EE Reflective conversation 3

If I were to undertake my research again, I wouldn’t change my theories or methodologies as my methodology was suitable for the experiment and the photogate used to measure time had a very low uncertainty. Also, my I wouldn’t change the legendre’s polynomial solution as it as numerical approximation solution to an unsolvable differential equation, which predicts the time period accurately varying with number of decimal places. The only thing I would try to change is probably the graphical comparison of experimental data and the structure of extended essay because I feel the flow of argument isn’t very clear. This would really affect the outcome as it more change in presentation. However, the large angle model is highly accurate and far more so than the small angle model as demonstrated by my investigation. For my research, I looked at research papers from different universities like Penn state, few online sources such as Hyperphysics and physics textbooks, which are highly reliable so the research is appropriate. No specific questions emerged from this investigation. However, I was really surprised and startled to see how a simple differential equation modelling the motion of a time pendulum can have complex numerical approximation solution.

Reflection 1 – HS East Capital Investment

The activity was a very interesting experience. Through the first few sessions, I learned about the basics of investing and finance. I learnt about concepts like balance sheet analysis, different financial ratios and son. Now, we are currently working on developing an investment portfolio strategy  for the Knowledge at Wharton High school investment competition. We are trying to develop a long-term strategy based on the case study for the competition. Through the activity, I have developed my ability to make reasoned arguments, work with peers and I have become more patient.

TOK – Place in universe H.W

In order to answer this question, I am going to consider the paradigm of education.  I will use three different paradigms of education to justify how paradigms affect our place in the universe and how paradigms influence our conceptions.

The first paradigm is when students consider that their education is a matter of life or death. There are quite a few people who feel that not getting a 45 into IB or getting into a prestigious university like Harvard university, is the end of their life and career. Although this a narrow perspective of education, there are still people who have this paradigm. Especially, due to cultural influences and traditions. For instance, India and China are two of the countries where this paradigm is predominant because this paradigm has become a part of the Indian and Chinese culture over a period of time. For people with this paradigm, any sort of academic failure even the smallest of ones may convince them that they have failed in life.

The second paradigm is when students believe that education is important but there has to be a balance between education and social life. These students believe that performing well IB and getting into a university is important, but they also believe that they need to take part in activities, interact with new people and develop life skills essential for personal growth. When a student of paradigm 2 experiences failure, he will regret it for a short period of time. But then he will be able to cope with his failure due to the work-life balance and he will work based on his past failures to improve himself.

The third paradigm is when students believe that education is of no significance and that they only need to go to school because it is part of the world’s functional system. Students with paradigm 3 believe that they just need to pass their IB exams and they usually procrastinate all their work to the last minute. Therefore, people with such a paradigm will not put much effort into studying even though they are capable of working hard and achieving great things.

Therefore, I feel that paradigms affect our place in the universe and influence our conception of truth and knowledge.

Conceptual understanding: Our perception of reality depends on paradigms, which affect our place in the universe and our conception of truth and knowledge.

EE Reflective conversation 2

My research so far has been successful. I have found a numerical solution to calculate the time period of a simple pendulum at large angles. I have selectively chosen university research papers for validity.

I started off with my prior knowledge of pendulums from the IB Physics course. Then I had to find a solution to a differential equation modelling the motion of a pendulum. I tried to use mathematics, but after hours I discovered the equation didn’t have an exact solution, so I had to search for a numerical approximation, which I found through reading university research papers. Finally, I compared the numerical solution to my theoretical data.

My supervisor has asked me whether there is a clear flow of arguments, which I noticed there isn’t. Therefore, I restructured the essay to start with a brief description of the small-angle model. Then I discuss the large-angle model and theoretical data, ending with a conclusion.

 

Conceptual understanding of paradigms

  1. Paradigms are influenced by our experiences, values, beliefs and expectations of reality in order to arrive at an understanding

Paradigms are the way we perceive, think and value the world based on a particular vision of reality. Our experiences, values and beliefs form multiple aspects of our reality. However, a paradigm is formed when multiple aspects are combined to form a set of interconnected ideas.

For example, when I learned of my acceptance to UWCSEA Singapore, I had a few hopes and expectations from the school. I assumed that the school will be more or less like a typical international school and that boarding life would be similar to Indian boarding schools. I expected that there would be a very stringent rules and practices like not being allowed to use your phones in class. Also, with the boarding I expected that I wouldn’t be allowed to go out except for on weekends. However, when I actually arrived at UWCSEA and started going to school, I realised the way I perceived and thought of UWCSEA was very different from what I had experienced when I arrived at the school. Firstly, the school offers students the opportunity to develop a sense of responsibility by offering a high degree of freedom. We are allowed to go to the hawkers provided we aren’t late to class and we are expected to arrive at class and submit assignments without out of our own enthusiasm. Also, there is the whole idea of a holistic learning experience where you take part in services and activities in order to build leadership and collaborative skills, which never existed in my previous international school. On the whole, I realised that my paradigm of UWCSEA had changed completely over time because of my experience. Recognising a new paradigm, I realise that my previous paradigm of UWCSEA had slowly faded away. I had realised the value and importance of the offerings at UWCSEA and how they play an important role in the academic as well as personal growth of a student. Now, I value UWCSEA as an important part of my life-long learning experience.

However, this leads to another question. In the first example, my previous paradigm was replaced by a new one. However, can two or more paradigms be combined to form a new paradigm resulting in infinite possibilities. Consider the example of the captain of a boat, which we went through in the class. The captain mentioned that initially he could only see the beauty of the ocean, however, with experience, he learnt of the dangers of sea. From my perspective, it isn’t necessary that he loses one paradigm due to the formation of a new one. I believe that he can see both beauty and the dangers of the sea, which leads to a completely new paradigm formed as a combination of two paradigms. However, the extent to which each paradigm influences the new paradigms depends on a person. In the case of the captain, learning the dangers of the sea for navigation should be valued higher and should comprise a large part of the new paradigm.

Conceptual understandings of Perception

1) Our perception relies on sense-making and selective-attention in order to construct an image of reality

Sense-making is the process by which the human brain utilises senses such as hearing and vision in order to understand their experiences. Whereas, selective-attention is when a person chooses to focus specifically on a certain object or point neglecting the surroundings. I feel that both these processes play a very important role in our perception of reality.

For example, consider the video we watched in the class where we were asked to focus on a cross and there were images of actors on both sides of the cross. We had to keep looking at the cross while the pictures on both sides kept changing. This is a form of selective-attention because we are focussing on the cross while neglecting the images on the sides. Anyways, as the images keep changing and we maintain our focus on the cross, we suddenly notice that ordinary people’s faces become distorted. This effect is a result of our sense-making ability. Because of the pace with the change and our focus on the cross, the human brain is trying to process the images in a very small amount of time and the ability to construct images of/ recognise faces is lost; the brain simply combines the features of different people into one whole distorted image. Therefore, I think that the our perception of reality is dependent on sense-making and selective-attention. However, this raises another important question: If our perception of reality is influenced by factors such as sense-making and selective-attention, how do we know if our perception of reality is the truth. In my opinion, I feel that our perception of reality is subjective because people use different strategies to manipulate our senses make us believe that false interpretation of reality is actually true. For example, a week during a TOK presentation, we watched a video of different objects which looked real, but weren’t. There was a shoe on a table in the video and to our vision it looked just like a normal shoe on a table. However, when the person moved it, we realised that it is actually an intricately crafted  two-dimensional design of shoe, which made it seem like it was actually real and three-dimensional. This is why I feel that our perception of reality isn’t always the truth and is subjective. Also, I feel that a sense-making plays a very important role in the formation of experiences and perception of reality. For example, let’s consider a scenario where two friends are eating food in a fancy restaurant but one of the friend’s has a severe cold and his nose is blocked. Let’s assume that the aroma and scent of food is part of the whole dining experience. Now, the friends with the completely normal sense of smell may enjoy the meal much more because of the effect the smell of the food has on him. However, the other friend will not be able to experience this part of the meal and his perception of the food is also influenced because his sense of smell is affected by his cold. Therefore, I believe that sense-making plays a major role in the construction of reality.

2) The validity of evidence must always be considered and explained in order to ensure that a conclusion is devoid from bias and is true.

I feel that every piece of evidence must questioned and critically analysed in order to be certain that the evidence is valid. If not for hundred percent certainty, there should be strong a strong claims and a high probability supporting that piece. In my opinion, the reliability if evidence is very important. Even more so, in a court when the lives of people depends on it. For example, let’s consider the example of the short film “12 Angry Men”. A boy is convicted for the murder of his father and a jury of 12 men have to decide the fate by reviewing the evidence. Initially, all pieces of evidence seem to point that the boy was the murder and all eleven men vote that his guilty. Only one juror, Henry Fonda, decides to vote not guilty because he is the only one who recognises the value of a life and wants to understand the evidence of the case before he makes his decision regarding the death sentence. Now, I will discuss one of the pieces of evidence from the film. All eleven jurors believed that the murder weapon was unique and that a testimony saying that the boy had bought it. However, Henry Fonda was able to prove that the weapon isn’t unique because he had discovered that the same weapon could be found in the boy’s neighbourhood without significant effort. Similarly, Henry was able to elicit reasonable. doubt in all the eleven jurors by critically questioning all the pieces of evidence. Finally, all 12 jurors had changed their decision even the highly reluctant ones. Therefore, I believe that the validity of evidence must always be justified before it is utilised to make important decisions and to form truthful statements/ opinions with a high level of certainty.

I believe that neglecting the validity of evidence can mislead decisions and impact society negatively. Let’s assume that the boy in the movie was evidence and that all twelve jurors had voted guilty because the jurors couldn’t be bothered to question the evidence and they just wanted to get on with their lives. If this happened, the boy would be executed even though he wasn’t guilty just because the jurors didn’t know the value of a person’s life. Hence, I think that evidence must always be questioned, otherwise, it can have serious impacts on the lives of people and society as a whole.

Another benefit of questioning evidence is the removal of bias from a decision. For instance, many of the jurors were biased because convinced that the boy was the murder because of his background and upbringing. I feel that by questioning the pieces of evidence critically, we can ensure that a decision is devoid of any sort of bias.

REFLECTION 5 – COMPUTER DEVELOPMENT WITH HOUGANG CARE CENTRE

On the whole, I think the computer development with Hougang care center was a really enriching and exciting experience. Although I wasn’t ver engaging during some sessions, I feel that through the process, I was able to improve me communication and organization skills significantly. I think I have developed these skills because I was involved in planning classes, creating presentations and learning resources,  explaining new concepts to the members and providing sessions based on the individual skill level of the members. Also, I feel that regularly teaching a group of initially unknown members has also helped me become more confidence and improve my self – esteem. Throughout the year, it was more difficult for me to interact with the members than the rest of the peers. However, I felt that towards end of the my interaction with the members improved slightly. I think one of my major challenges in this activity was to interact with the members of the Hougang care center.