Abstracting

Abstractions are simply different ways an object or idea can be represented.  These representations can include visual images, patterns, poems, textures, smells, songs, and many others.  "Abstractions are so common in our society that we rarely pat attention to them" (Root-Bernstein, pg. 70).  I feel as we age, we gain more and more experiences that crowd and cloud our mind and limit our ability to abstract do to the limited brain capacity we have to only see what is "needed".

Abstractions and analogies are essential to understanding science.  They happen practically daily.  The idea of taking something that is unfamiliar to you and relating it to something very familiar is an extremely strong learning concept in any subject, but especially science.   Abstractions are what cause advancements in our society.  It takes someone looking at a problem from outside the box in a new direction to come up with a new or different solution.  Those that do this are very good at abstracting.  As Mitchell Wilson stated in Sparks and Genius by Root-Bernsein, "I'll tell you what you need to be a great scientist   You don't have to be able to understand complicated things.  It's just the opposite.  You have to be able to see what looks like the most complicated thing in the world and, in a flash, find the underlying simplicity.  That's that you need: a talent for simplicity." (Root-Bernstein, pg. 78).  How true that is.

My goal is simplicity.  If I can take a concept that is "hard" and pair it together (analogy) with something the student is interested in and knowledgeable about, I have just made things simpler for that student.

The large umbrella concept I am investigating during this process is energy transfer.  The concept I am focusing on in this part of the project is the idea of over consumption of food and energy transferring to fat in our bodies.  I am likening this to a car and its need for gas to make it move and what would happen to the car if it followed the same consumption habits and energy outputs as a typical american does.  Below are my two different medium representations of this concept.

Medium One: Poetry
Eat Like a Car Does...When It's Empty!

Energy transfer is very simple you see

Almost everything does it, even you and me!

When we eat food we’re transferring energy,

Our body uses it to walk, talk, and even see.

Similar to how a car needs gas to go

Our bodies need food don’tcha know

When a car’s low on gas, a fill up is in need

If you don’t, someone else takes the lead  

When you don’t eat you could crash

Your temper might flare and people see your wrath

So we need a constant supply of food to go

But what happens when we eat too much bro?

When you fill-up a car, only so much can go in

We could gather any overflow and put it in a bin

Then we’d have some extra if we ever ran low

Which is a good thing wouldn't ya know!

What if we did that every time we filled the truck,

We’d have spare gas all over, that would suck.

When we feed our body too much energy to transfer

Storage of that energy is what does occur

This energy is stored as fat and that’s bad

It causes heart attacks, diabetes and other things that ain’t rad

So make sure you fill up when your body tells you to

But not too much cause then the energy you don’t use

Gets transferred to your sides, gut, chin, or hips

And if you’re not careful, even your lips!

Medium Two: Image

The images above came from the following sites:

• http://channelfit.fooyoh.com/fitness_fitness/464717
• http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/231846chris-farley-posters.jpg
• http://ihateketchup.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/fat-kid.jpg
• http://assets3.bigthink.com/system/idea_thumbnails/47109/original/Time%20-%20good.jpg?1344607102
• https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ14nXK9CttTanTPXMwkEORYunGZu22FvgckFIgFwbQnxeziyl-T735xEZH_gGprAAe_n9kD2eCmQgasDXUVBu2hLn-1EflgYVzxFRwgYicLPs8gLFKxUhIbWqJ8APZWijFTPe1d_QyRvt/s1600/Inactivity+3+-+Fitness+Philippines.jpg
• http://johnbarban.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Food.jpg
• http://imprintfitness.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/body-fit-guy.jpeg
• http://www.childrenshealthyfood.com/healthy-food-schools/pics/healthy-foods/fresh-fruit-and-vegetables.jpg
• http://thethrottle.thechive.com/2010/08/11/i-like-skinny-things-plus-clooney-drives-one-13-photos/
• http://www.sshs57.com/photos/061123TurkeyTrot.htm
• http://www.geekologie.com/2009/01/bigger-the-better-artist-makes.php
• http://www.carpediemmag.co.uk/magazine/images/stories/carpediemimages-october2010/ice_car.jpg
• http://www.chicagometroarearealestate.com/images/EmptyHourglass.jpg
• http://www.caradvice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dodge_challengersrt8_burnout.jpg
• http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/03/gas_pump.jpg
• http://www.jolcdi.com/wp-content/uploads/gasoline-tank.jpg
• http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5082/5195985086_927ab9a8f4_b.jpg

These are my two ways at representing this concept in different ways than I have seen as well and analogizing it to the consumption of gas by a car.

To go further,  I plan to have students develop their own analogies for other energy transfer concepts (and other concepts in general) and then create some representation of their analogy.

Life is Full of Patterns

Patterns exist in all faucets of life.  From our routine when we get up to the cars we pass on the way to work.  From the sunrise to the sunset, we experience patterns everyday.  And we overlook them every day.  It's fascinating how a human can create patterns by "organiz[ing] the random events we see, hear, or feel by grouping them" (Root-Bernstein, 1999, Pg. 92). Humans are doing this constantly in order to make sense of the world around them.  Without patterns it is impossible to "make predictions and form expectations" (Root-Bernstein, 1999, Pg. 93)

I for one feel as though, my whole life, I have been a student that "wanted the right answer".  I was a student that wanted to be spoon fed.  Why?  Because it's a whole lot easier than creating.  Creating is hard.  Or maybe its just that I need more practice.

Working on problems where there is "one single answer" provided in textbooks is not only boring, but greatly limits students' ability to pattern and re-image.  Root and Bernstein go on to say, "making patterns for oneself is a lot more fun than memorizing- and a lot more valuable.  Teasing apart one pattern and composing another requires real understanding of the basic elements of the phenomena and processes.  More, it opens up whole new worlds of knowledge" (Root-Bernstein, 1999, Pg. 135).  I would have to agree.  Although creating is a lot of hard work, it is also rewarding as well.  I thoroughly enjoy creating so why do I settle for the spoon?  Convenience is the answer.

Just as in life, science is full of patterns.  One particular pattern I find compelling is energy transfer.

Energy transfer is an idea that weaves its way through any and all faucets of science.  From life science to earth science to physical science to space science and beyond.  The idea is an underlining pattern that we (teachers) gloss over fair too frequently and never really connect with.  From earthquakes to hurricanes, from fire to rain, from birth to death, from plants to decomposes, from the sun to the moon, almost everything transfers energy in some way.  This pattern is hard to represent in a single picture and I really couldn't find anything that I felt satisfied it.  Below is a picture of something that represents a fraction of some of the energy transfer that we experience daily.

 

First, lets think of ways in which energy is transferred in regards to science.  The sun provides light energy that plants convert to chemical energy (carbs).  That energy is potential chemical energy because it is stored.  Say, a human eats this chemical energy (carbs), they are then immediately transferring the chemical energy into a different form of chemical energy called ATP.  This ATP is also potential chemical energy because it is stored.  Our bodies then transfer this energy into kinetic energy (energy in motion) when we use ATP to move our muscles.  When we smile, we are transferring energy, when we cry, we are transferring energy.  Everything we do uses energy.

Re-patterned

My thought of re-patterning energy transfer is more of a shift in thought process.  Instead of students looking at pictures that represent arbitrary items showing energy transfer, I want students to be engrossed in images and text of energy transfer.  But not text and images that are foreign to them, but images and text that they themselves create and write.  My thought is to have each student keep a daily journal.  In that journal their task is to photograph or record one energy transfer experience they have each day and write about it in their journal.  An example of what this might look like is here.  I feel this assignment adds some personal value to the concept of energy transfer and truly gets them thinking about the topic in an entirely new perspective (maybe that's only wishful thinking! lol).  It puts some personal investment in the concept and individualizes the idea for all learners.  My thought is that the students would add to this project each time we begin talking about a different type of energy transfer.  For example, when we talk about plants energy transfer, they would add to this, then when we talk about body systems later in the year, they would again add it this.  I don't feel that they should be limited to the type of energy we are covering, but rather tied to the idea.  I have also thought, this project could be done as a series of blog posts as well.  It could be a good way begin ones journey of blogging.