Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower (Feb. 2nd)

    Yesterday, we all watched a documentary called London Calling; BBC Bias during the 2014 Scottish Referendum from the comfort of our homes. This documentary did not contain any subtitles so understanding the content word for word was slightly challenging. It covered a wide variety of issues encompassing BBC and its' bias. One thing that can be said is this documentary had copious convincing points that were always a distant idea (for me), but after being exposed to BBC's intentions, I was unanimous with the documentary's messages. For example, they discussed how BBC is conveying a clean image by using a posh English accent, excellent quality intros, good programming, and a high standard for everything else but the content of the news. Regardless, people are convinced by the side effects and do not scrutinize the content of the news, which makes them unconsciously trust and consume their news. Other than this, numerous examples of BBC biases were given throughout the documentary, and a handful of activists were interviewed. 2014. I was 9 back in the day and probably had no interest in the news, so I had no idea that there were huge protests occurring outside BBC headquarters in Glasglow. The insanity of BBC really shone through with them entirely flipping every piece of "fact", to the point it can no longer be considered journalism. One of the most memorable episodes of the film was when BBC used an interview with Croatia's ambassador in a way that depicted Croatia as if they were against Scotland's independence. When in reality, the ambassador was speaking about their own country entering the EU, and absolutely nothing about Scotland. Nonetheless, BBC is still supported by countless people across the world, oblivious of the bias their news contains. 

    For today's class, we were given the mission to do a world-trending educational project to build a tall spaghetti and marshmallow tower. According to Mr.Paterson, this project will not only stimulate students' ability to design and be creative, but also develop leadership, teamwork, and project management skills. When we were first given the task, I was excited to do something very different in class, something that sounded like a fun activity we would do in elementary school. Notwithstanding, the meaning this project had was much deeper than I had anticipated. What was most interesting was the lecture he gave after the activity, elucidating his intentions and people's tendencies when encountering this project. Japanese business people taking copious time orienting to compare who ranks the highest within themselves was such an ignorant act, but something very predictable of Japanese adults. If my teammates were people I had never talked to, I do not know if I would have taken the same superficial steps before commencing to build. In the TED talks, business students were also talked about as a bad example, but Mr.Paterson also mentioned military-related people having a similar tendency. When I heard this, the extent to people's careers and majors impacting their actions was almost startling. 

    Contrasting to students who are taught "endeavor to achieve one goal" like business students and military people, kindergarteners performed exceptionally well. Looking at the pictures, their structures were so out of the box, and nowhere similar to what my classmates and I had created. Mr.Paterson unraveled their tactic of starting with the marshmallow on top and working their way upwards. They consistently make a prototype then refine, and continue this process, giving instant feedback to aim higher. Aside from the young, flexible thinkers, an exception for this project was architects. They design buildings for a living so comprehending the science/math behind architecture, and self-reinforcing geometry shapes is one of their many expertise making this exercise quite simple. Additionally, there were few adults who excelled in the task. They all had a similarity of obtaining specialized and facilitating skills which led the team to have smooth teamwork. Reflecting back on today's class, I was most surprised by how strategically yet perfectly designed this exercise was, and the results of it that clearly show a difference between different kinds of people. 

Notes: 

(Documentary)

protests outside BBC headquarters in Glasgow. people chanting "no more bias"

headlines - Scottish Independence: May terror warning, Warning over Eu membership plan. warning over the weakened military, Luxemburg warns against. 

 Luxemburg, economically successful - "denigrating Scotland", but Luxemburg intervened BBC to say that was a misreport. 

reports to show the risk of independence, their finance will be destroyed. given to BBC. dubious campaign. 

vote no borders was registered to London office. head of acanchi (pr company), propaganda, even did a promotion?! huge amount of publicity, shown every 30 mins,  donate to conservative party

(today)

incentive + high stakes do not bring success