Canandian Teenager Calls 911 on Her Parents

Teen Upset With Vacation Spot

(Wikimedia Commons/By P199)

https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/gta/2016/08/20/teen-girl-calls-911-after-parents-forced-her-to-vacation-with-them.html


1)  What evidence would help the teen prove her point?  What evidence would help the police convince the teen that her use of 911 was inappropriate?    

2)  Whose perspective is represented in this story?  Whose is left out?  In what ways might your perspective be different than your teacher's about this story?

3)  To what degree is this connected to math?  Geography?    

4)  How might this have been different if it occurred in the U.S.?  About Disneyland?  If the young woman was 9?  19?

5)  To whom might this be significant?  What are the short term effects of this? Long?  What are the basic assumptions about emergency management services?  Teenagers?

Extension Activities:  

1)  Students can research vacation spots and write a series of diary entries from the perspective of a disgruntled teenager to describe the major features and landmarks of thee location.

2)  Students can research emergency management and create a frequency spectrum of likely scenarios and responses based on statistical information available for your hometown.

AoK:  Human Sciences, Ethics

WoK:  Imagination, Language

Umpire Ejects a Heckling Fan

Ump Stops Game to Throw out Unruly Fan

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/08/umpire-bob-davidson-ejects-phillies-fan-heckling-mlb-giants

(USA Today)

1)  What numbers are used in this article as evidence?  What evidence would a judge need to determine if the umpire acted accordingly?      

2)  Whose perspective is left out of this article?  Why might the owner of the team feel differently than the child of the umpire?

3)  To what degree is this connected to education?  Economics?

4)  In what ways would this story be different if it happened during an Olympic event?  

5)  What are the short term consequences of this ejection?  To whom might this be most significant?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can create a continuum of fan behavior from the positive to the negative.

2)  Students can research the history of booing or cheering from a cultural perspective and write a small guide of do's and don't's for first-time visitors.   

AoK:

WoK:

The Case for Critical Thinking in an Election Year (WARNING-POLITICAL POST)

I live in a world where I have access to unlimited information and limited time.  It seems as if all news, opinions, tweets, posts are given equal priority in my social spaces and it is easy for me to default to quick “gotcha” talking points on breaking events (all events seem to be breaking lately) and wallow in the satisfaction of an old-fashioned game of meme one-upmanship .  This may be entertaining but it doesn’t necessarily encourage deep reflection on inherently complex issues.  I often struggle with distinguishing between that which is worth my attention and that which is worth letting drift by.  It is easy to get cynical or hopeless about my individual agency in changing seemingly intractable systemic problems in economic inequality, the environment, or my big one- education.  But one of the things I’ve decided I can do on a personal level is start exercising good judgment about what I allow into my thoughts and how I let it affect me. 

          

Thinking is a privilege.  To have the free time to sit back and deliberate about my current situation and how it is a result of my past and how it will shape my future is a gift for which I am thankful.  I try not to judge those who may not have grown up in an environment that supported strategic thinking or are constantly reacting to the micro- decisions that can take up a disproportionate amount of cognitive bandwidth.  But for someone like me who has enough time enough to post on social media, I’ve found an exercise (not THE, or the ONLY exercise)  that seems to help in maintaining some kind of equilibrium when it comes to the constant barrage of 1’s and 0’s I experience.  I’ve been practicing using a method of questioning for the last few years in interactions with my students, colleagues, friends and family (often to their chagrin, I’m sure).  The 5 Habits of Mind is a framework promoted by two of my educational heroes that encourages asking questions of 1) evidence 2) perspective 3) connections 4) alternatives and 5) significance about the information we encounter.  Here’s how it might work when I look at a shared post at the top of my newsfeed with the headline “It is Undeniable:  Candidate X is the Most _________ Candidate in History”.  (edit:  obviously I don’t do this for every post or completely for any post, it’s just a series of suggested questions I might ask):

1)      Evidence:  What evidence is being presented here?  Do I find this evidence credible?  What counts as evidence in this field?  Do I even know enough to know what counts as evidence in this field?  Is this based on the opinion of an expert or the feelings of someone who doesn’t have a background in the topic?  Could one’s expertise make their opinion even more entrenched in bias?  

2)     Perspective: Whose perspective is represented here?  Whose perspective is left out?  Why am I attracted to this particular perspective?  In what ways might this perspective be valid?  Why do I discount some perspectives as illegitimate?  Have I always had this perspective?  Is my current personal viewpoint on this topic worth keeping or tossing?  How can I avoid confirmation bias informing my perspective?

3)     Connections:  How is this connected to what I already know?  How is it connected to what I don’t know?  In what ways is this connected to what I read yesterday?  How might it be connected to what I will read tomorrow?  How is it connected to my favorite artist?  Book?  Vacation spot?  Child? 

4)     Alternatives (Supposition):  Would I believe this if some of the major points were switched (i.e. black to white, male to female, theist to humanist)?  Would I accept this if it was about another country?  What would I do if I was in their place?          

5)     Significance:  What are the long term effects of this?  Is this significant to me?  If it’s not significant to me, to whom might it matter?  Why might it be significant to them?  (This last one throws it back to “Perspective” and you can start the whole process again. 

       

           Why did I say this was a political post if I don’t mention my allegiance to one candidate or distaste for another?  Democracy requires discussion, but not all discussions are equal.  Talking at someone with no intention of considering their side of the story is not useful to changing minds and attitudes.  While some of the most condescending and reactionary posts have helped me sharpen my ideas, the posts inspiring honest debate by demonstrating respect for diversity of thought have been most beneficial to me.  My hope is that practice with the 5 Habits can lead to a more compassionate understanding of another person’s lived experience, which is the bare minimum I can extend to those with whom I agree…and especially to those with whom I don’t.

Basketball Skills Run in the Family

Basketball players are more likely to be related to elite athletes than baseball, football players

New York Knicks' Robin Lopez is defended by his brother, Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez, during an NBA game in April.   (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

http://www.newser.com/story/225714/basketball-more-than-any-other-major-sport-is-a-family-affair.html

1)  What numbers are the most significant in the article for convincing soeone that basketball is unique in this instance?  What role do statistics play in sports?   What words help you identify the main idea of this article?  

2)  Why might a sibling of a professional athlete feel differently than a parent after hearing this?  To what degree would a world-class musician identify with the results of this study?  Why might this be a good article to read in a class of academically gifted students?  Whose view is not represented in this article?

3)  In what ways is this story connected to math?  Politics?  Harry Potter?

4)  How might this story be different if the basketball rim was raised by two feet to twelve feet?  In what ways would this be different if it was about actors and actresses?

5)  What are basic assumptions about talent in athletics?  About hard work vs. natural ability?  About competition?  To whom does this study matter?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can try to create a sport or change the rules to an existing sport that minimizes the effects of inherited physical ability.

2)  Students can fictionalize their own life story by writing about a real or imaginary sibling who always overshadows them or who is always in their shadow.

AoK:  Human Sciences

WoK:  Sense Perception

Study Confirms the Harmful Effects of Spanking

Science Shows How Physical Punishment May Change Personality

http://mic.com/articles/141851/here-s-what-getting-spanked-as-a-kid-did-to-your-personality-according-to-science#.PaWX9lpLU

1) What evidence is used to support the claims? What quotes are most useful? Which numbers are most significant to refuting this study?

2) Why might a teacher have a different perspective than a student on this topic? Why might your great-great grandfather think differently than your future grandchildren? Whose perspective is missing in this article?

3) In what ways is this connected to school? To what degree is this connected to athletics?

4) In what ways would this news be different if it happened 5 years ago? Why might this change if the definition of spanking was extended? Restricted?

5) What is the purpose of the study? What are the possible implications of this article? What are some basic assumptions about punishment in this article? What are some basic assumptions about parenting? In what way is this story significant to you?

Extension Activities:

1) Students can create a mock article that substitutes the subject of "Spanking" for another issue for comedic effect/satire.

2) Students can conduct a survey of "unpopular opinions" and present their findings.

AoK: Human Sciences

Wok: Reason, Perception

Man Sets Record for Binge Watching

Watches 94 Hours of TV in One Sitting

http://www.vulture.com/2016/04/brooklyn-man-sets-tv-binge-watching-world-record.html

1) What evidence is used to prove records? How might the the Guinness Book of Records have become the authority on world records? Would yo have chosen these rules to enforce? Anything you would add or clarify?

2) Why might an executive at Netflix be interested in this story? Why might the record holder's mother have a different opinion on this record than his girlfriend's mother?

3) In what ways is this connected to psychology? Biology? In what ways is this story connected to other famous world records?

4) To what degree would this story be different if the content the group watched had been decided by popular vote? How would the story be different if the participants were from another demographic category?

5) What are some basic assumptions about binge-watching? About "screen-time"? In what ways does this story affect you?

Extension Activities:

1) Students can research world records and make a plan to break a record of their choice?

2) Student can research the current APA guidelines for children and "screen-time" and create a plan for children of different generations.

AoK: Human Sciences

Wok: Imagination

Coke Wins Lawsuit over Pomegranate Juice Content

Jury Says .3% is Enough

Minute Maid stopped making its Pomegranate Blueberry juice in 2014.   (AP)

http://www.newser.com/story/222453/jury-cokes-3-pomegranate-juice-was-a-ok.html

1)  In what ways does this affect POM?  How does a jury know what is true in a case like this?      

2)  In what ways might a father feel differently about this than an executive at Coca Cola?  Why might an Indian feel differently about this than an American?

3)  To what degree could this be thought of as a math problem?  Health?

4)  How might this have been different if it was advertised as apple-pomegranate juice?  In what ways would this article have been different if it was about pears?

5)  What are the basic assumptions about health in this article?  To what degree does this affect you?  Your community?

Extension Activities:

1)  Students can research the marketing behind "super foods" over the past decade and use the same tactics to promote a new food of their choice to be in included in the list.

2)  Students can write a law for rules and ethics in advertising associated with the amount of the marketed or primary ingredient.

AoK:  Math, Human Science
WoK:  Reason, Language