BLOG #2

Williams: physical closeness implies a relationship (pg 15)

Scarpa: I think this a great term not only in the context of design, but also in the classroom as well. I also like that she keeps saying that the above statement is also true in life. If you're learning something about world war II, your not going to say something about President Obama, the two ideally have nothing to do with each other, except they are both important things in history. And as far as real life is related to the quote, if the same people are always near or next to one another they are going to be classified as having some kind of relationship whether it be friendship or a couple. As Williams said about the flowers example, if they are grouped together we are going to assume they have something in common as opposed to the other list were certain flowers are separated to show that they are different than the others.

Gee: Past experiences serve as guides for how to proceed in new situations (pg 72).

Scarpa: I think Gee makes an amazing point with this statement. No matter what new experience you come across something will trigger and old one whether it be for comparison or some kind of learning from your mistakes situation. Everything in learning involves some kind of guide, chemistry has the periodic table, english has a dictionary or thesaurus, math has rulers, calculators, history has timelines- every subject has their own kind; so when something new is learned you can go back to the old guides as a reference.

Gee: The human mind is a powerful pattern recognizer (pg 88).

Scarpa: By pattern recognizer, I think, Gee means taking notice or new things and processes. This whole concept of "self teacher" meaning trial by error, you try and tear the cloth book, it doesn't tear, you try and tear the paper book it does tear. We store this information and store associations and patterns. Then with one association comes many more, soon the child realizes you can read this object as well, as Gee says on page 89. This is super important in developing learning skills, as a child you see something in a cartoon or in a book, and then you see it in real life and put 2 and 2 together, for example I used to babysit for a 2 year old boy and a four year old girl, I would read with them and watch T.V. I went on vacation to italy during the time I work there, so when I was telling them that my little sister was going to watch them for a few days because I was going to italy, the little girl said to me, "you're going to italy like toot and puddle," which is a popular Noggin television show were two pig travel the world and learn different cultures. I thought it was amazing that she put the two together. These shows are like a gateway for more learning and associating these objects and places for children.

Gee: Concepts are never set and finished. They are like a large tree that always seeks to rise higher but that must always send into ground deeper roots.

Scarpa: If you stop to think for a minute, "what is a concept," it's an abstract or general idea. Can you ever really finish a concept? No. They make concept cars, concept art- they are never really finished, the mind conceives an idea and leaves room for improvement or change.

Gee: Our experiences in the world build patterns in our mind, and then the mind shapes our experience of the world, which, in turn, reshapes our mind (pg 91)

Scarpa: I love that Gee says "reshapes our mind," because to me he means that experiences give the mind a whole new outlook, a whole new idea. Let's say you are so scared of heights, you're just scared of the whole idea of it, but you decide to over come that and go on a roller coaster or look out the window of a tall building, and you realize that it's something amazing, that you've been missing out the whole time. What did it take for you to realize it? Doing it, putting yourself out there and experiencing it, therefore reshaping the entire idea of what heights is all about- it's as simple as that, but such a great way of putting it into words.