Update and a New To-Do List

I’m not going to promise a Monday Summary tonight.  I have several articles selected, but I’ve had a busy weekend and can’t seem to get the sleepies out of my system today. 

My mother-in-law had surgery Friday.  Doctors discovered she had breast cancer last year and she had a single mastectomy.  They finally decided to remove the other breast this year (after she asked and kept having calcifications).  Her chances of the cancer coming back are significantly lower with both breasts gone, so she had another mastectomy on March 25^th.  We spent several hours visiting Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  She’s doing great.  She went home today and is handling things pretty well.  She’s still got quite a few treatments to finish up, but we think she’s out of the woods.  Her hair is also finally growing back-she’s got one of those pixie cuts going on right now.

My hubby was also on call last week.  He stays on call from 6am until 11pm for seven days straight.  It’s very annoying and stressful.  I’m just glad he’s not on call 24/7.  However, it made the weekend just that much crazier on an emotional level. 

And it’s frackin cold again.  It was all sunny and warm and then, BAM, freezing nights and lots of cold rain.  Crazy Kentucky weather.  *grumbles*

We did get our television fixed and my Mother is coming out tonight.  Mom, Hubby, and I may just veg out in front of the TV with zombie movies and popcorn.

I am going to leave a little to-do list up.  It tends to get my butt moving on my projects.  So, here’s what I’m working on for the blog:

·       Course Summaries:  My MSLS degree courses deserve some mention, so I’m putting together some VERY BRIEF summaries of the courses

·       Monday Summaries and Friday Fallacies

·       EBooks:  I’d like to post a few comments regarding eBooks in the future

·       Databases:  I’m going to review a database or two every week starting in a couple weeks

·       Information Literacy and Critical Thinking Course Syllabus:  I’ve got all sorts of ideas for course layouts I’ll be attempting to post

·       Research:  I’m working on updating a bibliography on video games and critical thinking.  I’m also looking into some other topics, such as information literacy and critical thinking in libraries, violence and libraries, etc.

·       Reference Questions:  Believe it or not, I get reference questions all the time.  I’m not employed as a librarian at the moment, but I still seem to be the go-to person for reference.  Hell, I have people I’ve never met sending me questions through friends and family.  I’ll be posting some summaries of the interesting ones with patron permission.

Oral History LIS 642 Course Summary

As an MSLS student at the University of Kentucky, I went through the LIS 642 course, which is Oral History.  The course was fascinating and felt more like an interactive workshop than a regular class.  The professor taught us how to conduct oral history interviews along with going over several oral history examples and studies.  She recorded her weekly lectures so students could listen through Blackboard (my degree was totally online).  The final portion of the course was spent on an oral history project.

I don’t want these course posts to get insanely long, so I’m going to restrict my comments to the most important aspects and provide some links. 

We had three textbooks:  The Oral History Reader, Doing Oral History, and Curating Oral Histories: from Interview to Archive.

 I’m also going to link a Google doc of my first weekly assignment.  We were asked to briefly answer if oral history is useful or not to the study of history. 

My final project was an interview with a tattoo artist (the interview now belongs to the KOHC, but I do not yet know if it has been archived), a paper detailing my experience, a partial transcript, and submission to the Kentucky Oral History Commission. 

I think the transcription process was one the most nerve-racking things I’ve done.  I thought the interview process would have me pulling out my hair, but it was enjoyable.  This is the recorder I purchased for the class.  It worked like a charm and let me get my hands on some new tech learning experiences. 

Overall, the course forced me to pay attention to individual experiences in addition to the overall historical perceptions of events.  It also had me watching my behavior and interactions with people from which I’m trying to get relevant information.  I listen more, allow those very important lulls and pauses to happen, and find myself experiencing peoples’ memories in a new way. 

I hope to, one day soon, do a series of interviews with my Mother.  She’s lived a fascinating life, and I’d like to preserve her memory and experiences.  The Oral History course gave me the tools to (let’s hope) pull this off.

Friday Fallacy: Argumentum ad hominem

Another fallacy!

This fallacy is also known as “against the man.”  We all do it at some point.  We hear something from a person we just cannot tolerate, and we don’t want to believe that something, even if the evidence says it’s true.  When the crazy lady down the street says, “The sky is blue,” saying it must not be because she’s crazy doesn’t hold up.  You have to look at the evidence of the claim.

That’s probably simplifying the issue a bit. 

If you resort to insulting your opponent or calling into question an argument based on your opponent’s person, rather than the evidence, you’re committing an ad hominem fallacy. 

I hear from creationists all the time that evolution cannot be true because Charles Darwin had a deathbed conversion to Christianity.  First off, I haven’t seen proof of Darwin’s deathbed anything, let alone conversion.  Secondly, what do his personal beliefs have to do with evolution?  The theory of evolution has a great deal of science backing it up and does not depend on a “prophet” or “great thinker” to prop it up.

Another ad hominem example I can think up off the top of my head:  Politician A and Politician B are debating.  Politician A brings up Politician B’s divorce (gay child, teenage joint smoking, church membership, dancing style, favorite color, etc.) when the debate is about taxes.  Obviously, Politician A isn’t arguing against the substance of Politician B’s tax plan.  Politician A is trying to sway the audience opinion by associating Politician B with something the audience will find distasteful.  Politician B, if s/he’s caught unawares, may fall into the trap of explaining or defending against the subject of the ad hominem.     

Darwin On the Origin of Species Chapter 3

The third chapter of Darwin’s wonderful work is “Struggle for Existence” and is another short but info filled chapter.  He’s focusing on how struggle bears on natural selection.

Darwin once again points out the importance of variation:

Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relations to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring.  The offspring, also, will thus have a better chance of surviving, for, of the many individuals of any species which are periodically born, but a small number can survive. I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection, in order to mark its relation to man’s power of selection. (64)

The struggle for life is something Darwin found fascinating, yet something that humans tend to easily forget.  We don’t bear in mind that everything, even if it appears to be in a state of abundance and health, deals with struggle constantly.  On a sunny Spring day, you may see green grass and blooming flowers, several species of singing birds and various mammals relaxing in the sunshine.  What you may be missing is the birds’ constant crunching on insects.  Maybe, you’re not noticing that the cozy mammals just had a nice midday meal or the stunted plants in between the healthy specimens.  Darwin insists that without the understanding of the struggle for existence, we cannot have a full understanding of nature and several biological facts.  Darwin also points out that what he means by “Struggle for Existence.”  He doesn’t just include physical fighting and bloody death in his definition.  He includes interdependence and the success in leaving offspring, along with the struggle against the elements (65). 

Darwin spends several pages discussing the struggles of living beings.  He also discusses population growth and checks on that growth.  He has a wonderful example of the delicate balance in nature and the fact that even a small change can greatly influence populations (pages 72-4 Scotch Fir).  This struggle is ongoing, but as Darwin points out, it is so well balanced that we barely notice it.  We are amazed when we hear of an extinction event.  Or, at least, Darwin was.  It’s become quite common place nowadays. 

The struggle for existence can seem rather daunting and downright depressing at times.  However, we shouldn’t be too disheartened.  I’ll let Darwin’s final chapter comments sum up:

All that we can do, is to keep steadily in mind that each organic being is striving to increase at a geometrical ratio; that each at some period of its life, during some season of the year, during each generation or at intervals, has to struggle for life, and to suffer great destruction.  When we reflect on this struggle, we may console ourselves with the full belief, that the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply.  (78-9)

Monday Summary: Riddles and Computer Games (1995)

Yes, this is an older article.  I still kind of, sort of, remember 1995.  Dr. John H. Doolittle published the following article way back then:

Doolittle, John H. “Using Riddles and Interactive Computer Games to teach Problem-Solving Skills.”  Teaching of Psychology.  22.1 (1995):  33-36. 

Doolittle’s main premise is that word tables, interactive video games, and riddles aid in the development of creative and critical thinking.  His focus is on undergraduate college students.  Students learn to think of multiple solutions to problems, instead of locking themselves into only one solution.  Along those lines, students also learn to let go of wrong answers or risk failing the task.  Students are required to think creatively because the expected answers with riddles aren’t always correct.  Flexibility in thoughts and problem solving patterns emerge.

Doolittle also points out something that should be obvious.  Those of us who read or listen to stories read aloud have more developed and active imaginations.  Movies and television can be interesting forms of entertainment but do not provide the kind of cognitive development that comes from an engaged imagination and interactive participation.

Doolittle offers some suggestions for riddles and games.  He also cautions against student frustration, which can halt the developmental process.  He closes with his empirical evidence for the effectiveness of these techniques, which is very preliminary but shows possible promise. 

So, this really is a fascinating article, and I’ll be following his citations and digging deeper for empirical evidence.  I don’t think many researchers take video games seriously as a way to encourage information literacy, creativity and critical thinking skills.  One thing that did bother me a little bit with this article was the fact that nearly half of his eighteen citations were to his own papers, books, and games he’s developed.  I can understand his reasons, but it still bothers me for some reason.  I need to track down his other resources and some more updated findings. 

This article did solidify some wonderful ideas I have for the classroom.  I have a syllabus and schedule emerging from the murky depths of my mind.  Perhaps, I will have to share these ideas with my readers. 

Am I weird or what?  I’m not employed at the moment and I’m still developing courses.  I just need some imaginary students and I’m set.  I wonder if I can get an imaginary paycheck?

Oh, look.  A link to the article!