Meeting 13 • 19 February 2013 • Tuesday
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pictures of the week
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thought-bite of the week: "…often during astronomic observations I almost dropped my instruments when I realized my face and hands were covered with these hairy bees. Our guides assured us that these bees only attacked when you annoyed them by picking them up by their legs. I did not try."(Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, p. 17) |
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mini-text of the week (start): "…the general phenomena of plant distribution…"Humboldt, "Personal Narrative", from Jaguars and Electric Eels, ed. & trans. Wilson, pp. 14-16 (read more) |
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(10') This week's thought-bite and mini-text: expensive instruments, extreme conditions, and great insights about geography, climate, and species distribution What data do YOU collect first-hand, how do you do it, and how much do you trust it? Think bathroom, car, shopping, smartphone Groups discuss meaning and distinction of: factual, objective, impartial, truthful (not to mention: authoritative, definitive). How does this apply to your book reports, especially how you judge what's in those books? Followup on last meeting: Where do we locate the phrase "The best history of Mexico" on the range of data / inference / conclusion etc. Same thing for the hummingbird article. |
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(15') +Humboldt's pioneering work in plant (and animal) geography: the 99% perspiration and data are combined with 1% inspiration and insight to produce the monumental, iconic "Chimborazo" graphic. That was the best they had "back then" about sustainable environmentalism: the data, the thought, the presentation in words and pictures. There was NO "Big Science": no government-sponsored science (until late in 19thC in US - Powell's fights), no corporate-financed R&D. Well, there was a little, especially for military purposes (mapping, weapons). But most science was "amateur" (gentleman and a few others), because science then was not regarded as important. Producing that engraving involved huge effort and expense, even after the data was collected. √Today we'll rotate some important graphics resources among small groups so that people can look closely at them: the full-size Chimborazo engraving (with the English translation of its data columns); several centuries of maps of the Pacific Northwest; a study of effective graphic representation of quantitative data (Tufte, The Visual Representation of Quantitative Information); a study of how the familiar "time-line" graphic tool was developed over thousands of years (Rosenberg & Grafton, Cartographies of Time). –Some other "iconic" images related to science (whether as concepts or as means to deliver data effectively). –Special points: natural history collections; rarity of travel; topographic mapping (Wikipedia; Geosciences, Idaho State U) |
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(15') Our discussions of data and last meeting's meditation about reading Darwin were a preview of the topic: What can we trust? Can we even trust the Helferich book? Where do we get our information and how do we judge it (and the opinions, conclusions, solutions it presents to us)? Example: The lightning strike in Norwich, the argument about Franklin and his lightning rods, and an example from our time (genetic engineering of crop species and possible harm to environment). Examples from our lives: your medications, like for a cold: what to take; how much; whether it will work; whether what's in the pill is what's on the label; your money: commercial bank vs. credit union; planning for adult life, including career choice (ethical company?), fringe benefits, employer-paid education, charity matching, retirement; weather (examples: driving to California, flying to DC in mid-winter); climate change?! Examples of "cognitive traps": availability bias; hindsight bias; confirmation bias; contamination effects (distraction by irrelevant but proximate information); overconfidence in calibration (precision ≠ accuracy; best-case scenario ≠ most probable outcome) (source: R0303, Ferguson, Ascent of Money). So what can we educated citizens read while we wait to see how today's contentious issues will work out and what today's classics will be? What our are reliable sources of information and opinion: electronic / paper / other; periodical press; local, quotidien; long-term knowledge? Related question: how do educated citizens become capable / better writers? Small groups: Where do you get your citizen information, opinions, conclusions, solutions, and how do you check it out? If you are into "think globally, act locally", where do you get your local info? What "signs" are there that your sources are reliable? |
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(15') More about writing assignment #03, writing assignment #04, and the group project: 1) Standards are regarded as a necessary part of creating curricula and competent learning activities in SCHOOL but NOT necessarily COLLEGE!) – so it may benefit you to learn about them as you evaluate your own education, especially now that you are in college. 2) Educating the young(ish) learner about sustainable environmentalism, as you will explore with your projects, requires systematic learning mapped onto standards. Here are examples: Lyon Arboretum and Hawaii school standards • Hawaii STEM Intercommunity Portal • Enchanted Learning - but one of many sources of learning activities, especially for younger learners. Here's their "Explorers" page about Humboldt. Here's their section about "astronomy:Earth", with activities that could be inspiration for learning activities for Humboldt-named schools. Here is "ThirteenEd Online", about lesson plans (example: math). And here's a blog article, from Scientific American, that attacks state science education standards, including Oregon's, as "'mediocre to awful." |
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(05') grants, jobs, résumé lines through PSU Institute for Sustainable Solutions; its Events Calendar; opportunities, including student travel grants and conferences elsewhere |
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(10') Exploring group projects (continuation of previous meetings): Link to the group project specifications. First, let's encourage "inclusion" by group-thinking some examples of projects that could call on the interests and expertise of: business/econ majors; architecture majors; PE/sports majors / athletes; music. Now some general specifications (review of several earlier discussions): 1) Your group projects (and species descriptions) MUST deliver Humboldt, sustainable environmentalism, and origins; it's not enough to do a general presentation, and cuteness is not itself sufficient (though it is desirable for some target learners). But the Humboldt relation and the connection to sustainability and its origins can be "stretchy" (example: start with Humboldt, then expand to other explorers; link an art project to the endangered Cyanea humb.; connect indigenous peoples of Humboldt's Then to such peoples in our Now). 2) Projects can be aimed at Humboldt-named schools, but can also target just about anything that is related to sustainable environmentalism: OMSI Planet under Pressure; PSU Earth Day; 3) Examples of projects aimed at Humboldt-named schools: Earth Day with Alex; designing a Humboldt-related learning garden or specimen collection; planning initial contact with Humboldt-named schools; researching Humboldt-named schools; re-branding a Humboldt-named school (colors, totem animal /plant, mascot & costume, rally/same implement, cheer, events); familiarizing stakeholders with Humboldt; planning the model "Humboldt Box"; adaption of lesson plans for Humboldt-related content (organized according to subject area, or according to age level); grant research and draft proposal. 4) Your part in a project does NOT have to be based on your academic subjects. You may have a serious personal interest that can help (pets, dance, sewing), or an area of "non-academic" interest, experience and talent (organizational skills) 5) The projects are Big IDEAS. They do NOT have to be Giant Finished Products. The Humboldt Project has been going on for more than five years, and already includes some student-begun projects that have been handed on to you. Your projects will be handed on to other teams. 6) Start RIGHT AWAY (or even sooner) to document your contribution to your group project so that it can be known (and graded) individually. |
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(5') Announcements, Checkups & Previews: 1) apps Humboldt would have liked; 2) presentation about society back then (and any time before 1800 or so), to help understand how H related to people of other classes / races (teaser: When was it that someone's ears first popped with a change in altitude?); 3) advice about "educated citizen" reading, with a short sample; 4) one focus of "interpreting the past" to the present during the rest of the course: land and water allocation and use in the American West, including Oregon, and h |