The Education Value of Creative Disobedience

I really liked this article. Although I loved the videos about the problems of the educational system, Sarah brought up an interesting point in class on Thursday that although they are powerful they didn't have something that this article did, and that is solutions. The videos talked about problems, but not necessarily how to solve them, and this article touched on how we can change at least the problems with the creativity that is being squished. I never really thought about education like this, although I know that there are issues, I never thought about how giving children less guidance would be better, until I read this. Working at an after care program I know that we have this type of education because when we are helping kids in the after care program we don't have to follow a syllabus, so I am able to give kids more creative control-- and let them make their own mistakes.
After having read this I really began to think about my own education both in the classroom and at home, and realized that my parents were in tune with this writer without realizing it, because they did what he suggested, which was to let me make my own mistakes and then help me figure out why they were wrong and how to get to the right answer. I was lucky and had teachers along the way who did a lot of that, but of course I had those teachers that taught us to have us memorize, but because my parents were the way they were, I still explored at home.
Having read this, I hope that I will be able to take those studies that he presented, and the ideas that he had and implement those in my classroom, or at least try-- since I will still have to follow standards set by the school and board. I intern for my math class at Monte Vista Elementary School, and what I found particularly today is that the children there don't necessarily have the same home life I did, they aren't as lucky. And so we as teachers and those who are in the classroom have to be able to step into that role and let them find their own way- because children have brilliant minds and will get to the solution, and will understand it better than if you just tell them.

Free Fall

Sarah Hansen, Ally Hakeem, Kelsey Hill

An object falling from a certain height pulled down by a gravitational force only is free fall. This object has no force upon it due to air resistance. For example, if there is a vacuum pump to suck all the air out of a chamber, a feather and rock will land at the same time. The constant acceleration of an object is due to gravity only. Free fall has changing velocity. Galileo is the one who discovered this free fall explanation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gsmllyr5Gs- This is the link to our video of objects of different masses landing at different times
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIt_Mvthp5s- This is the link to our video of objects of different masses landing at the same time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBWtj6ID3V8&feature=related- This is the link to our video of objects of different masses landing at the same time

Calculations for acceleration:
D=1/2at^2
10.7=1/2a(1.51)^2
10.7=1/2a(2.2801)
10.7=1.14005a
10.7/1.14005=a
a=9.4m/s^2
This is very close to 9.8m/s^2, therefore, a 90 degree angle for an object will always accelerate at 9.8m/s^2 or very close to it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDp1tiUsZw8- This is link to a video of free fall taken on the moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKO1VkujAK8- This is a link to a video of free fall of a basketball being thrown from an amusement park ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpJp2HlWUEk- This is a link to a video of objects of different masses landing at the same time

Planet graphs

Sarah Hansen and Ally Hakeem

This first graph shows Distance versus Time for free falling objects on 3 different planets- Earth, Jupiter, and Pluto. Each line represents the velocity on each planet. The lines represent that the acceleration and velocity are greater on Jupiter than on Earth, and both are greater than on Pluto. Jupiter has a much greater velocity than Earth, and Earth has a greater velocity than Pluto, however it is only a bit greater, not as much as Jupiter.

 

This other graph shows Final Velocity versus Time for falling objects on 3 different planets- Jupiter, Earth, and Pluto. The lines show that the objects are falling at a constant rate. They show that Jupiter has the highest gravitational pull, Earth has a middle pull, and that Pluto barely makes it on the graph with it's gravitational pull.

response to Ken Robinson video

First off, I have to say that this man has got to be one of the most brilliant men and speaker. I enjoy watching and listening to him, and both videos I have watched of his has got my mind beginning to turn.
I agree with everything he says.
The thing that hits me the most is when he talks about the "hierarchy" of education and how arts gets pushed to the bottom. I have been a singer my entire life, and when I wanted to do choir in high school it was not counted as a core class, even though I spent as much or more time for that class and outside of it than any of my math or language classes. I wrote my senior thesis on music education in schools and how when budgets are getting cut music needs to stay in schools, so I believe that there needs to be not a pyramid of subjects, but more a bar, where the same amount of credit is given to each subject, even those considered "not important".
Although I know that there does have to be some continuity in schools and in between students, I feel as if everyone deserves the opportunity to strength their strong points like music, sports, math and science, english, or history. For example, I was forced to put my emphasis on math and science, but I am much better at and enjoy english and history more. And I know many other students who are the same way.
Ken Robinson is brilliant, and I feel as if everyone needs to see his videos and really hear what he is saying, because he is right about ADHD, education, and most especially the future.