The decisions Isma made is what she believed was right and what she wanted to do, she was thinking of the consequences, the ethical name for it being, teleological, where one thinks about the consequences of the actions. Isma perhaps was thinking about what would’ve happened to their family if she didn’t inform the police which could influence her decisions as a whole. The situation is complex where it is hard to say what the ‘right’ thing to do is, anyone can disagree with her. There is no ‘wrong’ decision as it depends on the person on what is good and bad however many could disagree with her, saying that she was selfish and not thinking about her brother while Isma can argue it was for the better as her family would have to suffer from the society’s opinions as well. Isma had a choice between family loyalty and her duty to society and it is impossible to say which one is ‘correct’ because it varies from person to person. In contrast to Aneeka who was thinking of her family and who she cares about, Isma believes that she should fulfill her duty to society. Relating to Antigone, Antigone resembles Aneeka, where they both believe that family loyalty lies first rather than what society believes. Creon who resembles Karamat, has strong views that lead to consequences he did not think about, ending up with his son killing himself for the woman he loves, having a deontological view where one does not think of the consequences of an action but rather if the action is right or wrong. It is hard to say whether these decisions are moral as each person has a different view on ethics and what they believe to be good and bad and even how one can decide if something is good or bad.
Moral Machine
I don’t think it is accurate because I don’t agree with some of them like Fitness preference, I didn’t choose one scenario over the other because of the person’s fitness level. I think if a person was actually in that situation they wouldn’t have enough time to think about what to do.
The role of reason and emotion in decision making
Cognitive biases:
Biases are a result of the mechanisms the brain uses to help it quickly make sense of information and experiences. These mental operations can help us quicken our thinking and give us a sense of reality however it can be distorted and incomplete. Biases are ingrained in our cognitive architecture so they don’t feel like tendencies or prejudice. It can be seen as a “blind spot” in our thinking. We can’t prevent them as they are ingrained but it is useful to know about them and to try to see past our biases, even though it may be very hard. With a logical fallacy, with practice, we can learn to recognize and completely avoid mistakes of logic. While faults of logic come from how we think, and thus we can simply change our thinking to be more logical, biases arise from the cognitive machinery that allows us to think.
Video:
Dan Gilbert describes decision making as an equation, odds of the gains multiplied by value of the gains. However problems arise when calculating odds and the value of the gains. People usually compare with their past experiences, which can influence their decisions. However, their past presents a bias and people are susceptible to following what they think is right. Framing can also affect our decisions, if something is framed more positively we are more likely to follow it. For example, if you go to a theatre to see your favourite movie, and you bought a $20 ticket for it, but you lose it, would you buy another one, versus, you lose $20 on your way to the movie theatre, would you buy one using your other $20 note? Most said no to the first one and yes to the second because of the loss attached to the ticket however the loss is not attached to the ticket. EIther way, you lose $20. To summarize, sometimes we can not trust our decision making skills because it might not be the best decision we can make for that situation.
Creativity: Kahaani
First Session:
LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
Kahaani is something new I wanted to try, my brother had been in it and it looked like a good experience. After the first session I knew it was the right choice as it was both fun and challenging, remembering all the steps while having fun collaborating with the people around me.
Who do I collaborate with?
This is a partner dance so we all definitely have to communicate with each other so the dance looks nice, that we try our best while still having fun. We have to make sure we know what we are doing as we are going to perform this and we need to make sure we are trying our best, collaborating with everyone.
What did I learn about this issue?
Kahaani was created by the Kolkata Global Concern, which supports an organisation called Voice of World that helps visually impaired and orphaned children in the city of Kolkata. Kahaani means “story”, they created it to convey a message to our school which many come to watch. I think it’s a great way to get people to talk about the issue and to help out as much as they can through a “story”. Since I am from India I think that the way this GC raises awareness is a good way to both include the culture as well as the issue to show to our school, as this event makes people talk about it.
Mid Session:
LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.
Kahaani has been a commitment that is easy to abide to as it is every thursday lunch, I also think it has been very fun as well as stressful because of the dance we need to learn in a short amount of time. However I think it is worth it because it is a new experience and I am enjoying myself, trying to work as a team and trying our best to give our full energy into the dance to make it look pleasing.
Who did I collaborate with?
I had to collaborate with everyone in order to be a cohesive group and everyone matters when performing as we are doing this in front of an audience. But I think the main person I had to collaborate with is my partner because we have to dance together, we have to make sure we know the steps and that we are able to do it together.
What made it easy or difficult to work together?
I think the fact that we both wanted to get the steps right and look cohesive while doing the dance made us work harder together however because we hadn’t worked together before it was difficult to communicate as we both also had never been in Kahaani.
This is me in the practice
Final Session:
LO1 – Identifying your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
What am I good at? What are my strengths?
In the end I learnt how to manage my time better as we had to learn a whole dance in 15 sessions, as well as working together in a team as we had to be coordinated and help each other in order to produce our best performance.
Have I improved and in what areas?
I think I have improved in first my collaborative skills, it is important to know what your partner is doing because you are going to be performing in front of many people. I think that I learnt how to communicate with my partner and also encourage him when he needed help. In the end we all had fun together and bonded as a group. I also improved my dancing skills since we had been practicing every week.
Why have I struggled in a few areas?
We had a problem with one of our dances as It was not looking good and not everyone could do the steps. We all tried to improve the dance by giving our ideas and by the end we all created dance moves together that worked and looked good to perform.
Top Girls
Explain how Churchill uses language to establish a particular character’s identity, class, or social status.
Top Girls by Caryl Churchill follows Marlene, a woman who works at top girl’s employment agency and is celebrating her recent promotion with 5 historical figures. She also later visits her sister Joyce and the relationship between them is revealed. Churchill’s uses language to establish Joyce’s character’s class. She uses simplistic sentence structures for Joyce’s character as well as the use of slangs and grammar mistakes.
The sentence structure compared to the sentences that Marlene says, is juxtaposed as Joyce speaks with grammar mistakes and slang. I think it can show their education level as well as their class. Compared to Marlene, her speech seems like she’s less educated, when they are talking about Kit and Angie, Joyce says, “She hasn’t an idea in her head what she wants to do”, the use of “hasn’t” can show the audience of her social class with the use of slang as Marlene does not speak like that, and we know that Marlene is in the upper class and that she is educated. When Joyce is talking to Angie, she also uses an informal tone with almost, shortcuts, to her speech such as “You’ve no money, have you?”, which can contribute to the idea of Joyce’s social class. Joyce also says, “You was in America or somewhere”, the use of “was” is grammatically incorrect showing the level of education she has compared to Marlene.
It is clear with the difference of class between Joyce and Marlene with their dialogue between each other. The things they say to each other can indicate their class status as perhaps Joyce is mad that Marlene left her family to go to a job as Joyce even mentions, “Don’t come back”, and after that point all the secrets are revealed about the two sisters. I think that the clear contrast between the two sisters enhances the text as it shows the audience the reality of the time (1980s) and the differences between lower and upper class. Joyce also tells Marlene, “For someone so clever, you was the most stupid” to perhaps illustrate the difficulties of a working woman, how they couldn’t do both, and that’s why Joyce had to look after Angie and stay in that lower class.
I think this book tries to emphasize the difficulties of a woman, a working woman, and showcases it with the relationship between the two sisters. It does a good job on showing which character is in the upper class and which is in the lower class with the specific language used.
The Arts – conceptual understanding
Personal Knowledge in the Arts often relies on interpretation.
The Arts is based on the creator and the observer. The art created will be true to the artist as it is a personal experience that no one else would go through, however, the concept of it can be expressed in many ways for other, observers to interpret them, and that interpretation can be true to themselves. The ‘truth’ in the arts is personal knowledge as an observer usually relates to a piece of art when they believe it is true, however it might not be what the artist wanted to convey. An example of this is Georgia O’Keeffe, who had painted flowers in the 20s and she had meant for them to only be flowers, however, many had thought that the flowers represent a female’s genitalia (Ellis-Petersen, 2016). O’Keeffe had resisted this claim however it gained popularity once again in the 70s, women used her work as a statement of women empowerment. They interpreted it one way and it inspired them, it meant something to them and it was the truth to them even if it isn’t the truth for the artist who created it (Ellis-Petersen, 2016).
A counterclaim is that the artist creates the art for people to interpret a certain way, that both the creator and the observer agree with the ‘truth’. An example of this is Kevin Carter’s powerful photography of a little girl dying while a vulture watches and waits for its prey. Carter is said to feeling the need to photograph shocking images to share into the world (Neal, 2014). Some people saw what he was trying to convey and received backlash for it. Carter perhaps found it shocking, so he took a photo of it to share to others and the people who saw this image also interpreted the photo as shocking. But the photographer and the audience reacted to this image differently, even though they had the same truth behind them. His reaction was to share it however the audience’s reaction was to retaliate, wondering if he could have saved the girl (Neal, 2014). This understanding of the photo however becomes shared knowledge as we all feel the same thing.
The arts can be be based on personal experiences or shared knowledge. There is always a creator and an observer and their interpretation does not always have to match for it to be the ‘truth’. It would be the truth to the individual.
Georgia O’Keeffe – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/mar/01/georgia-okeeffe-show-at-tate-modern-to-challenge-outdated-views-of-artist
Kevin Carter – https://allthatsinteresting.com/kevin-carter
Activity: Boxing
First session
LO2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
What risks have I taken as part of this activity?
This is my first time taking a class in boxing, i chose it since i’ve been wanting to do it for a while, however put it off as it was a risk for me at the time. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try something new and i really enjoyed the first session.
What new skills have I developed in this activity?
We worked on our forms, the basic punches and how to properly stand. Even though it was the first session I really liked the class and how it made me feel. It is also a good form of exercise as it helps with getting your heart rate up and it also is fun at the same time. As the sessions went on, i think it got more interesting and fun to participate in and also got me more tired. I am looking forward to going to more classes and I think I might continue boxing for season 3 and 4 depending on my schedule.
Mid session
LO4-Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences
Final session
LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.
Through this experience I had learnt to work with the others around me, since it was a beginners class, we were all mostly in the same place and we could all help each other in improving our skills to benefit everyone. Although there were some challenges- some had more developed skills which would make it more difficult to do the activities- I think I worked through it to really develop my skills because it was an activity I had been wanting to do for a long time. I think I was responsible in making contributions and generally doing the activities while not complaining about them. I personally felt that I benefited from the activity because I acquired a new skill and will continue to do this sport in my free time.
What can I do in the future to be a more effective team player?
I think generally being encouraging and helping people in your team when they need it in order to enable them to develop and gain skills. Finding a role within your team that allows you to do what you do well. This will help you make a meaningful contribution – and increase your chances of doing a great job.
Activity: Softball
First session
LO2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
Mid session
LO4-Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences
How did I show perseverance and commitment in this activity?
Softball was early in the morning, twice a week and I had made an effort in trying to come to each session on time while also enjoying the new skills we were learning and developing. I think the hardest thing is that it was that early in the morning however I think it was nice since it was still dark outside and it was chilly. We were all tired but we pushed through even played a few games together and helped each other when needed.
How did I maintain my motivation for this activity?
Firstly I think it was because of the people around me, a few of my friends were also doing this activity and we all had the same skill level, it was nice to encourage each other and even help each other to improve our skills. Even simple things like sharing the cab to school with my friend early in the morning was a nice thing to look forward to, especially looking forward to catching the ball or hitting the ball with the bat. I think the sheer will of me wanting to develop my softball skills was my highest motivation, because I truly wanted to get better.
Final session
LO1-Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth.
What previous experience have I had with an activity like this?
I had done softball in PE in middle school and even highschool and enjoyed the unit. We never went into that much depth of the rules and strategies but it had always intrigued me, which is why I had decided to pursue the sport in my free time. I had fun during class and wanted to do it again.
What would I like to improve?
I think I would like to further develop my skills in softball such as my batting skills. I think i did improve during the sessions, but I definitely could do better. I would also like to improve my motivation with this activity since it started to get less and les towards the end of the activity since classwork started to pile up as well. It did get harder to attend the sessions however I continued to go to the sessions when I reminded myself on how much I wanted to do it.
Maths And The World
What is the role of intuition in mathematics? How about imagination?
Andrew Wiles said he had a revelation when it came to Fermat’s last theorem, suggesting that he had an intuition, something he couldn’t explain but wanted to prove and understand. Intuition can play a role in math where it can help people discover new things as well as question other things and find rigorous proof for it, it can help drive people into discovering and learning new things that we want to call the ‘truth”. Imagination can play a big role in mathematics as it can challenge existing ideas and or help us create something new or a new way of thinking that we haven’t thought of before. Humans search for patterns in nature but we can use our imagination to explain something in nature, imagination can lead to a big discover and or can lead us to the bigger ‘truth’.
In what sense is Mathematical research a search for Truth?
Derren Brown suggests that humans search for patterns naturally. Mathematics is about finding patterns that hold true, if we see a pattern we lean towards it to say that it is true because it has happened before. Once people begin to see patterns we assume that it has a meaning behind it, that there is a truth, curiosity is what drives humans and if there was nothing to search for in math it wouldn’t be as important as it is now.
Rigorous Proof
The method of trying to prove that all triangles add up to 180 degrees only works on 2D surfaces and can be proved with axioms. On 2D surfaces, the proof can be said as rigorous proof because it can’t be falsified, it has been tested a lot and is known as shared knowledge. The other methods can be falsified as if you draw a triangle on a sphere the angles would not add up to 180 and therefore is falsified.
SHIP → DOCK
Changing one letter from the word ship and trying to get to the word dock would be easier if you knew that all words in the english language contain a vowel, and the conjecture that any intermediate word would have two vowels. The rigorous proof demonstrates the outcome that is expected through steps in a logical manner. With the axioms, it made the task easier to do as we believed in them.
The term proof applies differently to Math and Natural Sciences, evidence is used to prove a conjecture or theory and it can make something more true to people as they would believe it more.
Math that can be found in Nature:
Snowflakes, it has the perfect symmetry and all snowflakes are different. Sunflowers also follow the Fibonacci sequence and the nautilus shell also follows the Fibonacci sequence.