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Black Ants and Buddha - by Mary Cowhey, A Role Model of Love and Passion

6/15/2024

This book was first introduced in a class of my Fulbright exchanging period. I was deeply moved by pedagogy introduced in the book and also puzzled by how it could come to life, Inspired by the American “everything is possible” culture, I wrote to the author. Surprisingly, I got invitation to stay for a night with her and observe her class…

The book starts with an illustration of how discussion was fostered in the classroom- making connections through events that children encounter in the class, taking care of each other’s feeling aligning two simple and concrete classroom rules - be kind and work hard (because we want to flourish as a whole).

There are several techniques the teacher demonstrates in this chapter:
- students are used to taking turns expressing ideas and opinions. Teachers invites students to answer and respond to other people’s ideas. Students to students interaction is present.
- The teacher strategically use two read-aloud sessions to cultivate the students language development. 1) Readers for strategies such as make connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world), 2) Philosophical discussions to foster listening skills and oral language development.
It is true that our books or curriculum most of the time depict a world of happiness but the truth is, as mentioned in the chapter, “Human nature draws us to conflict.” It is inevitable that we encounter differences, disagreements, and conflicts. How to cretically and wisely is never really taught in my brining up. They were preached but not experienced.
My mind pondered over a few quotes in this chapter:
- As a teacher of critical thinkers, part of my job is to deliberately nurture sustained interest in questions over time. - It indeed takes time to dig deeper and to care better. In a fast-paced, media-fed world it is even more critical to allow that time for our children.
- Teacher critically listens and affirms a minority voice that challenges the status quo. Instead of forcing assimilation and acceptance of the dominant culture, it examines cultural assumptions and values and considers their larger ramifications. - Isn’t that what our curriculums states about critical thinking? Isn’t it ironic how our teaching time is fragmented and shattered in the curriculum guidelines?

This is my second read. - the same passion, but more intense. The question is am I ready?

AI 底層邏輯與生存法則：Anxiety Out

6/1/2024

資深AI 應用人程世嘉以麻瓜也可以懂的語言爲一般民眾提供了許多破解AI的迷思與實際的應對策略。這兩個月他也頻繁的進行宣傳，跟幾位知名的主持人進行了很精彩的對談。（有這些不同領域的對談真的很拓展思維）

書裡面兩個我認為最關鍵的核心思想是：

批判思考能力在這樣的環境中，是必備的能力-在大量算力的支持下，AI 比人腦有著更大的資訊量也有更快速處理的能力，前提是，使用的人能夠不斷的改良給出提問指令，找到通往答案的路徑，並在千萬條路徑中找到最適合的一個選擇。所以基本知識很重要,能分辨利害也很重要。不是AI來了學生ㄧ切放空，而是利用AI奠定更厚實的基本能力。
- 描述能力
- 企圖心- 人文科學的專業我對人類可以貢獻出什麼？
- 程式語言像英語，可以會，但不需要很強

AI 對於下一個世代絕對是另一場工業革命 - 就如書中所舉工業革命的例子，在未進入工業化之時，人類可能會害怕被完全取代，然而實際的情形確是人類學會或進化成更善於運用工具，部分的勞務轉化為更新穎的作業模式，效能產能提升。我超喜歡書裡不斷提到AI在未來會像是水電一般的存在，他就是在那兒，你不會用它真的會像是原始人。陳鳳馨提到的例子就超貼切：就比如現在有個電鑽和螺絲起子，兩者都可以用啊，但是要快又有效率，當然你會選電鑽。

這些思維是對未知恐懼的解放，對於進入未來有個堅實的立足點。感覺振奮人心！

References:

Podcast - 馨天地20240517

[[https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/%E9%A6%A8%E5%A4%A9%E5%9C%B0/id1555650963?i=1000655885571

Podcast - 總編會客室 20240506

https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/%E7%B6%93%E7%90%86%E4%BA%BA/id1591157883?i=1000654636617

Black Ants and Buddha - by Mary Cowhey, A Role Model of Love and Passion

AI 底層邏輯與生存法則：Anxiety Out

Winnie Chiu

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