Clay Shirky

In this TED talk, Clay Shirky starts by telling a story to his audience to get their attention. His story is about how a job too big for one person turned into a site called Ushahidi. His story teaches us that when people work together, on something small, it can become a huge succeess. Also, the person who started the blog about Kenya learned a lot more about what was going on through the stories that people had told under her comments. Daniel Pink explains this in the chapter Story in his book A Whole New Mind. According to Pink, people learn better through stories rather than boring old facts. Building facts into a story makes the information more fun to learn and easier to remember because one fact leads to the next. For instance, last year in English class when we were reading the book Night, written by a holocaust survivor, I learned about the cruel and unusual tortures of the Nazis which made me angry but interested in the book. The detailed stories that the author told helped me learn the facts that were on the final test for that book.

Clay Shirky says that we are building a better, more cooperative world by using resources such as Wikepidea and Ushahidi. Wouldn't cell phones fall under that category? If they do, then why do a lot of people just think of them as distractions? With the new smart phones people can do things easier and faster all in the palm of their hand. Why wouldn't cell phones be considered a gift? The truth is that cell phones can be a distraction, however, they are also very helpful. If your phone has internet on it, you have easy access to information anywhere in the country, (maybe not in the middle of nowhere). By using our cell phones, multi-tasking becomes a part of our daily lives, therefore building a better more cooperative world.

"The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act." -Clay Shirky
Those so-called "stupid creative acts" are helping Americans transistion from a left-brained society into a right-brained one. That creative act is taking a step towards using our right side of our brains more so that eventually those creative acts won't be so stupid anymore.

When the experiment on the day-care centers was tried it was surprising to hear that the number of late pick-ups increased when a fine was established. I think that the respect for the day-care workers dropped when a fine was established because the parents figured that the fine would make up for the loss of respect. So technically what the experiment shows is that people think money will fix everything.

Dan Pink-Drive

After listening to Dan Pink, I don't understand why people who are getting paid to figure out a problem, do it with more errors and take more time than those who aren't getting a reward. For most people, that extra pay should be motivation to do a better job. Will curiosity get humans farther than rewards? If rewards narrow our focus instead of broadening it, then why do we even have rewards at all? Is it because humans are selfish and want something good to come out of all their hard work? Or is it because humans are just plain lazy? Most people would say that completing a challenge is pointless unless they get something out of it. Probably half of the time, I would be one of those people. If I put in the effort, I expect to get a positive outcome in return. This can be shown in school. Some people spend an entire week studying for a test, however, when the test is returned to them, they get a bad grade. When that happens, people get discouraged and don't want to do all that work just to get another bad outcome. Some of the time, when I am interested in a certain topic, I go in depth with it, making me learn more about the subject. When I'm not thinking about the test, but just wanting to learn about something, I tend to get a better grade on that test, than I would if I had studied for a week. The theory of the higher the reward, the poorer the performance can also be shown through exercise. If someone is working out just to eat that chocolate cake sitting in front of them, they make no progress. After eating that chocolate cake, your workout becomes worthless. But when people workout just because they want to, with no reward with the exception of self satisfaction, they make progress. Without the chocolate cake after a workout, that person takes a step to becoming a healthier person. Dan Pink's philosophy that the higher the reward, the poorer the performance can be reflected in every aspect of someone's life.

Robert Ballard-exploring the oceans

When Mr. Ballard was talking about the ocean and all that still has to be discovered, you could tell he was passionate about it. The excitement of it all was bursting out of him like he was a little kid on Christmas morning. The amount of discovering still to be done on our own planet is amazing and you can tell that Robert Ballard can't wait for kids to get interested in this as much as they are interested in space. He was talking about the deep ocean and his robotic machine with such energy that anyone can see that he looks forward to going to work every day even though it takes him a while to get down to the deep ocean. Ballard was right when he was saying how none of this is in our textbooks because in Biology class, my teacher had just figured out about the thermal vents on the ocean floor and everyone could tell she was having the time of her life learning something new. In science, new things are constantly being discovered which means that there is a world of possibilities out there. Hearing about how the Black Sea doesn't have any oxygen in it, and how the bodies and artifacts down there are perfectly preserved just makes me want to learn more and see those precious objects. The way Robert Ballard talked about the ocean only leaves me wanting to hear more.

Sir Ken Robinson

After watching Sir Ken Robinson do a TED talk, I noticed that he always had the crowd's attention. This was not only because the topic he was talking about is interesting, but because he made them laugh. The jokes he told went along with his topic so that people could understand it better. Instead of making the crowd confused with big words, he used examples to make it easier. I completely agree that teachers don't know what they are educating kids for especially in the science department because everyday something new is discovered. It's kind of scary to think about the amount of schooling someone has to go through just to major in their "dream" and once they graduate, they might not even have a job. People who are hiring aren't just looking for the person with the best grades, they are looking for someone with multiple appealing characteristics. Right now, all teachers can do is try to prepare students for the future, even thought it might not be what the kids need.