A Hierarchy of Learning

My work environment has been a bit noisy lately. The school is having the roof renovated. The building’s air-conditioning units have been disconnected during the time of this refurbishment.

It being summer, there’s a need to open windows and to bring in industrial air-conditioning units to maintain a workable atmosphere within the building. At the beginning of this week, contractors wheeled two of these units into the space close to my office area, plugged them into the mains and switched them on.

Other units were similarly introduced at points throughout the building. The Science teachers who worked in the areas, including myself, viewed this activity with amusement. It was evident that the contractors knew nothing about thermodynamics.

It sucks

The heat exchange part of an air-conditioning unit operates in a way similar to a refrigerator. In normal use, the unit sucks warm air from the room through a cooling unit and filter. Fresh air from outside the building is drawn in through windows and other openings to replace the heated air expelled during the process.

The resulting chilled air is blown back into the room while the removed heat is air-pumped to the exterior, usually through a duct in a window.

In the case of the units that we observed, there was no such venting. Instead, the hot air from the action of the cooling unit was being pumped back into the room. It was as if a fridge had been turned on and its door had been left wide open. In such a circumstance, the fridge does nothing more than make a noise and heat the room.

The overall effect of the air-conditioning units being used in this way was not unlike that of using large blow heaters. In no time, people started to complain about the rising temperature.

A little learning

Science is a wonderful thing. Its principles are being utilised in just about every piece of technology that contributes to our lives today. Of course, an understanding of scientific principles isn’t always necessary to use or install the equipment that puts these principles into effect.

There are at least three levels of understanding that can allow one to realise the significance of a scientific idea, such as the thermodynamic principles that were put to use in the construction of the air-conditioning units:

1. It works provided certain conditions are met according to a recipe for installation. For the air-conditioning unit to be effective, it has to be functioning and have its required vents clear, one of which has to be ducted to the exterior.
   
   
2. It works as it follows the thermodynamic idea that heat can be pumped by using a small amount of energy that is eventually released as heat (which is why the fridge with its door open does nothing more than heat up the room).
   
   
3. It works, and its function can be explained by thermodynamic principles:
   
   a) energy can neither be created nor destroyed,
   
   b) heat energy is released when a gas is compressed so that it condenses to a liquid and this same heat is taken in when the liquid is allowed to evaporate – this is what happens in the heat exchange unit of a fridge,
   
   c) some energy will always be wasted when heat energy is pumped using mechanical means – entropy is always increased as a consequence.
   

Understanding at level 3 can be achieved by senior secondary school Physics students.

Level 2 can be understood by able students of Junior Science.

Working recipes that define the factors that are important in level 1 need only be followed when it comes to the correct and appropriate installation of a piece of technology in general circumstances.

The example that I unpack here shows how related learning can apply at various levels to the curriculum. What is significant is that the most elementary levels of learning are still important to the correct use of technologies that involve sophisticated principles in their design and construction.

Sorted

As it happens, the contractors were notified by Science teachers about the correct use of the air-conditioning units which were immediately switched off. Appropriate locations near windows were then found. Necessary ducts to the outside of the building were fitted correctly to the machines within 24 hours.


Through all this, the cicadas continued their sibilant summer chorus.

Computer Reality

Typists who could rattle out a notice on a Remington Portable knew nothing of word wrap. So-called word processors simulated part of the procedure of carriage return by using ‘Return’ keys, now replaced by ‘Enter’ keys on the QWERTY keyboard.





I worked in an office when bound, printed instruction manuals were in their heyday. I didn’t need to read a manual to find out that it was useless either. I could tell from its crisp pages and gleaming cover.

The contents of useful manuals fell at my feet when I took them from the shelf. Company experts on procedures were usually those who wrote, added to, or amended manuals like these.

Many things we now do in the workplace, and the way we go about them, have arisen through the inclusion of the computer. Much of those were modified and re-jigged, or even scrapped from practiced routines and procedures and reinvented, when the use of computer technology became a mandatory part of the processes.

Dissemination of procedural instructions

One of the artefacts that almost disappeared through all this was the printed process specification or business procedure manual. It was sometimes replaced by an online version – less convenient in some ways, more facile in others.

One argument in favour of this replacement was that updates to procedures could be conveyed instantly to a network of workers. In the past these changes were scribbled on the margins of printed manuals and referred to until new versions were published.

But if there is no rigorous and timely procedure for updating an online manual, the user can’t scribble notes in the margins when instructions drift out of date. That is unless they print their own version at some stage. Many do, for this and a number of other reasons. In doing this, however, they may lose touch with subsequent amendments that are only announced on the online version.

Sometimes the business procedure manual, if it existed at all, simply disappears altogether, to be recreated in notes and copies of those made by industrious workers who recognise the need for a manual of some sort. Announcements of new procedures or changes to existing ones sent round by email are filed in either digital or printed form by this diligence.

Evolving 'expertise'

Through this process there evolves a wealth of expertise of varying quality. Someone in need of information about a business procedure may skip around a workplace looking for advice from those workers well known for gathering and squirreling away procedural information.

And new ‘experts’ come into being.

This is all very well, until there is a real need for a unified approach to a specific and important procedure. It is a property of communities that exists in large workplaces, that they are recursively elaborate and capricious in how each separate part functions according to its situation.

So what's the solution to communicating unequivocal up-to-date procedural methods of practice to all parts of the workplace?

On Censorship and Human Nature

WARNING - The content of this post may disturb some readers.

The vagaries of censorship are mentioned throughout Hillary Clinton’s recent speech advocating Internet Freedom. Censorship is an action that often takes place behind the scenes. It is sometimes difficult to detect. You can be sure that someone somewhere will be confused, disturbed, annoyed, or even enraged when its occurrence is noticed.

Lately, printed news has come under threat. There is a belief that blogging might replace newspapers with a more up-to-date, less censored conduit. As well, the Web2.0 channel is purportedly a space for open debate and discussion.

Well, I wonder about all this. I believe that there is a place for censorship. Furthermore, my experience tells me that censorship is alive and well and is existing quite comfortably – in the blogosphere.

By the way, this post is not meant as a rant.

Moderation

During my first month of blogging I was introduced to some of the technologies that permit a blogger to choose whether or not a comment is published. Comment moderation is such a facility.

Some blog applications can even permit the content of a comment to be edited, before or after it is published. Comment moderation also gives bloggers relief from the increasing nuisance of spammed comments.

Hand in hand with all this is the idea that, through the provision of comment guidelines, commenters can sometimes be given the opportunity to learn what is likely to be accepted by a blogger on his or her blog. (Here’s a link to mine.)

Comment guidelines give the valid reasons for the culling of comments that may be in contravention of the blogger’s guidelines.

Biased opinion?

But comment guidelines are not the only criteria that may be used by a blogger who culls a comment. Am I not entitled to delete any comment that appears in my list of comments to be moderated, whether or not it meets all criteria in my comment guidelines?

How could I be accused of any discrimination even if I do cull comments containing valid opinions other than those that are aligned with my own? Who’s going to know?

You might say, “But isn’t this still a form of raw censorship?” Well of course it is. It also stymies healthy debate and discussion.

Okay, I’m being a tad hypothetical.

Or am I?

My quality comments

Over the years that I have been actively commenting on blogs, I‘ve witnessed this form of censorship. Of all the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of comments that I’ve entered against posts on other blogs, there have been a significant number, through the bloggers’ discretion in comment moderation, that have never appeared on the Internet.

You could say that this is a reflection on the quality and calibre of my comments. Well, there are enough of them still left out there. Take a look and judge the quality and calibre of my comments for yourself.

But I have always been careful to note, when my comment was removed or excluded, if the blog had any associated comment guidelines that I may have contravened. Most bloggers do not provide comment guidelines. I put it down to raw censorship.

So you may think that the blogosphere is entirely a place for freedom of expression. Just check when you leave comments on posts that have comment moderation. You could be surprised at the proportion of your comments that never appear on the blogs you post against.

Science, Context and Humour

When was the last time you laughed at a joke? Where did you hear it? Was it on TV? Or was it on a video clip or podcast?

Susan Greenfield says, “Everything that happens to you will be seen in terms of previous experiences.“

Your brain “can see one thing in terms of something else and that’s your unique perspective”, even when it comes to appreciating a joke.

Here’s what she says:





If you are a scientist or if you are just interested in Science, you may also be familiar with the erroneous opinion that Science is humourless. A joke is a cognitive jolt based on your previous experiences. This jolt can happen even if these experiences are to do with Science.

So let yourself go! Abrogate your sense of self and have “a cognitive time” with some Science humour from Brian Malow.

You Are Sentenced To A Day In A Comic

This week's Day in a Sentence is shaping up to be a real Toondoo follow-the-leader event. And what a leader! Kevin Hodgson led the scene with a fantastic idea in a comic:

Gail followed suit with a double whammy:

Not to be outdone by buzzy Illya who decided to have a break and sniff the flowers:

while Bonnie put up a Big Show:

put to music by Anne

a sound second only to Ken's fireworks . . .

that unfortunately put him on the Moon and the blast probably didn't do anything for Jo Hawke's SOL testing for he said this,

"Those cartoons are great! I tried to make one for mine, but it lagged too bad, and I got frustrated. So I'll write it out instead:

Students were in and out of class all week for SOL testing, and the only way to figure out who was *really* absent was to spend a good quarter of a class sorting through multiple PDF attachments of rolls and then checking the list of students who didn't actually show up -- for all three sessions each day! And we get to do it again all this week, too!"

Update 11 May 09
Then Gail H said,

"I wish that I could design a cartoon that would make visible the two-way tug many teachers must feel because they are torn between "test-prep" pressures and the desire to offer their students 21st century venues for learning."

Here's my best effort Gail. Maybe you could improve the captions at Make Beliefs Comix.com.

courtesy Make Beliefs Comix

related post - >> ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )

Comic in a Sentence!

Kevin Hodgson (aka Dogtrax) is having a week off DIAS. He is great at writing and designing comics.

Let’s have a rave-up while he’s out!

So let yourself go!

Put on your funniest persona, and write your side-splitting

Comic in a Sentence!

Get your giggle-pot bubbling, chuckle out your day in a sentence, and post your words in a comment here. Your hilarious product will be posted E O T W.

(For those who'd like to follow Kevin's innovative example, here's the link to ToonDoo).

( 4 ) << - related post - >> ( 2 ) ( 1 )

Fun Greetings From Middle-earth

I saw this on Dick Carlson's site. I just had to have a shot!

video

video

Twelve Days Of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the second day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the third day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the fourth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the fifth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the sixth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the seventh day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the eighth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
eight Delicious bookmarks,
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the ninth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
nine Diggers Digging,
eight Delicious bookmarks,
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the tenth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
ten Google searchings,
nine Diggers Digging,
eight Delicious bookmarks,
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
eleven widgets wandering,
ten Google searchings,
nine Diggers Digging,
eight Delicious bookmarks,
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme.

On the twelfth day of Christmas
my browser brought to me
twelve bloggers blogging,
eleven widgets wandering,
ten Google searchings,
nine Diggers Digging,
eight Delicious bookmarks,
seven Seesmics screaming,
six Skypers Skyping,
five Open-Nings!
four wicked wikis,
three permalinks,
two Wordle blimps
and a tagged comment in a Twitter meme!

To all my great friends - bloggers, commenters, followers, visitors and mates, have a great time over the festive season.

Thanks for all your support and help. I really have appreciated being with you all this year.

A Message from Middle-earth on ItCanSay

Michele Martin's Web 2.0 Wednesday task was to select a Web 2.0 technology from a list of 100 useful technologies on a College@Home post, 100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner.


It was serendipitous and quite coincidental that Michele posted her Web 2.0 Wednesday task just as I had written a post on technowhelm citing the same web site.

I must admit that I got rather wrapped in some of the technologies. Many are quite technical. I spent a lot of time trying things out.

Facebook was one of the Web 2.0s listed. I already have a Facebook account, so I downloaded one of my zaney mug-shots I had on a Facebook photo-album and put it on this post.

ItCanSay is a technology that converts text into audible speech. It permits it to be saved as a wav or mp3 file. What I liked about the software was its simplicity and ease of use.

My plan was to write a message and upload it to my blog. But the plan had to be re-jigged! Blogger accepts only video files. Not to be outdone I recorded a video file while playing back the wav file and uploaded the resulting mpg to this post. The video is. . . em . . . of our black cat, Boots, stalking a black rat out the back garden - at midnight.

( 8 ) ( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) < - other Web2.0Wednesday posts - >> ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )