September 01, 2006

Did you know?

In today's class we saw the movie: Did you know?



There was a lot of information packed into that 8 minutes. When I asked you to respond to what you had seen you were all very quiet. I know the first time I watched it I was a little overwhelmed and needed time to think about it. Actually, I watched it over again several times.

OK, you've had some time to think about it; now you can respond to it ...

  • What surprised you the most? Why was it surprising?

  • Did you learn anything? If so, what?

  • As you think about it now, does this change the way you think about school, learning or the purpose of getting an education? Is there anything you want to do differently related to school this year?

  • What Shift is happening?


Click on the [comments] link below and add your thoughts to the conversation.

8 comments:

Jann said...

I was really suprised when i watched the movie. There's alot of stuff mentioned in that movie but the one that really got my attention is the super computer. I realized that in the future, a super computer would be invented that would surpass the human mind. I also learned that technical information doubles every 2 years. Another idea that i learned was that england has the biggest military and highest currency in the world. I thought it was Canada. For me, it was really cool knowing these ideas.

MarK13 said...

The movie was great, although some of the facts that were presented disappointed me. China and India are having massive amounts of honor students, while here in North America we have better education systems. I guess it really shows how most of the students and people take the most important things in life for granted. Just because were in a good country does not mean that we should take it easy. Life is a learning experience and we should all work hard to make the lives around others (not just ourself) better. i see the determination and perserverance in the students in CHina and India. What they are doing, they are doing it for theyre familes, country and a better future. We have to work just as hard as them or even harder, and it should be the whole population of students not just a small number. The film had good facts.

lindsay said...

The facts from the presentation really overwhelmed me. The facts from the presentation really overwhelmed me. It's frightening to know that one day a computer will know more than any human could. How can a computer be smarter than the people who made it? Does that mean us humans are getting smarter too? Is that what shift means? We’re becoming more knowledgeable and able to retain more information than those before us. That’s my opinion. I didn’t know much, if any, of the facts that were presented to us. The students in China and India seem to be more motivated than the students in the counties with stronger education systems. They have a reason to push themselves to succeed. They have to get the better jobs so that they can support their families and what not. The fact that China will be the largest English speaking country really surprised me. The presentation changed my perspective of education and how important it is. I think students in “privileged” countries such as ours should work just as hard as those in China and India. I learned a lot in 8 minutes.

*/linger_ said...

I was stunned by all the information this eight minute movie provided. I learned a lot, and it was very interesting to watch. Also, I found it to be inspiring. Now knowing how stiff the competition is to get the best jobs out there, although not knowing what they may be, it only goes to show how much harder we should be working. As well, how seriously we should be taking things. I was getting the idea that the Chinese or the Computer was taking over the world, haha. But the movie made me think about what I need to do to accomplish the goals I have for myself. It shows that the little things do matter; that SIZE matters. That you need to put time and effort into things you do to make them worthwhile. The shift that happens is the changes that happen over time, how much faster they are happening, and how much more things are improving for example, technology. I think seeing the movie reassured me of doing right thing by being in this class, because now I get to learn so much more. Plus, what else have we got to lose? It's a win, win situation =)

Mr. Ly said...

I'll take a line sort of out of The Simpsons with the big comic book guy, BEST 8 MINUTES EVER! It was very overwhelming to say the least. Several things jumped out and surprised me. For instance, the fact that I could be taking my first year in university and then two years later, half of what I learned in that first year would be completely out dated. The super computer that'll eventually be created and surpass our very own human abilities, that was more less scary then surprising haha! I wasn't totally surprised by the fact that China will be the largest English speaking country or the fact that both China and India have a massive amount of honour students. What's there to be surprised about? They're both densely populated and employment is a lot harder to find there then here. The harder you work, the more you learn, the more knowledge you attain, the better your chances at a career. I guess you can say they have more to strive for then us, more at stake. But that's no excuse really, which is why we must continue our learning and expand our knowledge. I don't ever want to stop learning, because like the movie showed, if you don't keep up then you'll be kicked out. You learning something new everyday, in my case, I learned many things new in just 8 minutes.

christian said...

That movie was interesting. At first Suzanne and I thought it was an anti-Chinese propaganda clip because all it talked about was how China's becoming the new superpower! However, it was truly much less trivial than that, and much more meaningful. I won't flood this comment with the facts from the movie, because we've all seen them.

Perhaps the most important thing I realized was the importance of the education we get in our classrooms. Most of us go to school simply to satisfy our parents' naggings. We MUST go to school according to them, and that's what matters. We sometimes don't even know why we're studying what we study or how to use the knowledge. Yesterday may have been the most critical day in my high school years, since it renewed my purpose for being in Daniel Mac. I now know that I must learn how to learn, if I do want to succeed. It's a preparatory stage for what's ahead -- the future filled with unknown opportunities and neverending discoveries.

Well, that's all for me. I'm tired and sleepy XD.

Anonymous said...

I found the movie very interesting, and I think it's definetly applicable to our education and our futures. The world as we know it is shifting, and we have to learn to live in a completely different way than anyone before us. There isn't really any precedent for us to follow either, since the pace of technological developement has increased more in very recent history than in all of human civilization before us. Considering that, I think we're doing a pretty good job of shifting. The educational system has changed so much, it's focus moving away from information storage to 'learning how to learn'. I think this change will continue, and we'll be able to better equip future generations to handle a completely different world. Though it's mind-boggling the amount of information we can access, I think it's a good thing. The human race can work together as a whole now to expand our collective horizons. I think the pursuit of knowledge is a great ideal. Exploring everything around us to better understand ourselves is what seems important to me. And now we can do that better than ever. By the way, I really liked the music in the video :)

Manny said...

The slideshow wasnt much of an eye opener for me, however, I did find the fact that information will be expected to double every week in the distant future of 2027 (I think that was it) rather interesting. Reading that surprised me because... does that mean what we learn will become obselete in such a short time period? It's quite the shocker but even if so, we must continue to learn. It's the fact that we learn new things that we CAN learn new things. The information about the competition with other countries was not something new to me. I heard about it from many other teachers, T.V., the internet, and my dad, especially my dad. He always compares me to them saying how hard they work, making me look lazy. I've always had the theory of China taking over the world one day. It's also a fact that Mandarin (very difficult language to learn) is the most spoken language of the world, and now English is going to be the most spoken language in China aswell. Is there nothing China can't do? Also India's population is growing immensely and is expected to exceed China's population. Which means, even greater competition. If we all continue to work hard and learn to love to learn, we'll get the better jobs =). I'm just going to have to kick it up a notch this year. Good stuff..