com/, http://www.discovery.com/ and http://www.askjeeves.com/
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Hey Tou Chiu: Sight
When asked the question “How do we see?” many would say – “we use our eyes!” This is true; however the eye is not as simple as it looks.
We see things when we process the light rays that reflect into our eye. The light rays first pass through the surface of our eye (cornea) and then to through the pupil. Here the pupil can regulate the amount of light that can pass through into the inside of the eye. If the outside environment is dim, more light will be allowed to pass through to enable us to see clearly. On the other hand, if the outside environment is bright, then the pupil will allow less light to the back of our eye – the retina. The rays of light then become electric impulses and get sent to the brain to be processed and we are then able to see.
Some people may ask – “How do we see color?” The answer is simple. There are photo receptor cells in the retina which respond to dim light and color. They are known as rod and cone cells. Others may also wonder why we can still see an upright image when the image created on our retina is actually inverted. This is actually because our brain “knows” that the picture on our retina is inverted which is not what we usually sees, so it “adjusts” the picture so that we can see it with the right way up.
We see things when we process the light rays that reflect into our eye. The light rays first pass through the surface of our eye (cornea) and then to through the pupil. Here the pupil can regulate the amount of light that can pass through into the inside of the eye. If the outside environment is dim, more light will be allowed to pass through to enable us to see clearly. On the other hand, if the outside environment is bright, then the pupil will allow less light to the back of our eye – the retina. The rays of light then become electric impulses and get sent to the brain to be processed and we are then able to see.
Some people may ask – “How do we see color?” The answer is simple. There are photo receptor cells in the retina which respond to dim light and color. They are known as rod and cone cells. Others may also wonder why we can still see an upright image when the image created on our retina is actually inverted. This is actually because our brain “knows” that the picture on our retina is inverted which is not what we usually sees, so it “adjusts” the picture so that we can see it with the right way up.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Yixia Gu: Smell
How on earth do we smell? The process is simple but fascinating:
Suppose you opened the fridge one day and is overcome by a stinking sensation of moldy cheese. This particular smell is made up of special chemical cells (odorants) which when passing through our nostrils stimulate tiny cilia hairs which gather together in a small patch in the nose. In these hairs are contained special cells which receive the odours: Olfactory receptor cells. These cells are connected to the certain areas of the brain through a series of nerve pathways, and convert the detected smell as signals. Once the nerve signal reaches the brain, the brain processes these patterns so that we end up perceiving the signal as smell (in this case, the smell of moldy cheese).
Our sense of smell can add colour to our world, because what we sense through the olfactory receptors becomes perception. In addition smell also plays an active role in our emotions and memory depending what we associate each smell with.
Sources:
1) http://www.senseofsmell.org/feature/smell101/lesson1/01.php
2)http://www.blkbox.com/~rdevere/tsdc/howwork.html
3)http://health.howstuffworks.com/smell.htm
Suppose you opened the fridge one day and is overcome by a stinking sensation of moldy cheese. This particular smell is made up of special chemical cells (odorants) which when passing through our nostrils stimulate tiny cilia hairs which gather together in a small patch in the nose. In these hairs are contained special cells which receive the odours: Olfactory receptor cells. These cells are connected to the certain areas of the brain through a series of nerve pathways, and convert the detected smell as signals. Once the nerve signal reaches the brain, the brain processes these patterns so that we end up perceiving the signal as smell (in this case, the smell of moldy cheese).
Our sense of smell can add colour to our world, because what we sense through the olfactory receptors becomes perception. In addition smell also plays an active role in our emotions and memory depending what we associate each smell with.
Sources:
1) http://www.senseofsmell.org/feature/smell101/lesson1/01.php
2)http://www.blkbox.com/~rdevere/tsdc/howwork.html
3)http://health.howstuffworks.com/smell.htm
Thursday, November 1, 2007
For Nov. 8th
Folks -- As discussed in class today,
A) You are to:
- print out and bring to class hard copies of your two 'Sophie's World' assignments; be prepared to share your second assignment with another in the class at the start of next lesson; and
- return the novel to me next lesson (unless you would like to buy it -- it could come in handy for your internal and/or external assessments).
B) You are also to answer the answer the following question on our class blog: How do the five senses work (i.e. sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell)?
- pick one;
- find out about it (consult 3 sources -- be sure to list the source in your post)
- blog about it using student-friendly language (200 words max.); and
- title your post -- e.g. Eric Jabal: Taste
Mr. J
Monday, October 29, 2007
WoK1: Sense perception quotations
- "There's more to seeing that meets the eye." (K. T. Cole)
- "There is no truth. There is only perception." (Gustave Flaubert)
- "Everyone hears only what he understands." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- "True science investigates and brings to human perception such truths and such knowledge as the people of a given time and society consider most important. Art transmits these truths from the region of perception."(Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy)
- "We hear and apprehend only what we already half know." (Henry David Thoreau)
- "Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic." (Edward de Bono)
- "We shall see but a little way if we require to understand what we see." (Henry David Thoreau)
- "There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception." (Aldous Huxley)
- "We sometimes get all the information, but we refuse to get the message." (Cullen Hightower)
- "The eyes see only what the mind is prepared to comrehend." (Henri Bergson)
- "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is -- infinite." (William Blake)
- "It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive." (C. W. Leadbeater)
- "After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the mornings." (Richard Dawkins)
- "Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing." (Camille Pissarro)
- "Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world." (Hans Margolius)
- "Science is nothing but perception." (Plato)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Ming Fung: - Knowers and Knowing
'The more you know the less you understand.' (Tao Le Ching)
The first thing that comes to my mind is that, knowledge does not seem to have an end. We never get to a point where we know everything and we can stop learning and knowing. The main message of this quote is that the more you know you come to realize the fact that how little you actually understand. Or another way to interpret it is how people have a large bank of knowledge, but not necessary going in depth in each thing. That depth is the understanding.
This is very true, as said before, learning and knowing is endless. As we proceed and accumulate more knowledge, we realize that we actually had been really stupid in the past. In my opinion, this has always happened to me. Especially when I was smaller I tend to wonder how things work. Then now when I think back now, things seem to work out more easily than before. This maybe because, I’m smarter, I have more knowledge, I am better as a knower.
The “West Wing” video I watched last lesson also showed how this quote is true. The person was given a map with a different and said to be more accurate world map. She was shocked, because it was not like what she had seen before in her life. She had just experienced gaining new knowledge, which is different to what she was always told. Here we can see she understands how little she understands and she started denying that it was the correct world map. In my world map, I could not recall the sizes and approximate shapes of the continents, but just the vague places of each chunk of land. I thought I knew the world map, but in fact I did not understand it. I think knowing, and understanding are different levels of “knowing”. You may know a person, but not understand him or her well. It is like having a large horizon, or picture. But in contrast, each object on the picture maybe small, not detailed.
The reason why you understand less when you know more, is because you know more, you have a big perspective of what is happening. However, you are lacking understanding of the depth in that knowledge, as there is more knowledge, more understandings would be needed. Knowing and understanding are positively correlated.
The first thing that comes to my mind is that, knowledge does not seem to have an end. We never get to a point where we know everything and we can stop learning and knowing. The main message of this quote is that the more you know you come to realize the fact that how little you actually understand. Or another way to interpret it is how people have a large bank of knowledge, but not necessary going in depth in each thing. That depth is the understanding.
This is very true, as said before, learning and knowing is endless. As we proceed and accumulate more knowledge, we realize that we actually had been really stupid in the past. In my opinion, this has always happened to me. Especially when I was smaller I tend to wonder how things work. Then now when I think back now, things seem to work out more easily than before. This maybe because, I’m smarter, I have more knowledge, I am better as a knower.
The “West Wing” video I watched last lesson also showed how this quote is true. The person was given a map with a different and said to be more accurate world map. She was shocked, because it was not like what she had seen before in her life. She had just experienced gaining new knowledge, which is different to what she was always told. Here we can see she understands how little she understands and she started denying that it was the correct world map. In my world map, I could not recall the sizes and approximate shapes of the continents, but just the vague places of each chunk of land. I thought I knew the world map, but in fact I did not understand it. I think knowing, and understanding are different levels of “knowing”. You may know a person, but not understand him or her well. It is like having a large horizon, or picture. But in contrast, each object on the picture maybe small, not detailed.
The reason why you understand less when you know more, is because you know more, you have a big perspective of what is happening. However, you are lacking understanding of the depth in that knowledge, as there is more knowledge, more understandings would be needed. Knowing and understanding are positively correlated.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Zoha: Knowers and knowing
'Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.' (Martin Luther King)
The quote above by Martin Luther King implies that being ignorant and unaware with stupidity works out to be the most dangerous outlook in the world. Carrying forward an oblivious attitude preventing one to understand the various cultures, people, global issues, religions around the world will only cause, or deepen tribulations. Hence being ignorant with what is around us pays of as being the most dangerous aspect. I would have to agree with this quote, because unawareness often does lead to misunderstandings but also enhances problems. For example if more people were less ignorant about excess waste and Hong Kong landfills filling up, they would perhaps decide to recycle and produce less waste. Not knowing, in this case could be lethal. Another example would be how a common courtesy for one culture is an offense for others. These examples demonstrate how a gap in knowledge can lead to serious consequences. In the same way I do believe that my view of knowledge is rather limited.
We often blindly follow what society and figures in authority show us is right. The episode of west wing revealed how maps showed third world countries smaller than they actually were implying they were less significant. Most of us would go on to believe what a printed map would show us unintentionally surrending to conscientious stupidity. This ultimately would end up dangerous. Sharing everyone’s ‘map of the world’ I came to learn how everyone shared a varied view on their center of the world. Again with the school knowledge activity no two people interpreted their school life knowledge in the same way. This taking me to a conclusion that all of us have a different perception, and referring back to the quote, showing ignorance to other viewpoints will only wind up as dangerous. Without being aware of issues around us, and other believes that surround ones personal opinion will only work out harmful.
The quote above by Martin Luther King implies that being ignorant and unaware with stupidity works out to be the most dangerous outlook in the world. Carrying forward an oblivious attitude preventing one to understand the various cultures, people, global issues, religions around the world will only cause, or deepen tribulations. Hence being ignorant with what is around us pays of as being the most dangerous aspect. I would have to agree with this quote, because unawareness often does lead to misunderstandings but also enhances problems. For example if more people were less ignorant about excess waste and Hong Kong landfills filling up, they would perhaps decide to recycle and produce less waste. Not knowing, in this case could be lethal. Another example would be how a common courtesy for one culture is an offense for others. These examples demonstrate how a gap in knowledge can lead to serious consequences. In the same way I do believe that my view of knowledge is rather limited.
We often blindly follow what society and figures in authority show us is right. The episode of west wing revealed how maps showed third world countries smaller than they actually were implying they were less significant. Most of us would go on to believe what a printed map would show us unintentionally surrending to conscientious stupidity. This ultimately would end up dangerous. Sharing everyone’s ‘map of the world’ I came to learn how everyone shared a varied view on their center of the world. Again with the school knowledge activity no two people interpreted their school life knowledge in the same way. This taking me to a conclusion that all of us have a different perception, and referring back to the quote, showing ignorance to other viewpoints will only wind up as dangerous. Without being aware of issues around us, and other believes that surround ones personal opinion will only work out harmful.
Chloe Chan - Knowers and Knowing
'Self-knowledge is like a garden. If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.' (Ghanaian proverb)
Brainstorm:
Knowledge is only knowing
Wisdom is understanding
Learning is not enough
3 Key words:
Garden
Cultivated
Harvested
Main message:
We have to understand and not only know something. Through understanding we get the full potential of our knowledge.
Paraphrase:
We may have the basis to which knowledge can be placed and only know many things, but building on knowledge in itself is not enough. We must act to develop our knowledge further in order for it to be really successful. By doing this, knowledge will become wisdom.
Opinion:
In accordance to the west wing clips where knowledge is questioned and it is concluded that knowledge is not perfect, I think this quotation shows that perhaps the reason why knowledge is not always right, is because we do not fully understand the knowledge we acquire. By connecting the quotation to the exercises I think the action of ‘cultivating’ maybe to explore our learnt knowledge deeper and to question it. In connection to my view of knowledge (where knowledge should be accurate and it is hard to accept different theories that contradict my previous knowledge,) I think this quotation is correct in saying that knowledge isn’t much alone. This quotation suggests that what we learn in school is only the basis, where knowledge is only built and we don’t really learn how to apply the knowledge. It hints that school does not help us develop our knowledge and experiences. This in turn tells us that we can’t really be fully successful just by acquiring knowledge from school.
Brainstorm:
Knowledge is only knowing
Wisdom is understanding
Learning is not enough
3 Key words:
Garden
Cultivated
Harvested
Main message:
We have to understand and not only know something. Through understanding we get the full potential of our knowledge.
Paraphrase:
We may have the basis to which knowledge can be placed and only know many things, but building on knowledge in itself is not enough. We must act to develop our knowledge further in order for it to be really successful. By doing this, knowledge will become wisdom.
Opinion:
In accordance to the west wing clips where knowledge is questioned and it is concluded that knowledge is not perfect, I think this quotation shows that perhaps the reason why knowledge is not always right, is because we do not fully understand the knowledge we acquire. By connecting the quotation to the exercises I think the action of ‘cultivating’ maybe to explore our learnt knowledge deeper and to question it. In connection to my view of knowledge (where knowledge should be accurate and it is hard to accept different theories that contradict my previous knowledge,) I think this quotation is correct in saying that knowledge isn’t much alone. This quotation suggests that what we learn in school is only the basis, where knowledge is only built and we don’t really learn how to apply the knowledge. It hints that school does not help us develop our knowledge and experiences. This in turn tells us that we can’t really be fully successful just by acquiring knowledge from school.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Yixia Gu: Response to Knowers and Knowing
'Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.' (Daniel J. Boorstin).
This phrase is a very interesting one, because how do we acknowledge or realize that we actually don't know something if we haven't been taught to recognize this uncertainty? Once we receive education, we are simultaneously enlightened in our thoughts and how we view the world, and at this point we find that there are actually many things we haven't come across upon in experience. This quotation of Daniel J. Borrstin is suggests that the original, fundamental purpose and existence of Education is simply to open doors of the 'unknown' in a world of the apparent 'known'.
Education as defined, is the power of reasoning and judgment to prepare ourselves for intellectually mature life. This, I believe is a valid point in my view of knowledge: if a person walked through a garden and didn’t know what the bunches of ‘colourful-many petalled-thing on a stalk’ was, he or she wouldn’t be able to appreciate the ‘flowers’ in the garden fully- the apparent ignorance limited their perspective, and only allowed them to see ‘flowers’ as lovely colourful things. Take sports for instance, perhaps playing basketball may seem easy enough; the players dribbling balls and passing them with agility and ease. However, once I actually had a basketball lesson, I realized that I didn’t actually have the knowledge of handling the ball or playing it properly which was reflected during the basketball games. This example ties in quite well with our lives as students. One of the reasons why there were a range of pictures of ‘school knowledge’ was because each us valued the knowledge from school environment differently. We were influenced by our preferences and we are eclectic in learning “what we didn’t know, and the things we appeared on the paper could have been due to their importance in paving the way for greater depth in understanding. Thus, Education to me is also learning to know.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Jason Herrera : Knowers & Knowing - Interpretation of Knowledge
'Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to recognize that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to recognize that you do not know it. That is knowledge.' (Confucius)
Confucius is one of the greatest minds in ancient China. He came up with influential ideas about respect and the family which people in China still see as virtues today. The quotation above is Confucius' interpretation of knowledge. He is basically saying that knowledge is one-self realizing whether you know something or not. 'When you know a thing, to recognize that you know it' means that when you know a thing, you must identify it as something you've seen before and you should stick to your own perception of the knowledge, and 'When you do not know a thing, to recognize that you do not know it.' means that when you don’t know something; you must identify it as something that you haven’t seen before, and important that you must learn from it.
From the West Wing videos I watched last lesson, the new world maps stunned me a little as it is something I’ve never seen before and it goes against what I’ve been taught at school at an early age. I do agree with Confucius’ quote from above which is to admit to something that you do not know and hence learn it. When I first saw the new maps, I thought it was ridiculous and wondered why would they change the old atlas? However, the geographers then explain why they should change the new maps; it was all because of the interpretation of knowledge. Because there are people with different interpretations of the map, they came to a thought that all countries above the equator are more developed than those below. However, I stuck to my interpretation of the atlas because I believe it is the right one. Thinking of Confucius’ quote, I came to realize that students in school have been learning this way too, that every student admits to something they don’t know and learns it and that they stick to their own perceptions of a knowledge which made us come up with unique ideas.
Confucius is one of the greatest minds in ancient China. He came up with influential ideas about respect and the family which people in China still see as virtues today. The quotation above is Confucius' interpretation of knowledge. He is basically saying that knowledge is one-self realizing whether you know something or not. 'When you know a thing, to recognize that you know it' means that when you know a thing, you must identify it as something you've seen before and you should stick to your own perception of the knowledge, and 'When you do not know a thing, to recognize that you do not know it.' means that when you don’t know something; you must identify it as something that you haven’t seen before, and important that you must learn from it.
From the West Wing videos I watched last lesson, the new world maps stunned me a little as it is something I’ve never seen before and it goes against what I’ve been taught at school at an early age. I do agree with Confucius’ quote from above which is to admit to something that you do not know and hence learn it. When I first saw the new maps, I thought it was ridiculous and wondered why would they change the old atlas? However, the geographers then explain why they should change the new maps; it was all because of the interpretation of knowledge. Because there are people with different interpretations of the map, they came to a thought that all countries above the equator are more developed than those below. However, I stuck to my interpretation of the atlas because I believe it is the right one. Thinking of Confucius’ quote, I came to realize that students in school have been learning this way too, that every student admits to something they don’t know and learns it and that they stick to their own perceptions of a knowledge which made us come up with unique ideas.
Norbert Poon- Knowers and Knowing
'˜Education is learning what you didn'™t even know you didn't know.'™-(Daniel J. Boorstin)
This quote reminds me that education is almost infinite, because there are so many things that one can learn, and very often, you don’t even know that such things exist. This is why education always beyond what one knows and beyond what they have learnt before.
The main message here really is telling us there are a lot to learn, so much that one life time is not enough and so much that we don't even know they exist.
What this quotes really means is that education should be very fascinating to everyone, and very broad. A student is always exploring beyond what they already know, and it might also be hinting if education doesn’t interest you, you are better off not studying.
I totally agree to this. Speaking as a student and representing all students, we are always learning new aspects of everything in life that we didn’t know exist. And because we don'€™t know them, we have constantly been given information. Just like in one episode of a series '€˜The West Wing'€™, we didn'€™t know the world could have been drawn according to the power of each country, or depending on the version of the map, the history of a country or continent. We didn'€™t know the world could be different to the map, because we were told the map represents the world since we were small. This all depends on one'€™s view of knowledge, their perspective to what knowledge is. Bringing it back to the quote, we can bring up many different arguments that make us think there are many things we can explore, and that brings us to the infinity.
Robert Win: Knowers and Knowing
One of the quotations which stands out to me is "There are many who know many things, yet are lacking in wisdom." (Democritus). Democritus states that knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing and are two different things, which contrasts with what many people consider as wise, today and often think the two are somehow the same thing.
The 3 key words within the quote are "many", "know" and "wisdom". The main message of the quote is (as i mentioned above), knowing many things does not make one wise. It also suggests that there are many people who know many things, but if knowing many things made one wise, there would be many wise people, and what Democritus is trying to say is that there are not and may never be many wise people in the world.
I agree with Democritus' statement, that knowledge is not wisdom and that there are not many wise people in the world. I believe that knowledge is something one learns, finds out, or is told by another person. This makes it information which is not discovered or experienced directly by ones self. Wisdom on the other hand, is information one discovers purely by themselves, or by doing and finding out something, with no influence from others, or if one were to challenge what one has been taught since birthand what others say and believe is correct, making it very difficult for one to be truly 'wise'.
During the 1st TOK lesson we had, we watched a clip about the different possible maps that the US public schools could adopt, in the TV series 'The West Wing'. These maps of the world were all different, and showed the sizes, shapes and locations of countries and the world differently. The creators of each map, one could say, were 'wise', as they came up with their own view of what the world actually looks like. Although they may have based their view on information provided by others, they have shown wisdom by unaccepting what others have taught them about what the world looks like. One map which showed the Southern hemisphere on top, and the Northern hemisphere at the bottom, sparked a discussion between the characters in the video about which hemisphere should be at the top of the map. One of the characters mentioned that the map was "wrong" as the top of the world (in her view) is north and has always been north. However, her opinion of the map suggests that she has only considered what is correct from what she has been taught since childhood, thus she accepts that North is 'at the top' and rules out any other ideas which may show that what she has been taught is not quite correct.
This character demonstrates knowledge, which is a contrasts to the the creator of the 'upside down map' who shows wisdom as he/she (the map creator) would have also been brought up and taught that North is at the top, but has created his/her own theory and view of what the world map should look like, showing that he/she has challenged what he/she has been taught, and what others think is correct.
The 3 key words within the quote are "many", "know" and "wisdom". The main message of the quote is (as i mentioned above), knowing many things does not make one wise. It also suggests that there are many people who know many things, but if knowing many things made one wise, there would be many wise people, and what Democritus is trying to say is that there are not and may never be many wise people in the world.
I agree with Democritus' statement, that knowledge is not wisdom and that there are not many wise people in the world. I believe that knowledge is something one learns, finds out, or is told by another person. This makes it information which is not discovered or experienced directly by ones self. Wisdom on the other hand, is information one discovers purely by themselves, or by doing and finding out something, with no influence from others, or if one were to challenge what one has been taught since birthand what others say and believe is correct, making it very difficult for one to be truly 'wise'.
During the 1st TOK lesson we had, we watched a clip about the different possible maps that the US public schools could adopt, in the TV series 'The West Wing'. These maps of the world were all different, and showed the sizes, shapes and locations of countries and the world differently. The creators of each map, one could say, were 'wise', as they came up with their own view of what the world actually looks like. Although they may have based their view on information provided by others, they have shown wisdom by unaccepting what others have taught them about what the world looks like. One map which showed the Southern hemisphere on top, and the Northern hemisphere at the bottom, sparked a discussion between the characters in the video about which hemisphere should be at the top of the map. One of the characters mentioned that the map was "wrong" as the top of the world (in her view) is north and has always been north. However, her opinion of the map suggests that she has only considered what is correct from what she has been taught since childhood, thus she accepts that North is 'at the top' and rules out any other ideas which may show that what she has been taught is not quite correct.
This character demonstrates knowledge, which is a contrasts to the the creator of the 'upside down map' who shows wisdom as he/she (the map creator) would have also been brought up and taught that North is at the top, but has created his/her own theory and view of what the world map should look like, showing that he/she has challenged what he/she has been taught, and what others think is correct.
Jacqui.W - Knowers & Knowing
'The more you know the less you understand.' (Tao Le Ching)
I think that what Tao Le Ching means is that the more we know about something, meaning the opinions and thoughts from other people about that thing, the less we'll understand the original concept of that thing and the original message it's conveying as well as our own personal thoughts and opinions of that thing. Or another way to think of it is, by knowing more, you don't necessarily become wiser and understand more about life.
"The more you know the less you understand" - This quote explores knowledge and wisdom. I think what Tao Le Ching is talking about is that, if we know more data, this does not necessarily mean we gain more knowledge and understand life more. The whole point of gaining knowledge is to understand life more and live our life. Some think that by knowing the most means they are 'the smartest'. But what correlation does this have to understanding life and living life? Just by being smart and getting a good job doesnt show that they understand even the simplest things of life like who they are and why they're here.
Here is a way to interpret the quote:
There is a person in a poor, starving country who wants to be the president and he tells people that if he becomes the president, he'll give everyone food for free. At this point, he knows the people are starving and need food therefore using his knowledge he says he'll give them food to solve the problem. But this shows he doesn't understand the whole situation yet. He hasn't realised that the way to get food is to have resources and grow food, or to buy food, and in the condition the country is in now, it's hard to get resources as everyone is starving with no energy to farm food. If they had energy to farm food, they don't have the resources needed in order to farm food and without the resources, it's simply impossible to farm. Whereas if this person was not aiming to be the next president a just a normal, struggling, starving to death citizen, he would realise and understand that in order to fill up his stomach and survive, he'd have to get resources and grow food. To reach this understanding, he didn't have to 'know more' to reach it.
This shows exactly what the quote means and what Tao Le Ching is trying to show the reader. By knowing more, it doesn't mean you become wiser and understand more. Overall, this is what I think Tao Le Ching means by his quote. This shows that Tao Le Ching thinks of knowledge not by its quantity but by the quality of it. I think by applying this to life as a student it shows that students don't have to be the one that can list out every president's name, or be the one that knows the dictionary off by heart to be the wisest.
I think that what Tao Le Ching means is that the more we know about something, meaning the opinions and thoughts from other people about that thing, the less we'll understand the original concept of that thing and the original message it's conveying as well as our own personal thoughts and opinions of that thing. Or another way to think of it is, by knowing more, you don't necessarily become wiser and understand more about life.
"The more you know the less you understand" - This quote explores knowledge and wisdom. I think what Tao Le Ching is talking about is that, if we know more data, this does not necessarily mean we gain more knowledge and understand life more. The whole point of gaining knowledge is to understand life more and live our life. Some think that by knowing the most means they are 'the smartest'. But what correlation does this have to understanding life and living life? Just by being smart and getting a good job doesnt show that they understand even the simplest things of life like who they are and why they're here.
Here is a way to interpret the quote:
There is a person in a poor, starving country who wants to be the president and he tells people that if he becomes the president, he'll give everyone food for free. At this point, he knows the people are starving and need food therefore using his knowledge he says he'll give them food to solve the problem. But this shows he doesn't understand the whole situation yet. He hasn't realised that the way to get food is to have resources and grow food, or to buy food, and in the condition the country is in now, it's hard to get resources as everyone is starving with no energy to farm food. If they had energy to farm food, they don't have the resources needed in order to farm food and without the resources, it's simply impossible to farm. Whereas if this person was not aiming to be the next president a just a normal, struggling, starving to death citizen, he would realise and understand that in order to fill up his stomach and survive, he'd have to get resources and grow food. To reach this understanding, he didn't have to 'know more' to reach it.
This shows exactly what the quote means and what Tao Le Ching is trying to show the reader. By knowing more, it doesn't mean you become wiser and understand more. Overall, this is what I think Tao Le Ching means by his quote. This shows that Tao Le Ching thinks of knowledge not by its quantity but by the quality of it. I think by applying this to life as a student it shows that students don't have to be the one that can list out every president's name, or be the one that knows the dictionary off by heart to be the wisest.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)