Tracey@ODC: Tuesday Week 2

This morning we continued with critical thinking firstly about what is critical thinking. We used the DeBono thinking tool - PMI - from his CoRT series of thinking tools, to think about this possible scenario; It should be compulsory for all people to carry cellphones. For those unfamiliar with PMI it is an acronym for Plus - Minus - Interesting.

Here are some of the plusses that we came up with;
*It would be easier to communicate during emergencies
*Cellphone couverage would have to be improved
*It would create more jobs
*Companies would have to make better cellphone plans
*There would be more cellphones selling so shops would make more money
*Demand would out weigh supply so more factories would be needed creating more jobs.
*You wouldn't need a landline
*You would become good at texting
*When you are lost you can call for directions
*You'd be able to record memories all the time.
*Younger children would be introduced to technology
*Newer phones would be invented with new improved ways to make contact with people.
*Kids wouldn't get jealous of other kids having cellphones

And the minuses
*Younger children would get used to text language and spell words differently
*Younger children would get threatening messages that might really scare them
*Adults would use too much of their money buying their children cellphones and may not concentrate on buying more important things.
*People living out of cellphone coverage would be in trouble.
*People would get worse at spelling
*There would be a hge amount of people who wouldn't agree with the policy
*People would not see each other as much.
*Phones could run short and become luxary items

And the interesting
*Would that mean landlines won't get used? What effects would this have on the environment?
*What would happen to those without cell coverage?
*Would people actually give them to babies?
*If a toddler had to have a phone who would be expected to pay for it?
*It doesn't say the phones had to be real...so could kids carry toy ones?
*What about where phones are currently banned...like in schools?
*What would happen if you chose to not have a phone?
*What about the use of cellphones for criminals in jail?

This mornings activity generated lots of discussion.......especially once we got on to environmental issues! Which of course these kids love!

We then moved on to Cultural Patterns.
Today we chose one culture to focus on and used the clases of patterns to help us patterns specifically used within each culture. For example Greek patterns are spiral based, meandering patterns which often show reflection where as Australian Aborigional patterns are very meandering.

Here is Regan using the pattern classes to identify patterns within polynesian patterns

As a class we then gathered ideas about how patterns are created and then what types of skills the creator would use.

We had fun copying (or trying to!) our choice of cultural patterns. They were not as easy as they looked!

Jack and Morgan trying their hand at Greek Patterns, Finola is working on Japanese patterns and Georgia and Hayley Celtic Patterns.

We revisited our brainstrom about what skills would be need to create these patterns and added....persistance, patience and determination!!

Just before lunch we had a 4X4 challenge...although today it was a 2X2 challenge!
We had to attach string to our wrists which linked around our partners and then without removing the string we had to sepertae the two handcuffs. This was a lot of fun and no one managed ot solve it!! We thought we would give it a go next week with our parents and teachers.