End of the 3rd semester

So far I feel like Paideia has helped me stretch myself outside my comfort zone. I love learning about virtually anything but I do gravitate to specific topics. I generally stick to the topics that make sense to me. When I had to choose and reflect on an on and off campus experience that we typically would not go to, I had no trouble coming up with ideas. On a liberal art campus there is such a wealth of opportunities it is hard to not find something outside of your specialty field. After going to the theater and a music concert, I found that I actually enjoyed the experiences. Over the past year I have been going to more of these type of events. So this year for my on and off campus experience, I had more difficulty deciding which of my experiences I wanted to discuss. The major difference I found between this year and last is that last year I had to find an event to fulfill my requirement and this year I got to choose which of many events I have attended had the biggest impact. I do not always enjoy the activities I go to but I do make the time to go.

I really hope that next semester we can get together more outside of class. I really enjoy everyone in my cohort and think it would be fantastic to get to know everyone that much more. I know how busy this semester was for me and from what I heard everyone else had a equally horrific schedule. So next semester it might be easier to plan get togethers.

As far as future plans go, they have not changed from the beginning off the year. I still plan on studying in Australia this summer. I still want to present my Capstone at the creative works symposium. My Capstone with Dr. Purdy is going to be started next semester. I cannot wait to get started on the project. Overall I cannot wait for next semester. I have learned so much from my Paideia cohort about myself and others. I am saddened that we do not have as many people in our group as last year but everyone who shows up always have so much to share. I love the discussions we have and how it makes me think about stuff that would generally seem irrelevant to me. It is a nice break from normal classes. I am excited for learning more in the semesters to come.

Reflection: Discussions and readings

This semester’s discussions have really opened my eyes to a number of different topics I never paid much attention to before. I generally consider myself open minded and actively seeking different subject to study. I have a wide range of interests which can make it difficult at times to choose a recreational reading. However, since high school my focus has been almost completely devoted to science based ideas. My biology teacher was one of those teachers that pushed for us to expand our knowledge of the field. He would have us find outside reading and report on what we learned. From that class I discovered how much I liked science. I some how started to shun out all other subject areas because they just were not science. I liked how the Paideia discussions have reawaken my interest in other subjects. It was nice to also have someone that had a lot of previous insight in that subject so I could learn more then just what the reading was conveying. For my reading, I shared a chapter out of a book written by Jonah Lehrer titled “Proust was a Neuroscientist”. This book brings up the notion that science actually started with the arts. It references eight different artists that based their work on scientific theories. Through their work they developed their own theories of how things work. Some of these theories, such as Proust’s theory of mind, are just now being proven. What I enjoy so much about this book is the integration of art with science. As I stated earlier, I believe I have a wide range of interests but I have never really been a fan of the arts. I like playing instruments and you can catch me doodling in my notebooks during study breaks but I could never study the meaning of the arts. I think mostly because I did not understand it so it could not capture my attention. But this book has given me something I can learn about art. Now I can look for the science in the art and the art in science.

The other major thing I enjoyed about these discussions is that I learned a lot more about myself and how I learn. A few of our discussions touched on the educational system (personally I think it is flawed in many ways, but I won’t elaborate on that here). I thought about the structure of my classes and how that correlated to how much I enjoyed the subject. I found the more discussion based the class was the more I looked forward to and studied for that class. It was interesting that other people in my cohort have experienced the same correlation. Discovering how people learn also connects to our Paideia topic of understanding human behavior. The coolest thing about humans and animals is that we are always changing and adapting to our environment. Learning is a key aspect to this adaptation. So understanding how we learn is essential to understanding how we behave.