STS 214
Productions
"To understand scientific development, one must understand the intellectual frameworks within which scientists work" - Thomas Kuhn
Interviewed is Dr. David Carter, a professor from North Carolina State University. Dr. Carter has an A.S. from in Arboriculture and Park Management from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture as well as a B.S. in Park Administration from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts. At North Carolina State University he earned a a M.S. in Recreation Resources Administration. Discussed with Dr. Carter is the need for a paradigm shift in the field of education.
According to an article from the Washington Post, education has been following the same footsteps as it has for the last 100 years. Students are taught to think the same way from a young age. School subjects are taught independent from one another which is believed to be one of the sole reasons for limitations placed on those being educated. In order to adopt new knowledge and expand our understanding of the world, courses need to be taught in a way that they are integrated and material is overlapped with one another so we can draw new inferences and knowledge from them. The way Dr. Carter teaches his class is a step forward in the possibility of a paradigm shift in his classroom. His famous way of teaching is not treating individuals equally but fairly. Standardized testing was also expressed as a wall blocking off new knowledge to students and it is something Dr. Carter has done away with in his classroom.
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These illusions serve as small scale examples of what a paradigm shift looks like. The idea is to show two ways of viewing something, one being the old paradigm, the second being the new adopted paradigm.
Without any knowledge the viewer is left to decide which way the figure is moving on its axis (figure 2). When information is presented (either frame 1 or 3) ,a framework is adopted and allows for a single interpretation
The picture depicts Moses reading the Ten Commandments for the first time. Without the commandments, he was left interpreting the world based on assumptions and truths already in place. With new knowledge and understanding of the world through the Ten Commandments, his life and the lives of others were radically changed as they now had something to abide by. In a larger scale, adopting a religion changes the way in which you perceive the world.
Picture showing a duck or a rabbit based on the interpretation left up to the individual. Changing your viewpoint from one to another is representative of a paradigm shift on a small scale.