Dissenting Voices

I disagree with everything Philip Kitcher has written in the Philosophy of Science textbook titled Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism. Because I am in this outlandish philosophy class I have to attempt to read your material about the theories of how the world was created, the meaning of life, and if there is a God which confuses me for days at a time. This is the true reason why I disagree with your writing; why even attempt to answer the big questions of what the differences between religion and science are concerning the creation of the world if each person holds their own beliefs? Therefore, I disagree with your overall topic. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy a meaningful or deep conversation every now and then but this material is so deep and personal that it should remain in private conversation, not the classroom.

It’s not that the material you discuss is poorly written because your arguments concerning Evolution versus Creationism are actually very eloquently stated, albeit sometimes hard to follow.  Using the phrase “quietness is wholeness in the center of stillness” (Kitcher, p.45, 2010) will not make your ideas become any clearer to the reader even though it is well written. Also titling a chapter “The History of Life” (Kitcher, p. 27, 2010) or “The Meaning of Life” (Kitcher, pg. 56, 2010) may scare your readers off.

It’s not that your material is offensive because in order to offend people they have to understand the argument giving offense, and your book is not something easy to read on a summer day with a glass of lemonade. My point is that people will not be offended unless they understand what your conclusions are about the two theories of how life began which, as most people are not Creationists scientists or Evolutionary scientists, they cannot. Your writing would only give offense if someone is truly a Creationist and believe that a higher being created the universe because every line in your book proves your obvious inclination toward the belief of Evolution and pragmatic scientific theories presented by Darwin (it’s the one thing we both agree on).Therefore, because I agree about your theories of Evolution I am not offended at all by your writing just what you write about.

It’s not that your arguments are incorrect because everyone has their own beliefs on how the world began and if someone chooses a religious idea over a scientific one than that is a matter of opinion which cannot be proven wrong. I simply disagree with the idea of writing an entire textbook on this subject to begin with. I know philosophy is often defined, by perplexed college students, as the “art of confusing people” but throwing in the religion versus science complex into the mix gives the word “confusion” a whole new level. My only outside sources would be the other students in my class who also attempt to understand your ideas and they would all agree that reading this book does the opposite of summarize the origin of the universe and mainly confuses.

Online Interaction

Sure, I think blog posts are helpful. We only meet once a week so it a good way to stay up to date with what were discussing in class. It’s also a good way to communicate with other classmates and get new opinions on certain topics. It also helps to know, when we have blogs on what our essay formatting ideas are, that others students are just as nervous to write the paper and yourself. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up with your work and frustrations and you may think that you’re the only one struggling at times. Getting a comment that says something like “I think we’re all nervous about that part” or “I know how you feel about picking a topic I’m having the same concerns” always brings me back to reality.

It’s pretty rare that true conversations start from blog comments. At least for me it is. I have only begun a slight conversation about something concerning science; I forget the true topic now. Ms. Clark got into it though and gave her opinion and she even said in the comment “this doesn’t really have anything to do with your comment Ashley, sorry” which I thought was funny. So that led to something more than just a blog comment but that’s as far as I have ever gone. Normally comments are just there to offer encouragement or compliment an idea that was stated in the blog.

I actually prefer the blogs more than the forum discussions because you have more opportunities to be creative in a blog post than answering questions in a forum discussion. Plus, I feel blog posts are more personable and casual than a forum discussion which is nice. Forum discussions are more like class work or peer reviews where as blogs and blog comments are more like journal entries and discussions with friends and classmates.

I am not dissatisfied with my blog experience and think my fellow classmates are doing a great job keeping up with blogs and blog comments. We’re all new to this hybrid type class so I would never say anything bad about how others are handling it. I do need to finish writing the discussion part in my qualitative media essay though and I have about one hundred more words to write here so that would be a downfall to blogging and commenting every now and then. It just sometimes gets in the way of the more important things, but time management can solve that problem.

I also just accidently did next week’s blog by mistake so this is the second set of five hundred words I am writing toady, along with my essay. But that could also be a positive thing about hybrid classes because I just accidently got ahead. So to sum up: I enjoy blogs however don’t think they lead to more conversations as I only had one true conversation; I think my classmates are doing a great job with them as well; and I am not unsatisfied with the interaction experience.

  

Qualitative Research Concerns

My biggest concern with qualitative research is just the fact that I have never done this type of research and writing before. I know there is a certain format that you have to follow and certain things that need to be addressed when discussing the chosen topic. The last essay had a few new parts as well such as the abstract and catching on wasn’t too difficult so I’m not too concerned about formatting, simply curious. The fact that we even have a format to follow for this essay is a relief because for the audience effect paper I had a difficult time creating a format that would flow well. Also the interviews that could be involved are a somewhat foreign method of gaining information for me and I am not exactly sure who to ask, classmates or adults. I don’t really know how to use the information I gather in interviews when writing this essay nor do I feel I truly know the questions that should be asked, I only have an idea. I understand that I need to get opinions on the differences between two interpretations of a story but I have only a vague idea on how to use those questions and answers within my writing. I also have a few concerns about actually writing open-ended questions for these interviews which is not something I thought I would need to be concerned about. However, after class on Thursday when Ms. Clark examined a few qualitative questions I realized it might be harder than I had originally thought. All of these concerns will probably lessen once I decide on a topic and begin using this topic to understand the prompt a little more. I don’t believe I will have a problem staying away from quantitative research because we already wrote one paper that involved numbers and scientific data and one essay on that is enough for me.

In contrast, I am looking forward to picking a topic for this essay because there are so many options and directions I could look into. These topics are also a lot more fun than the last essay as well which is a good thing. If I had to choose between the theories of evolution vs. the little mermaid I would choose the fairy tale to write about. There are so many books and stories that have been altered and changed into movies that the topics are pretty much unlimited and I’m looking forward to writing about these differences. I am seriously considering writing about the differences between Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and the 2005 film interpretation of the story and how this film has modernized the tale for the 21^th century viewer. Interviewing will be a challenge but I feel it is necessary for the qualitative research involved in this essay and figuring out whom to interview and what to ask could become difficult. If I write about Pride and Prejudice that rules out interviewing my parents or the rest of my family because I’m pretty sure I’m the only one whose ever picked up a Jane Austen novel in my house.

Writing about Learning

Of course you can learn something from an experience or a course. In fact, I’m convinced that those two options are the best, if not some of the only ways, that a person can learn new things. Anyone can tell if they learned something from such examples if, when given the same material later or presented the same situation, they do not make the same mistakes as the last time. This is a great way to measure how much a person has learned because the point of learning is to gain new information in order to be better prepared when shown the material in life. If a person has learned than they will handle what they have previously learned with ease and not make similar mistakes.

I don’t believe it matters whether this learning is transformative or not. Not all learning has to change a person’s opinions on certain ideas and topics. Learning just has to enhance a person’s knowledge not transform this knowledge. I do believe that for certain situations transformative learning can be beneficial to a person if the opinion they believed before was incorrect. Then a change in this incorrect information will enhance this person’s knowledge.

My experiences of learning in school have been both transformative and surface. I believe a mixture of the two is the best way to acquire new information and stay informed. I’m not quite sure what this question, in this part of the prompt, is asking. “Does the evidence you have of your own learning allow it to be communicated to others such as students in the class, or the teacher?’” Is this asking if, as a student, I have opportunities to express what I have learned? If this is in fact what this question is asking then my answer is yes. As a student I am forced to show what I have learned my doing projects, taking exams, and other activities. These are present in a classroom specifically to show teachers whether their teaching is benefiting their students and if they are retaining the material.

As a teacher they express what they have learned through teaching this material. They show their knowledge every day, just as students do, if not more by teaching others. One cannot teach unless they fully comprehend the material they wish to talk about. While students prove what they have learned by taking tests, likewise, teachers show the same thing by making the test to begin with.

Everyone judges the things they learn differently because each student or teacher takes away something different from a lesson based on their personal experiences. I might view a C mark as a poor grade a judge myself on this low mark while the student beside me would think a C is a wonderful grade. I’m also extremely hard on myself when it comes to grades and schooling therefore I don’t think anyone judges this learning by grades in a similar way as me. Of course learning can be taught outside the classroom. When a child goes home and tells their parents what they learned in school that day would be taking the knowledge outside the classroom, which would be the goal of teachers everywhere.

Stereotypical News Article

I thought Robbin’s “article” and was very witty and entertaining and made me forget I was even reading an article. He brings up some good points about popular scientific articles when he mentions an author’s use of “weasel-words” to remain vague, the addition of the picture to keep audiences interest every 400 hundred words, and the necessity to have a human interest section to really reach the public. I was surprised to find that the popular article I have chosen, from the magazine Scientific American, did not utilize some of these strategies. The only hint at clichés would be in the authors attempt to remain vague about his findings by adding in “weasel-words” such as “many scientists” and extremely vague headlines such as “surprising findings from popular studies.”

Also the article is four pages long and there is a picture for every page proving the idea that readers need pictures or visual aids to remain interested in a long scientific article. Some are educational, pictures of ancient human’s geographical movements, and others are put in simply to grab reader’s attention, a man’s face formed from colorful legos depicting human changes. These, however, are the only connections I can make from my article to Robbin’s parody. This may be due to the fact that the magazine I have chosen is at a somewhat higher level than other certain education or science magazines and the article was written by an evolutionary biologist and not a regular journalist. The voice and tone of the overall article seems to be very intellectual and informative, meant for well educated adults hoping to further their own understanding of recent scientific data. Robbin’s is obviously trying to reach a specific type of audience that read scientific articles regularly and recognize the patterns he discusses. These tendencies are discussed, however, in a very lighthearted, jovial manner letting the audience know that he is not serious.

Scholarly Article

The two articles I have chosen for the second essay involve recent human evolution. My popular article is from a magazine I physically bought therefore I don’t have a link for it. The link for my scholarly article is:   

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&hid=8&sid=af97f182-3299-4ef3-9ebd-cbcbf86d6de3%40sessionmgr104 

Within the past ten years the advances in molecular genetic technology have given way to a major breakthrough in all evolutionary studies but most prominently within the field of human evolution.  New statistics and data on different kinds of DNA variations in human populations have been pouring in and scientists are beginning to understand the importance and value of this variation for future medicine and developmental biology. This also helps scientists fully understand the history of our species. Certain markers, Haploid markers, found on DNA and y chromosomes have proven very valuable in creating the model for evolution of modern humans. Also results from earlier research on specific proteins have been supported by more sophisticated DNA analysis. The evolution of both human genes with language and slowly evolving cultural traits, along with the genetic evolution of some commensal relationships and parasites that have stuck with modern humans since our expansion and movement from Africa to the rest of the world, supports the theory of genetic evolution. This expansion across the globe has caused a sharp increase in the number of modern humans and can be attributed to the gradual sophistication in tools, art, religion, and language since our predecessors. Advances in multidisciplinary research are what make our superior understanding of human’s evolutionary history possible. 

APA Citing:

L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Marcus W. Feldman (2003, March 2). The application of molecular genetic approaches to the study of human evolution. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&hid=8&sid=af97f182-3299-4ef3-9ebd-cbcbf86d6de3%40sessionmgr104

I have some concerns about this second essay and the research it involves but as I read my articles more and more I realize that I understand more than I originally thought. I had only skimmed both articles before and came to the hasty conclusion that they were nothing alike and that I would have nothing to discuss in my paper. This was quickly proven untrue when I sat down and really read through each paper. I now know that the reason I thought they were dissimilar was because they talk about different aspects of the same thing. The popular article mentions the noticeable changes in humans brought on by evolution such as skin color or Tibetan people's ability to tolerate high altitudes. The scholarly article discusses the unnoticeable changes that have occurred within the body on DNA strands and proteins. There may be some difficulties in making connections between my two articles because I hardly understand either of them (mostly the scholarly article). The more I read them though the clearer they will become so I am not that concerned. I am actually very pleased to find that each article has the same picture depicting a similar scientific finding just in different formats. The scholarly picture is much more advanced than the popular one which reflects the intended audience’s knowledge. I plan to set up my paper with an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion. I will choose a couple main differences, perhaps four, and have those become my body paragraphs.

Discussion Forum

I don’t really have a very strong opinion of the discussion forum. I neither loved it nor hated it. To me it was just another assignment. I did the required reading and answered the questions that were required. I did think the article was relevant to what we are discussing in class at this time and what our next essay will be on. I feel this next essay will be a lot more challenging than the last due to the new APA format and the citation and paraphrasing requirements. Also I need all the help I can get when it comes to writing about science and picking out topics about science. Therefore, the articles helped me understand how scientific writing can address different audiences and how to interpret this type of writing.

This assignment reminded me of simply blogging our responses to a reading just on moodle instead of in blog form and with fewer words. It seems to be a mix between blogging and posting peer reviews. I did the discussion forum a little later than other students in the class. Instead of being on moodle during the time span of our class on Tuesday I had to do it an hour later which could have affected my experience. I didn’t have a conversation with a classmate because I missed the discussions that took place between five and seven. It might have been more exciting if I had interacted with the other classmates in real time than a couple of hours later. But I did not get this opportunity so the assignment seemed flat and like the others we have done in class.

I wouldn’t mind having more forum discussions in the future. However, I say this with the same attitude as saying I wouldn’t mind having another blog to write.  My in-the-middle opinion about the whole discussion forum is making this blog a little challenging because I do not feel like I have much to say about the matter. I don’t feel that there could be any improvements with the assignment. The concept of the assignment was straightforward and to the point which made it pretty easy. I did have a question on how to post our responses and how to begin a new topic but when I knew the answers to these questions the assignment was normal and simple.

So I have about a hundred words to go. This is a pretty challenging blog this week.  But this is an open blog which is meant to expose true feelings whether those feelings are strong or not. Unfortunately my feelings were not strong about this topic. I did like the discussion forum; don’t think my inability to write five hundred words on the assignment means I didn’t gain anything from the experience. Let’s see, oh, maybe next time we have a discussion forum I will begin a new topic. I will only do this if I feel very strongly about the topic being discussed and have something to add on the matter. Overall, I liked the assignment.