Discernment 3: Leadership Qualities

What makes a good leader?
Today we considered people who we think are good leaders. We tried to break the qualities of good leaders into a set of criteria, then we were able to put this into a chart and fill it out for the people we know who would make good leaders of our school next year. This is in no way connected with the actual selection of our school and house leaders for 2015, but we realised how hard it must be for the staff to make the choices.
We tried to decipher what it is that a school leader has to do - what their job entails - and then work out what skills would be useful in these situations.
The big three
We had a really interesting discussion about The Big Three. We realised that we can broadly classify a lot of our personal skills into three categories: social, physical and academic skills. We represented this as a triangle. Most of us lean towards one or two of these corners of the triangle, and it was neat trying to work out where we each think we fall.  The best leaders are likely to be found within the group of people who have skills in all three areas - and of course this way they can relate to people from all walks of life.

Discernment 2: Artworks

Today we had a look at some artworks from a specific era, and compared them. At first it was difficult to say why we did or didn't like a piece of art, but slowly through our group discussion we came to have a list of criteria in our heads which might help us to sift through our choices.
We were about to write this up as a table, and we chose six pieces of art to put through our rigorous marking schedule.
At the end of our work, we each had a distinct favourite of the artwork selection, but we could also say specifically why we liked it the most.
Having an opinion is all well and good, but all opinions need to be backed up with some consideration.

Discernment 1: Question selection

Today we started a new mini-unit, DISCERNMENT. So what is discernment? We began by brainstorming and working out what it meant.
Then we had a discussion about how to distinguish between different but related things. For example, when I went to Rarotonga on honeymoon, we had a lot of fun checking out ten or twelve different resorts, but we were soon mixed up about the different places and got confused about which place had a pool and which ones had restaurants.
The best thing for us to do was to draw up a table, and give the resorts marks for all the things we thought were important in a resort. (Friendly staff, closeness to beach, equipment hire; all the important things). The table was our way of analysing and comparing the different resorts.
Each class member has had a question assigned to them, but they have also been able to choose from a pile of Wild Cards. All the questions are designed to make students analyse and evaluate a selection of items, places or people, and by using their own self-designed criteria, to come up with a conclusive answer.
Here are the questions which students picked from:

1.       List your top ten engineering wonders of the modern world.

2.       What are the best animals to keep as pets?

3.       What are the top ten best websites to use when researching the topic of endangered animals for school?

4.       What are the ultimate “must have” toys?

5.       Which New Zealanders have contributed the most to our country’s history?

6.       Where are the top ten tourist sites around the world?

7.       What are the best things to do in either Christchurch or Dunedin during the holidays?

8.       List the books that all children should read before they leave school.

9.       Put together your rugby Dream Team: players from any era and any nation.

10.   What are the most dangerous sports you can choose to play?

11.   Grantlea Downs is looking at supporting a charity next year. List the top ten that you would recommend.

12.   Which disasters around the world have been the most influential?

13.   Which well-known figures do you believe are good role models?

14.   Which are the most influential inventions of the last one hundred years?

15.   What are the top sites around South Canterbury for a visitor to see?

16.   What are the top ten most likely “end of the world” scenarios?

17.   Compile a list of the most dangerous animals in the world.

18.   Compile a list of the best professions to be considered after graduation from High School.

Visit to the Wetlands

We had a fab visit to the Wetlands today. Debbie Eddington from ECAN, Conservationist Extaordinaire, met us down at the bridge and began by showing us pictures of some creatures who call the Wetlands home. Some are known to be pests and discouraged, and others are encouraged as valuable members of the Wetlands food web.
We saw lots of native plants, such as flax and toetoe. The flax had evidence of being eaten by native moths.
There were many areas we saw which have undergone huge improvement over the last year or so. Being so near to the rubbish tip, the plantings and windbreak along that side have made a big difference to the overall look of the Wetlands.
Since we have been studying inter-dependence, we were able to see much of it in action here.
We looked at Debbie's tracking boxes, which are clever little devices the students recognised and I didn't. The creatures walk through these little triangular prisms, walking through an ink pad at one end and then leaving their tracks for the DOC workers to find. We saw tracks made by lizards as well as other small creatures that could fit through the tubes.

Symbiosis (Interdependence 2)

Symbiosis is a way to describe a relationship between two organisms. It is classified differently according to whether the relationship benefits both or only one side.
Today we discussed the nature of symbiosis, its many types, and scrutinised one form of symbiosis which is lichen.
The existence of lichen is actually a result of a mutually beneficial relationship between an alga and fungus. We discussed this symbiosis and inspected some lichens under the microscope. Then the students went off to find more samples of lichen of their own.

The second picture shows lichen under a microscope much more powerful than ours.

Microscopes (Interdependence 1)

This afternoon we had heaps of fun with the school's three microscopes. They are relatively low power (10 and 20x) so it wasn't a case of seeing the bugs in water or the cells in onion layers... but very cool nonetheless.
We started by talking through the basic operation of the microscopes and how to handle them carefully. Then we looked at a few pre-assembled items such as some moss, Rosie's eyelash, a fingerprint and pencil shavings.
After we looked at the objects everyone had to go out and search for some more small things that we could inspect. This is where it got really interesting. Laurence and Aleks found a slug - you could even see his breathing hole opening and closing along his side. They also returned with a millipede which looked slimy to the naked eye, but under the microscope we could see that the shine comes from its hard exoskeleton. We found a dead fly on Mrs Lees' windowsill, and its eyes looked absolutely amazing under the lens. A green leaf that someone brought in was described by Ivan like emeralds. The surface wasn't smooth at all but sparkly and bumpy.
Here are some other ideas: https://www.microscopeworld.com/t-low_microscope_ideas.aspx

You can learn anything...

WALLS

I wanted to continue my work with the group about Walls today, but decided to ease off a bit on the philosophical viewpoint. For a summary of our previous session, which cause frustration on both sides, click here.

Today we started by reading together the Dr Seuss book The Butter Battle Book.

It's an entertaining book with wonderful illustrations and the usual Seuss patter. However, as with many Seuss classics, it also have a deeper message. This one is about the escalation of a disagreement between two groups of people, until the point where both are threatening to drop a bomb which will annihilate everyone and everything.

We discussed the deeper themes of the book, such as how the groups got into the dispute, and also whether it is an easy situation to resolve. We noticed that both groups feel very strongly about which side of the bread the butter should go on, and whether this is an important issue or not, their fervour in pursuing their point of view could not be denied.

It would be too simplistic to ask them to put aside their differences.

 

We didn't solve the bigger issues in the world today, but the discussion was interesting and varied. At the end of the session all the students wrote down a conversation between two people who held different views of a relatively unimportant issue. (Muffins or cupcakes? Apple or pc? Belt or no belt?



WALLS

An interesting topic for discussion this afternoon. We discussed the theme of WALLS - what they are for, why they are built, where they are built, and any famous walls we can think of. We watched a short video about Hadrian's Wall in the north of Great Britain, and discussed some other walls which we know of, such as the Berlin Wall and the Great Wall of China.

In the course of our discussion, we became quite bogged down. I think it was mainly disbelief that brought us to a rather frustrating halt. Having lived all their lives in a very peaceful country, many of the students struggled to understand how and why the Berlin Wall was so effective for so long, and the dreadful stories of cruelty, suffering and death that came from that time.

It caused me to wonder to myself about peace. Peace is a marvellous thing, but does it mean that our children will always struggle to relate in any way to countries that do not have it? I wondered if I was making too many assumptions about the kind of work which the group (advanced as they are) can cope with. I concluded that they are simply too young, and that empathy will come with maturity.

For more information about the Berlin Wall, click on these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall.htm

Exploring the World...

Today we started our session with a think about Music Composers, Artists and Creative Writers. We thought about what it is that they do, and what they have in common. We decided that they all create - they make something new. They have their own ways of interpreting their world, and putting it out there in terms of music, art or stories. Aleks used the word "processing". We acknowledged that to put your work out there for all the critique takes courage, and that many adults are far too worried about what others might say in order to create. Young people are far more willing to take risks in this way.
We finished the session by creating some artwork using a merged background - no palette, just blobs of paint straight onto the card - and then painting a foreground ontop. For inspiration we watched the Khan Academy short video on Dynamism of a Soccer Player, which you can see again by clicking here.
Even though there were "no right or wrongs", it still took courage to have a go.

Pawel Kuczynski

Pawel Kuczynski is a prolific Polish artist. His satirical works can be found all over the internet. His art is usually a reflection of his social, ecological and political opinions.
We had a chance to look at a few of his paintings, and considered the messages he might be trying to convey.

Sam suggested that something terrible had happened to the man, and he was in a depressive state. Hunter helped us all to see that the wall, ladder and fire might all be metaphorical items, all representing something going on in the man's life or in his head. What an interesting (although sinister) discussion we were able to have!

For the picture above, we all wrote down our thoughts about what the artist's message might be, or we wrote a piece of creative fiction based on thoughts and feelings inspired by the work. Here is Isellah's "take" on the painting:

 

The glass had been up for years now, they insisted it was the safest option. But we all know they're lying, we all know they're killing the air, minute by minute, second by second. My husband had already died, his lungs too weak to consume the bleak air around the city. My children were forced to wear contraptions, like masks on their faces. Their eyes were already dead. The world is not kind to us, they choose what happens, we don't even get a say. They are the killers.

What fab inspiration for a novel! :-)

To see more of Pawel Kuczynski's work, click here. Just remember that many of his images will make you feel uncomfortable; I believe that is his intention.

Oh Noes!

We're all getting used to seeing that little phrase on our screen whenever we're typing in code. :-)
This week we continued our exploration of JavaScript code. The goal was to draw the food on a dinner plate using all the codes we've learned so far. We can draw shapes such as ellipses, circles, rectangles, triangles, and arcs, plus we can change the line weight and colour, and add or delete the fill colours.
Everyone had to finish the session with a printed copy of their dinner plate for the Library wall. We had a huge variety of food on show, from Sushi to hamburgers!

Intro to Programming

Today we nearly had a full house for a very cool session on Programming. First we viewed a few Khan academy tutorials about the basics of code and how to command your computer as though it is an obedient dog. Then we got a chance to complete a few challenges.
Along the way, we learned about the parentheses ( ) the semi colon ; the parameters and the functions, and the purposes of each.
In just an hour, we went from drawing this, to drawing this! (Aleks' ice cream)

 

Here's the code for the ice cream:

Next week we will get a chance to extend our skills, and see what else can be done with programming language.



Teeny weeny group today!

We had a sum total of two students in the class today! Our school musical is going to be fantastic, but the dedication to practices does mean that other afternoon classes such as Explore It will suffer losses all this term.
Ivan and Sam already knew a lot about polyhedra... this is a particular 20-sided polyhedron called an icosahedron. It is made of twenty equilateral triangles.

In order to construct a net for it, the boys first had to learn how to draw the equilateral triangle using a compass, then repeat that process twenty times... as evenly as possible!
We actually found that the drawing part was easier than expected; it was the gluing that was tricky. Next time we're going to use a hot glue gun!
We would like to explore stellations. We hope we will have a bigger group! :-)

Bridge Design

Fun practical session time!

We watched two Khan Academy videos produced by MIT - world famous technology college, I wish we could all go there - and loved
1. their clear explanations
2. their bridge inspiration and
3. their humour! :-)

Bridge Design and Destruction! (part 1): This is a two part video that introduces the different types of bridges. The bridge types will be introduced in historical order from simple (beam and arch) in the first video to more complex (truss and suspension) in the second video. This will show how bridges evolved as our designs and available materials expanded. The design of each bridge will be shown schematically along with the load distribution. The advantages and limitations of each type will be described. Video of actual bridges around Boston of the different types will be shown with the load distributions overlaid on freeze frames. Other iconic bridges will also be shown as still images with load distributions. Technical concepts covered will be tension, compression, bending, span, force balances, material selection and beam/cable design. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA More information at http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-conditions
Bridge Design (and Destruction!) Part 2: This is a two part video that introduces the different types of bridges.


Then we split into four groups and practiced our own bridge construction.

 

Here are some things that we discovered:

1. Why cut when you can fold? A folded edge creates strength.
2. You can't block the flow of water when you are spanning a river!!
3. A bridge doesn't need to be pretty to be strong... but we all love pretty bridges...
4. Roads on bridges really should be horizontal for the poor cars. Even before the weight is put on them.

Cheating

Is it ever okay to cheat in sport?

This was a really neat discussion inspired by the situation which Valerie Adams had to face at the London 2012 Olympics - Ostupchuck beat her to the shot put gold by cheating.

 

We read an article written by Matt Harvey, who is of the opinion that cheating is a part of all sports - otherwise referees would be out of a job.

This inspired a lively discussion about whether it is a sportsperson's duty to her/his teammates to make sure that s/he works every angle s/he possibly can in order to score points against the other team.

 

Interested in the top 10 Sporting Cheats of all time? Here's a good one. Here's another - this is a mainly American list, but provides some interesting viewing. Note of course that none of these athletes every got away with it long term.

What is "success"?

It was a purely philosophical session today. Our group explored the theme of "success" - what is it, how can it be measured, how do you know if you are successful, is success finite, is success age related, what does success look like at my age?
There were many quotes that came out today -
Hunter's Gem "It's not where you're at, it's about how far you've come."
Aleks' Gem "Quality not quantity"

Some further questions to consider:
Is success about comparisons? Someone mentioned today that one of the ways we know we're successful is when we receive a certificate in assembly. If everyone received a certificate, would this still be a valid measure?
Is success about money? Can you say a rich person is more successful in their life than a poor person? What if they inherited their riches? Does that still make them successful?
Is success about being idolised? There are many different kinds of people idolised today - some are people you would rather NOT be like. Here is a tongue-in-cheek look at some teenage idols of the past... it's scary how many idols have wound up addicted to drugs or alcohol. I would question these people's lives as being "successful".
Is success the same for everyone? We read a book called The Troll which was a bit of light relief from the philosophical ponderings. We found that success for the Troll was quite different from success for the Pirates. And although in the end the Pirates got what they needed to be happy, it wasn't at all what they had been aiming for.

Our new group

Today we added to our number, and we started delving into the wonders of ancient history... ancient Roman architecture. Here is a fab video we started with:


Ancient Rome: A project between Khan Academy and Rome Reborn - with Dr. Bernard Frischer

After viewing the video we talked about what we saw, and followed some of the discussion points on the sheet below.

The graphic on the bottom left was made using a programme such as Wordle. Have you ever used Wordle? Select some text (I used the Wikipedia information regarding the Roman Forum) and pasted it in. The rest is done for you!

 

Change

Last year one of our topics was CHANGE... many of us find change, as an emotional concept very hard, so discussing it was useful. Here's a photo Hunter found which reminds us that change is necessary for growth... it's a positive spin on the theme.
Thanks Hunter!

Cryptography 2

This week we looked further into our investigation of cryptography. We used a couple of exercises on the Khan Academy site to experiment with the Caesar Cypher and to see what kind of "fingerprint" we would leave if we were using it. Our fingerprint was much less noticeable when we used the Polyalphabetic Cipher.
Then we watched a video about the One Time Pad - which is effective for two reasons. 1. Its randomness 2. Its length / lack of repetition.
Finally, the last video answered the question "What is the difference between a coin flip and a blind guess?". Hunter predicted its answer very well!

Here are the questions we discussed today
1. What is the Caesar Cipher?
2. Why do you think it took a long time (800 years) before it was easily deciphered?
3. What do you notice on the frequency explorer?
4. Why is it called a "fingerprint"?
5. What makes the One Time Pad so effective?

Mrs Armstrong's frustrations this week: Why can't we say that the letter "e" is "winning"?!! Or that the letter "z" is "not very popular"?!!

AND... we have a new name! "Explore It".
Parent meeting scheduled for next Thursday March 20 at 5.30 in the Staffroom.

What is Cryptography?

... and it's got nothing to do with places you bury dead people!!!
We had many, many frustrations with technology this afternoon, but were able to get onto the Khan Academy site and watch a couple of fascinating videos about the Caesar Code and the Polyalphabetic Code. H'mmm... my brain was hurting after using just these two Ciphers... I wonder how the code breakers in World War II felt after a day at work?
The Caesar Cipher https://www.khanacademy.org/math/applied-math/cryptography/crypt/v/caesar-cipher
The Polyalphabetic Cipher
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/applied-math/cryptography/crypt/v/polyalphabetic-cipher

There are many more videos in these lessons on Cryptography, and also some practical activities for trying them out. Hopefully next session we will be able to access a few more of them.
By the time we had used both the ciphers to put a couple of simple words into code, the afternoon had DISAPPEARED!

Khan Academy... What a find

Don't miss the top things to learn on Khan Academy this week:

Can you make an unbreakable code using dice?   Learn now

What do prime numbers have to do with hurricanes?   Learn now

What was the secret of the Rosetta Stone?   Learn now

Just added from the J. Paul Getty Museum:

Are these glass vessels really thousands of years old?!   Learn now

Learn something new at Khan Academy

Day One... Gloopy Goo!

Today was our first meeting for 2014.
We had "the usual suspects" from last year turn up, and will have a few new faces starting next week.
Our focus today was on Gloopy Goo. This very cool mixture has many names - Flubber, Goo, Oobleck, or Slime - but it's that very strange combination of cornflour and water which basically seems to ooze to its own tune. Our Goo was purple but you can make it any colour your heart desires!

Mrs A's recipe for Gloopy Goo:

Into a sandwich bag, put 1/4 cup cornflour, 1/8 cup water, and a few drops of food colouring. Smush, smush, smush!

We really enjoyed discussing whether the goo was solid or liquid, how to make it more solid or liquid, and what we expect things to look like or feel like or be able to do if they are solids or liquids. Hunter had a good point about the shape they make when they fall. Rosie would like to fill the swimming pool with Goo, and Laurence has volunteered to walk across it...
Then we talked about Philosophy - what it is and what it isn't. We related what we knew of philosophy to the questions we'd thought about for Goo today.