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Monday, May 28, 2018

東京理科大学 A英3: Writing assignment 2・作文2 (The Small Book of Big People・Places & Traces)

Hello!

How are you? Today, I'll tell you about our 2nd writing assignment 
(作文2). While I usually would give all of you the handout about the assignment first, this time I am posting it here first as a different way to communicate the assignment to you. 


You have three (3) choices for topics. Choose one (1) of them:  


1. Write about a unique, interesting, or special person you know  

In this topic, write about a unique, interesting, or special person you know, like a teacher, best friend, coach, or even a family member like a mother, father, brother or sister - or a famous person you think is unique and inspiring, like a singer, musician, actor, athlete, or a writer or artist. 

I will gather your writing on this topic into a book called The Small Book of Big People. I started this a few years ago with my students at another university. You can check out their writing at this link, and also at this link too.


2. Write about a figure in science or technology that you admire 

In this topic, choose a figure from science or technology - any major person and any field of science or technology (biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering, IT - any area of science or technology is okay) that inspired you to study science seriously. It can be a Japanese or foreign person, and anyone from the past or present. 

I will also gather any writing on this topic into The Small Book of Big People collection.



3. Write about your favorite place 

While we have been doing some writing about people, you can also write about a place - in this case, your favorite place. I would like you to go deep and far with it – in it, you can write about where the place is and why it is special to you, and very importantly, what feelings you have about it. Write deeply about those feelings and even give some history about them - especially about the first time you ever saw the place and what impact it had on you at that time.

If the place is a tourist spot, or has some long history to it (such as an important event in the past that happened there, or an important person who came there), also show why it brings tourists, or the reasons why it is so historical. 

I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called Places & Traces - a collection of student writing about unique places. 


You can use the place that you wrote about when doing your practice writing about places, and make your writing about it bigger and longer. 


How much to write

I would like you to write as much as you can, because your work may be published (出版したon both this blog and in The Small Book of Big People and Places and Traces books. So write to the best you believe you can!

I would like to see around 3-4 paragraphs. (Make the paragraphs at least a little longer!) But if you can write even a little more - go for it!



Deadline (締め切り)
It will be June 4th (6/4). So starting from today, I want you to work on a first draft (下書き) in your notebooks in pencil in class. 

I will remind and show all of you how you can review each others' work. Then you can change things about the draft as you need to, then write to the finish and turn in your final draft on 6/4


Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this, and enjoy writing about 
person who is special and unique to you, a scientist you admire, or place that you have a great feeling for




Images: Top & bottom - personal photographs. All rights reserved/Kikunae Ikeda - by original uploader Dan@mac at German Wikipedia - Transferred from de.wikipedia to Commons by Magnus Manske using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8297726

電気通信大学 AE2Y I: Internet use・インターネット使い

Hello!



How are you? Today let's look at how we use the internet. This is a big topic right now, and one with many benefits - but also problems

Activity
Look at these pictures. How do you use the internet? Since so many of you have smartphones, the pictures mostly show internet use with smartphones. 

What do you usually use the internet for? Talk about the pictures and how you access and use it! 

Watching videos & listening to music through YouTube

Using an online dictionary

Finding directions 

Accessing & using social media

Checking train & subway timetables

Making phone calls

Taking pictures or videos

How would you rank your access and use of the internet? What's the thing you usually do most on it? What's next? 

Have fun with these! Take care!

Images: Top – screenshot taken from https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/4860961/kids-at-14-years-old-35000-texts-and-30000-whatsapp-messages/YouTube icon - screeshot taken from https://www.mobilescout.com/android/news/n91781/People-watching-billion-hours-YouTube-each-day.html/ Online dictionary - screenshot taken from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atomic.apps.japanese.english.language.dictionary&hl=ar/
Google Maps icon - screenshot taken from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/3-ways-take-advantage-google-maps-ads/171767/Social network sites - screenshot taken from https://makeawebsitehub.com/social-media-sites/ Train timetable site - screenshot taken from https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/声でハイパーダイヤ/id379001449?mt=8/Person making phone call - screenshot taken from https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/mobile-phone/how-make-free-phone-calls-abroad-3654333/People taking selfie - screenshot taken from https://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/the-networked-society-blog/2017/04/07/the-smartphone-is-dying-again/
All rights reserved on all images. I do not own the rights to these images, brands, sites, or their contents. Uploaded for classroom purposes only.  

電気通信大学 ASE I: Presentation topic 2・プレゼンテーション 2

Hello!



How are you? Today I will introduce our second (2nd) presentation topic - key inventions or discoveries in science and technology.

See the picture above. It's a section of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. The discovery of DNA is one of the great breakthroughs of science in the 20th century.  


While I have given all of you the handout about the presentation, I am posting it on here as well as another way to help remind all of you about what you can prepare for this topic. 



Topic approach
I would like you to approach your presentation preparation in one of two ways. Choose one (1) way:

1. Select one (1) invention or discovery in a similar area of science or technology, either that was accidental or deliberate – for example, in mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry or IT – and present a one-sided argument about the merits (or demerits) of the invention or discovery


2. For a greater challenge - select two (2) similar inventions or discoveries in a similar area of science or technology, either that were accidental or deliberate – and compare and contrast the two inventions or discoveries.

Then – present a one-sided argument for which invention or discovery you believe overall was the more successful, or has had the greater impact in the world - in its merits (or demerits). 

Deadline (締め切り
We will do these on June 12th (6/12), so you have two (2) weeks to prepare.

Guidelines
1. If you would like to do Power Point you are free to do so - but you must bring your own device (computer or tablet). Let me know if you want to do a Power Point show.

2. As for posters, A3 size is good, though if you would like to go a little larger, that is okay. But show a section on your poster where you would write a summary (要約) of your topic.  

Good luck! See you next time!



Image: By Zephyris at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6285050

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

電気通信大学 AE2Y I: Dilemmas of AI (from 2001: A Space Odyssey)・AIのジレンマ「2001年宇宙の旅から」

Hello!



How are you? As I mentioned in class today, here is the finished post about another example of AI gone wrong - in this case, as imagined in a movie.

In 1968, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. In Japan, it was known as 2001年宇宙の旅. Even now, it is one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made. In it, one of the main characters is a supercomputer called the HAL 9000. The camera of the HAL 9000 is the picture at the top.


In the story, the HAL 9000 is the greatest supercomputer ever built. It can speak with humans with a human voice; play - and beat - humans at chess; find and understand human emotions; and manage the air supply and other functions of the space station the human astronaut characters in the story work and do their research on.


But there are issues that the astronauts find with "Hal," as they call the computer...


Homework
Watch these short film clips from the movie. 

1. Here is the first one - in it, the two main astronauts, named Dave and Frank, are talking about what to do with the problems that Hal is showing. They go to a safe place where they don't think Hal can hear them.


How does Hal know what they're talking about? 



If for any reason you have trouble seeing the clip above, go to this link here. It will take you directly to YouTube.

2. Here is the next clip. For this one, you might want to turn the sound down. 

Frank goes out of a spacecraft released from the space station. Hal is in control of the spacecraft functions. What does Hal do with Frank? 




If you have any trouble seeing the clip above, go to this link to see it on YouTube. (It's a better clip than the one here - for some reason, I could not upload the better clip directly to the post - that is why you should turn the sound down!)

3. Here is the clip after that. Dave wants to know what is happening. What is Hal's response? 


If you have any trouble seeing it here, click this link to go to YouTube.

4. Here is the last clip. What does Dave do with Hal? 



If you have any trouble seeing this clip, go to YouTube from this link

I hope you find this interesting. If you like science-fiction films, I highly recommend this one - even though it's very long!


See you next class!



Image: By Grafiker61 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46424786
Video clips uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the clips or the excerpts from the film they are derived. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom use only. 

Monday, May 21, 2018

電気通信大学 ASE I: Accidents of science - the case of LSD・理科、研究の過失「LSDについて」

Hello!



How are you? To go with our reading today about the accidental discovery of LSD, here is a video of a famous song that many people felt was about LSD - the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

The Beatles themselves said that it was not about LSD, or any drugs at all. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who wrote the song together, had both said that it was based on a painting that John Lennon's son had done at his school. But the lyrics to the song have the imagery to them that fit, in part, with what Albert Hoffman had said were his experiences with LSD when he began experimenting with it in the 1940s.


In the U.S., Britain, and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, LSD became a popular drug amongst hippies and many other young people, and influenced the popular music, of the time . The concert poster at the top is from 1967 and was typical of the time for its psychedelic imagery - the kind many people connected with LSD use.


While many believed that LSD was not harmful, the experiences of many young people at the time showed that it could be very harmful - especially in young people who might already have had delicate mental health. 


LSD became an example of a discovery in science that later became important in the cultural history of the late 20th century in many Western countries - but for the wrong reasons. 


Activity/homework

Listen to this song. Listen to it as many times as you want or need. You do not have to understand what they mean - because the lyrics really do not make a logical story at all. But what do you think of it? What imagery do you get from the song that you find fantastic or impactful? How do you think it might fit with what Albert Hoffman's experience with LSD was? 


Make some notes about this and bring them in next week to share. 

See you then!



Image: Screenshot taken from https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2013/11/our-favorite-concert-posters.html
I do not own the rights to the original image. Screenshot taken and uploaded for classroom use only. 
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the musical composition or the video. Uploaded for classroom purposes only. 

東京理科大学 A英3: Scientists, mathematicians, & engineers・科学者、数学者、工学者

Hello! 



How are you? Today, let's look at some famous scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. Some you will know well, while others you may not know. Let's take a look!

Activity
Look at the pictures below. Do you know any of the people in them? Even more - do you know what their greatest achievements were? 

Talk about these people, as much as you know about them, with your classmates. When you're finished, write a little about what you know and talked about. Let's start!

Steve Wozniak

Thomas Edison

Yoshiro Nakamatsu (Dr. NakaMats)


Paul Erdos

Michael Faraday

Tim Berners-Lee


Have fun with these!  See you next time!


Images: Top - By NASA - Original. Source (StarChild Learning Center). Directory listing., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1657641/Steve Wozniak - By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63344547/Thomas Edison - By Louis Bachrach, Bachrach Studios, restored by Michel Vuijlsteke - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3c05139. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6582301/Yoshiro Nakamatsu - By Ushuaia.pl - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10358481/Paul Erdos - By Topsy Kretts - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2874719/Michael Faraday - By Thomas Phillips - Thomas Phillips, 1842, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=463384/Tim Berners-Lee - By Paul Clarke - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53878695
Thomas Edison image used by understanding of public domain use. Images used for classroom purposes only. Any existing rights reserved to the United States Library of Congress.