The Socratic Method with: Elizabeth & Mikeal

In this first unit of our new Winter term class Forbidden Books, we explored politics, censorship, and what it means to be a gadfly. Forbidden Books is a class about knowledge and why knowledge is kept from certain people. While working and learning in this unit we discussed the really focused on the understanding of the Socratic Method, we also happened to demonstrated that within our action projects. The Socratic Method is a system of questioning that can change a person's mindset by pulling up questions and scenarios that could contradict their previous belief. The Socratic Method was previously used in history by Socrates himself, which ultimately got him killed, people don't always like being proven wrong or against their own ideas. The Socratic Method with: Elizabeth & Mikeal is a video demonstration on the proper use of the Socratic Method to get the person with an opinion to question their own way of thinking. Elizabeth is jaywalking and Mikeal has a few questions about why she thinks she can pt her own interest priority over the community. I hope you enjoy learning about our interesting take on the socratic method.

Dialogue Transcript 

                                          The Socratic Method with: Elizabeth & Mikeal

Theme - Personal interest vs. Community's interest
Character #1 - Mikeal - Socrates role - IF
Character #2 - Elizabeth - Melatus role -GA

Elizabeth: *jaywalks
E: Hey wassup Mikeal, How are you doing today?

Mikeal: Hey wassup, wait…..WHOA, did you just jaywalk to come over and talk to me?

E: Yeaah, what gives haha?

M: YOU JUST BROKE A LAW!!!

E: psssh, oh Mikeal, It’s just jay-walking. It’s a little law, it doesn’t matter that much haha.

M: mmm so, What makes a law less substantial than other laws?

E: Well… I guess some laws are less substantial than others because some laws cause less harm than others, like jaywalking to a felony.

M: Are you allowed to give your own interest priority over the community’s interest?

E: I don’t think so, The community all works as one unit, but I think it’s fine for little slips to occur in our complete agreement. So like, no; but kinda.

M: Yes, but what is stopping me from calling the... police right now, and reporting you as a jaywalker. Jaywalkers are lawbreakers afterall.

E: Because, you are my friend and that is rude.

M: Isn't it rude to separate from the community’s ideas?

E: Yes, I guess. Nobody is being offended or hurt, so I guess it’s fine.

M: Can you be sure that nobody is getting hurt?

E: No, I suppose not.

M: Tell me, What does being part of a community mean to you?

E: Mmmh coming to think about it being apart of a community means that I work with all my fellow community members to make the place we live a better one.

M: Well, you just jaywalked all over that darned street, what if you had gotten hit by a motor vehicle?

E: Yes, that would have sucked but I like to beat the odds. As long as I remember look both ways Elizabeth i’m sure ill be fine Mikeal.

M: But what if everybody in the neighborhood started to do that darned jaywalking? Would the community still be a safe place? Would we need sidewalks at all?

E: I guess a lot more people would be getting hit by cars. But I can't speak for the whole community I think you’re over exaggerating Mikeal. that would never happen to me.

M: *I ask again, can you be sure that you won’t get hit? What if somebody decides to jaywalk and that causes a car to swerve in front of you and you happen to get hit? You might be careful while jaywalking, but you can’t guarantee that everyone will be.

E: You know what, your right Mikeal indeed I am selfish for prioritizing my own interest and not the overall safeness of the community. Boy o boy I sure learned my lesson Mikeal. HAHA

M: So you won’t be jaywalking anymore right?

E: tsk tsk tsk si

M: So what now?

E: You wanna play futbol?

End

View my partner's experience with this first unit and action project.

The Effects of Spina bifida

In this first unit of our exciting new STEAM class Disease, we learned and discussed about all types of diseases that can affect a person physically, what systems of the body that disease interferes with, why some disease affect certain people more, and how to complete a square. Completing the square is a math concept that helps us turn a quadratic math equation into an x= equation. In my action project, I wrote about an interview I did with my cousin who was diagnosed with Spina bifida and I've drawn out a diagram showing what and where Spina Bifida is really affecting in her body. The Patient Profile is about her experience living with Spina Bifida. Another section is more focused towards the disease itself and what traits and common symptoms this disease has. Throughout this class we will be exploring and learning all about diseases, so with this first action project, I hope you enjoy!

Patient Profile
My cousin Julia was born with Spina Bifida, a disease that would drastically affect anyone’s life. Because she was born with Spina Bifida, she has never been able to walk; For all her life, she has been restrained to a wheelchair. Spina Bifida is a birth defect that Julia has had to live with for 15 years, without the ability to walk, with constant assistance by her side. “It’s hard for me to get dressed without the help of someone else, like my mom or a nurse.” She told me in an interview. She also explained and pointed out some of her symptoms which included muscle weakness in her legs and muscle stiffness in her right hand. “As you can probably see, my hand doesn’t move as much as this the one.” She said as she pointed to her other hand.

Julia has also been receiving lots of treatments all throughout her life. When asked how many she has had, she responded briefly with and a tired look on her face by saying, “A lot”. My cousin has Myelomeningocele - A severe type of Spina Bifida, that occurs because there are multiple openings in the spine. Spina Bifida is also caused by a Folate deficiency which is a lower than usual amount of an important vitamin for a developing child. Julia has had continuous therapy sessions in January where she had been subject to one major surgery to help her with her symptoms and some of her pain. Several years ago Julia was getting treatment for her disability of walking, Julia received a walker that traveled from the bottom of her feet to the upper middle of her back and reached down her arms. This was part of her exercise to get her muscles stronger for surgery and for life. Though Julia didn’t like this procedure, she still went forward with it and struggled a lot, so that exercise wasn’t part of her life for much time at all.

Spina Bifida is a neural tube defect - which is the defected structure in the spine along with the tissues that surround it, Spina Bifida is a neural tube defect. Spina Bifida is a birth defect that happens when a child’s spine isn’t formed correctly before birth. Spina Bifida is also a genetic disease that can happen to any child as they are born, this disease cannot occur to anybody that is already born, which also means that Spina Bifida cannot be transmitted to other people. There is no way to catch Spina Bifida because it is a birth defect, although it is more likely to happen if a parent has Spina Bifida or has family history with Spina Bifida. To my knowledge, Spina Bifida is not within my family’s history, so Julia just was a case where it could happen to anybody. Julia is paralyzed from the waist down (causing her to be restrained to a wheelchair) and stiff muscles in her hand and wrist. Her affected body systems include her muscular system (because her unused muscles in her legs and her stiffened muscles in her wrist), her nervous system ( her lower half is paralyzed, she is unable to move her legs) and her skeletal system (her weakened bones that are attached to the muscles but, aren’t being used been used).

Diagrams

"Affected Nervous system"
IF 2018

"Affected Muscular system"
IF 2018

"Affected Skeletal system"
IF 2018

Conclusion
I really enjoyed this unit, the math wasn't super difficult but was still challenging. Researching and learning about disease isn't the easiest subject to get into, especially when you write about somebody who is close to you. I look at this unit as a window of discovery to different people's lives who have a disease that can go as far to life-threatening to a disease that is very minor. I learned a lot about the person in my action project, a good example being: I've known her all my life and yet this whole time I never knew the name of her condition. This was a very applicable learning experience that I hope to replicate in the other units of this exciting journey in Disease.

Citations

“Spina Bifida.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Oct. 2016, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/spinabifida/facts.html.

F, I, and J M. “Spina Bifida interview.” 10 Feb. 2018.

“Spina bifida.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 26 Jan. 2018,

Mapping Chicago's Homeless

For our First and only action Project in our mapping class - Thin Red Lines, we set out to create maps about problems and issues around Chicago. I decided to focus on the issue of homelessness around Chicago. Each student in the class created three maps that would map the past(what homelessness was like in the past) the present (what homelessness should look like today)  and the future(what homelessness would look like in the future for the demand of abolishing it). Throughout the class we learned what it was like to map an area, what issues come along with mapping certain areas, and how to obtain data sets from sources. I really enjoyed this class though we did learn a lot about TIFs and how they can easily be corrupted, besides that I really enjoyed learning about the good and bad of mapping things, places, and subjects. I hope you enjoy learning about my endeavors of mapping homelessness in Chicago.





Homeless rate legend

Yellow - 0% - 1%
Pink -  1.1% - 2.5%
Brown - 2.6% - 4%
 Black - 4% - 5.4%
Green -  5.5% -7%
Blue -  7.1% - 8.5%
Orange - 8.5% - 10%

Past Map 1st Layer
To view this map - open and view Layer one (Past Map 1)

This first map is the map that maps how the past looks for homeless neighborhoods around Chicago. The Maps each have a corresponding homeless rate along with the count of homeless people in Chicago. They Key besides the map shows what each color represents for the data in 2016. Pink is 1% - 2.5% of the population being homeless and brown is 2.6% - 4% of the population in that area being without a home. Something that really stuck out to me was Yellow and where it it existed the most. Yellow is 0% - 1% of the population being homeless and it mainly exists all throughout the south side of Chicago. From Englewood to Archer heights to Woodlawn they all have a homeless rate under 1%. The rest of Chicago is all mixed varieties of homeless people with the Loop having the largest homeless population in the city of 75 homeless people and a 9.7% homeless rate in 2016 and even worse in 2017.

I also decided to note where some homeless shelters and homeless services are for the people living on the streets. I think it’s important to focus on the goal of pointing out where good places are for helping these people and in the other maps point out where more places like this could exist. The map highlights a few key places in each neighborhood area that could be beneficial for people without a home. The future map will highlight so more beneficiary places that could exist for people living like this.

Present Map 2nd Layer
To view this map - open and view Layers one and two (Past Map 1) (Present Map 2)

There is not many homeless shelters in the southern of Chicago, there isn’t as much of a demand for homeless shelter because the homeless rate in southern Chicago is very low. Because of the low rates of homeless people in Chicago there is no need for me to put hypothetical homeless shelter place possibilities. I really tried to place Shelters and resources where people needed them most; where there seemed to be a lack of homeless shelters. This map marks some of the largest vacant spaces in these neighborhoods. I only marked vacant lots around Chicago, so nothing major would be destroyed. The community should still be maintained so only unused lots will be used to create and solve the homeless issue of Chicago.
Future Map 3rd Layer
To view this map - open and view Layers two and three (Present Map 2) (Future Map 3)

This Final map shows off possibilities for the future that I based off from my first two maps.I included the places where homes shelters and resources are going to best utilized. From the community demand based off the the data, the map works as a plan to put those homeless shelters down making the future map look how it looks. The map also includes the previous homeless shelters around Chicago because those will not be going down for any reason. The future map also includes new homeless rates for each neighborhood area. I adjusted each of the homeless rates by 1% to show if we were all working to complete on total goal to work on homelessness. I wanted to predict and show how the community could be better with more shelters so, I decided to lower the rates if the shelters and resources were built and provided. Every color on the map still applies to the key below the map.

As you can see, southern Chicago hasn’t really changed due to its low homeless rates all throughout. The Southern side of Chicago remains a yellow color, with most of the south side having a 0% homeless rate. The rest of Chicago still has pretty high homeless rates including the Loop. The Loop is in danger because it has the highest homeless rate in the city as of now, but very little space to build homeless shelters that could help the surplus of people living downtown.


Citations

Voorhees Center for Neighborhood & Community Improvement. “2017 HOMELESS Point-In-Time Count & Survey Report.” Cityofchicago.org, University of Illinois at Chicago, 

“Chicago Homeless Shelters & Services For The Needy.” Chicago Homeless Shelters and Services - Chicago IL Homeless Shelters, Homeless Shelter Directory,

“Chicago Lots - Explore vacant City-Owned lots.” Chicago Lots - Explore vacant City-Owned lots, chicagolots.org/.

Observer 1

In the first an only Action project of our Elective term class, Rocket Science, we did a series of activities along with some educational field experiences. When starting the class, we were determined to learn about the physics concepts of rockets, historic events/figures, and what rocket science in the field looks like. Our class traveled on several field experiences such as the Adler Planetarium and the MSI. I enjoyed how involved and connected the class was; from the first mini-mission everything was being connected to our final action project: the launch of our rockets. This action project was about making our space launch real. From explaining the naming behind our rockets to how much it costs to graphing the parabolic height of the flight. Today, you will learn about the launch of my rocket: Observer 1. I hope you enjoy.


 

Photos: The Holy Grail of Preservation

The final unit of our Population class we discussed and learned about how populations grow and change. We took a trip to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to view the change of population among butterflies along with seeing the change of Chicago from a nature preserve. For our last unit we created a very short and small one day action project that focused on methods of preservation. I decided to write a short essay about photography and what it has done for us in terms of preservation. I hope you enjoy; thank you. 

Photography has been around for a long time without a doubt; with the oldest camera being made in the 1500s. This camera was called the Camera Obscura and was the first pinhole camera. This camera would let in a small amounts of light through a small hole in a very dark area. The image would be projected onto the wall and would be traced out with pencils or paint. Photographs and pictures are a simple way of preserving the look of something; they are a visual time stamp.

In the image below we are clearly able to see what it's attempting to show. Photography is great for preserving the specific look of a thing compared to a written description. If someone were to write about the look of the yellow flower it would probably take a long time to get all the specifics of the flower. Taking a photograph is a much simpler way obtaining the the look of something with detail and precision. A picture is worth one thousand words. Without photographs, many people wouldn’t know what a polar bear looked like.

IF 2017 "Yellow Fellow"

Photography is a very useful tool as a preservation method. Photography can help scientists get an accurate description of an organism's physical traits, the habitat it lives in, and the organism’s resources. Drawing works the same as photography but it’s less efficient and can’t gather specifics and dimensions like photos can. A still photo for the most pat can’t be wrong with the the dimensions of a thing, drawing can be inconsistent and the look could be changed due to human error. Sight is one of the most useful traits for some organisms; making photographs very helpful for seeing something that is potentially dangerous without actually going face to face with it. Photography has helped us preserve the look and the behavior of organisms for a very long time.

Luke Skywalker and Malcolm X: Their Journey

The last action project for our Stories class we focused on explaining the stories and journeys behind fictional and real heroes. I decided to pick some very important heroes with one being a knight that needs to save a princess and gets involved in intergalactic warfare and a civil rights activist and leader that has had conflict filled history. I chose Luke Skywalker and Malcolm X's journeys to show what each journey looks like as heroes.

Luke Skywalker and Malcolm X are without a doubt very different people with very different views and stories but in a way can be looked in the same light. Luke goes on a journey of self discovery and fights for people who are being oppressed by the Empire. In a way Malcolm X did the same; Malcolm X wanted people to fight against an oppressing force. This is the main thing that makes these two people some similar and makes them like many heroes. Heroes typically fight against something that is unjust and is for other people. I hope you can recognize the similarities between not just Malcolm and Luke but all heroes in general. I also hope you enjoy reading about Luke and Malcolm's journeys as heroes.   




Citations

Ford, Ed. “Malcolm_X_NYWTS_2a.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 7 Feb. 2008,

Hiller, Herman. “Malcolm X NYWTS 4.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 23 Oct. 2006,

Kloske, Tim. “Dueling lightsabers.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 3 Feb. 2010,

Lemos, Manoel. “R2-D2 & Luke Skywalker.” Flickr.com, 21 June 2007,
“Malcolm X.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Oct. 2017,

Shabazz, Malik. “Malcolmxm1carbine3gr.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 14 Oct. 2011,

Trikosko, Marion S. “Malcolm X March 26 1964 cropped retouched.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 12 Feb. 2016,

Wolfson, Stanley. “Elijah Muhammad NYWTS-2.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 4 Nov. 2014,

Chil Flamingo: A New Threat

In the second unit of our Population class, we learned, practiced, and discussed several math concepts from finding standard deviation to mean, median, and mode to combination/permutation. We also learned a lot about our animals and evolution. Evolution was another really big focus of this unit. We discussed how evolution happens, what and why specific traits stay, and how that effects a species. I really enjoyed this unit because it went deep into evolution and made sure I got a good grasp of the content in this unit. For this action project, I created a presentation and predicted and hypothesized what could happen if a predator was to move into the Chilean Flamingo's habitat. I hope you enjoy the learning about what traits would work well for flamingos with a different predator.

IF "Open" 2017

Math Concepts

I assumed the height of my different flamingos and put them into a list so I can measure how far our outlier are from the center. The average height of a Chilean flamingo 43.2 in -51.6 in

Mean- 47.27      Median- 48        Mode- 48      Range- 9.59     Maximum- 51.6

Minimum- 42      1Q- 44.4           3Q- 49.5 

1. John- 48 in 

2. Carla- 49.2 in

3. Hubert- 44.4 in  

4. Robert- 46.8 in 

5. Leah- 48 in 

6. Michael- 42 in 

7. Max- 43.2 in

8. Ethan- 50 in 

9. Joseph- 51.6 in 

Standard deviation 

The standard deviation of the data tells us what percentage of the flamingos are in a certain height range.
Mean = 47.27
S= 3.13 

IF "Standard Deviation" 2017

68% of the flamingos = 44.14 in - 50. 4 in
95% of the flamingos = 41.01 in- 53.53 in
99% of the flamingos = 37.88 in- 56.66 in

This picture shows that the 99% of the 9 flamingos we chose land in between the heights of 37.88 inches and 56.66 inches. 95% of the 9 flamingos are between the heights of 41.01 inches and 53.53 inches. 68% of the 9 flamingos land between 44.14 inches and 50.4 inches in height.

Combination and permutation

For finding the combination, I found that introducing the flamingos into a new environment doesn't matter; making the situation a combination. Shown in the photo below is the work that I did to find the permutation and combination of my set. Their are 9 animals in my set making the "n" = 9. I chose three flamingos to possibly survive making my "r" = 3.

IF "nPr" 2017

Citations

Arpingstone. "Slimbridge chilean flamingo". 2004. photograph  

Bjoertvedt. “Phoenicopterus Chilensis LoroParqueTenerife Chilean Flamingo IMG 5181.”Commons.wikimedia.org, 22 Feb. 2015,                                                                  

Bjoertvedt. “Phoenicopterus Chilensis LoroParqueTenerife Chilean Flamingo IMG 5187.”Commons.wikimedia.org, 22 Feb. 2015,     

Cole, Sandy. "Chilean Flamingo juvinile SMTC". 2012. photograph 

Dominic Sherony. “Western Grebe Swimming .” Commons.wikimedia.org, 30 Nov. 2008,
Grider, Angela. “ZAFlamingo.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 8 Sept. 2006,      

Ltshears. “Chilean Flamingo.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 15 Nov. 2013,     

Lydekker, Richard. "The royal natural history." IV, Warne, 1922. - Flamingos are related to smaller birds.

Shears, Trisha M. "Chilean Flamingo 4". 2006. photograph

Tragopan. “Chilenischer Flamingo Tiergarten Bernburg 2007.” Commons.wikimedia.org, 6 July 2007,
Zienowicz, Alina. "Phoenicpterus chilensis". 2010. photograph