Teaching Visual Critical Thinking IX - Is that an Idly Grinder in a lab?

Our classes on Visual Critical Thinking continue, adding an incredible dimension to teaching and learning at Al Qamar Academy.

Today I used this picture for the visual critical thinking skills discussion in today’s class.  Please do click on the llink and see the picture before proceeding.

The students  were given 2 driving questions to ponder over - What they thought was going on in the picture with evidence to support their ideas, & To use observations and inferences to explain what they thought was happening in the picture.

Shahul observed that the picture showed a group of people working on a rotating grinder and not like scientists.  

Izzy stated that it looked like a factory setting where the people were sanitised and wore masks. He concluded that they were making cheese in a factory and all were looking at ripe cheese.  They looked like Asians while one looked Chinese as observed from his facial features.  

Ruqayya concurred with Izzy that it looked like a cheese factory as the people all wore gloves as they were handling cheese.  The big container looked like where the whey and curd/cheese were separated.  She observed that the parts sticking out from the big container looked like spinners on which the container spun around.  She noticed the racks at the back which could have been used to store the cheese and that the cheese wasn’t done yet.  She noticed that the visitors were taking down notes but was unsure about what.  She also had no idea on the purpose of the posters and bottles seen in the background.  She also observed one of the people wore headphones while few wore masks and gloves.

Mooz declared that they looked like scientists visiting a science lab in a different country for they had visitor badges on their coats.  Although they wore masks, there was  no social distancing and they might be testing and checking a cure for some kind of virus.

Cessie said that they looked like medical students or maybe scientists with two of them being visitors while the others were doctors and volunteers. She assumed the two visitors were from another lab or university who had come to observe an exhibit or some new discovery as they wore masks and gloves and took notes while the others observed.  She noticed some posters in the background on the walls that mentioned something about a Cold Box, Tail and Product but had no idea about it.  

Afrah disagreed with Izzy and Ruqayya.  She mentioned that the men looked like chemists with two among them being visitors from maybe a university as the badges on their coats revealed.  They seemed to be observing and writing what seemed like an experiment.  The setting was more like a lab which consumed electricity as there was a big electric box in the background.  There may be something contagious, the reason for their wearing gloves and masks, for they may be looking for a cure for some disease.

When I asked them to observe what was sticking out of the machine with what looked like an opening or outlet in the big container, only Afrah articulated that they looked like huge copper nuts and bolts.  She believed that it was part of some circuit and couldn’t be a grinder or cheese separator.  She remarked that the people were not lookng inside but away from the machine, probably observing some output on a screen in the distance.

I asked the students whether it was possible that a factory could have one machine without any other machinery in sight and whether the door behind the room could be open if the process  involved dairy products.  Afrah also noticed that the sign on the wall about a cold box had a yellow triangle which usually meant something hazardous which is only possible if the setting was a lab rather than a factory.

At the end of the class, I revealed the caption to them that they were inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency at a nuclear site south of Teheran. The article mentioned that Iran had begun to conduct work on advanced centrifuges- the equipment that spun at supersonic speed to purify Uranium, a fuel for nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

We concluded that in all probability what was seen might be a centrifuge used to purify uranium.  Ruqayya was sad that she couldn’t guess accurately because of her lack of knowledge on history or nuclear power.  Mooz, Cessie and Izzy weren’t too happy either that they hadn’t been even close to guessing the right answer.  Afrah was sure that she knew from the beginning that it was some kind of a lab with chemists working and was well pleased that she was close to the outcome of this activity but was surprised to note that what looked like a huge Idly grinder could actually spin at supersonic speed.

To be able to keenly observe and modify one’s thought process, based on different perspectives presented by peers, is a skill.  Today, I was impressed by Afrah – she demonstrated critical decision making which involved calmness, clarity, and conviction in her inference. Additionally she was able to explain her observation, reasoning and conclusions in plain language to her peers.

Note : Student chosen aliases have been used instead of real names.  The link to the article with the actual picture has been provided below: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/learning/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-oct-21-2019.html

Al Qamar Alumna awarded Mensa Foundation International Scholarship

MashaAllah, Aisha Jamal, Al Qamar batch 2017, is one of the 5 students worldwide to be awarded the International Mensa Foundation Scholarship.

The scholarship which is awarded to Mensa Members, is decided solely on the basis of a personal essay. Aisha's essay also mentioned how her Al Qamar experience shaped her interest in Science & Math. Aisha is the only Asian to win this award this year.

Teaching Visual Critical Thinking VIII : Parkour here?

Language teaching integrates a number of different facets - in fact, taught well, it leads to development of metacognition skills in students. Recognising this greater goal of language teaching, we teachers at Al Qamar Academy have been working with our Middle school students to develop their Visual Critical thinking skills by using resources from the New York Times Learning Network, specifically, the What’s Going On In This Picture.

This time, I selected a mesmerizing photograph which juxtaposes several contrasting elements.  Before reading further, do view the photograph here. 

I asked my 8th graders to carefully study the photo for a few minutes and jot down their observations and thoughts.  What could be happening here? What could be the explanation?

Initially, several of the students thought the photo was a scene from a movie. Or photoshopped. The surreality of the picture lent itself well to this explanation. They observed the contrast of the background with the flippant activity (pun intended) of the man. Why would anyone be doing perfect flips in this completely bombed out locale. They noticed the fire still burning in one of the buildings and the rubble and concrete that littered the street. Two kids quickly identified that the man was doing parkour. The angle of his position was professional - he wasn’t just jumping around - he was good! 

Somebody wondered if this was a military training camp. That kind of explained the casual nature of the two boys in the picture - the rubble and destruction seems normal. But then another student pointed out that children wouldn’t be allowed to wander around in a military training camp. 

What about a construction site? Where the destruction of the buildings was a planned and normal event. Nothing horrific associated with that. But then other kids commented that a demolition in construction sites would be more planned. This area clearly looked as if it had been bombed. 

The children were trying to reconcile the apparent and widespread destruction with the casualness of parkour. Nothing else seemed to fit.

Then a child commented “What if there was a bomb blast. And the boy was thrown by the impact. But again - that didn’t work. The flip was deliberate and professional. The feet were pointed at the correct angle. The other boy in the picture too seemed calm and collected. No fear or panic.

What if there was an earthquake? And the buildings had collapsed. But then other children pointed out that the buildings in the background were still standing. They would’ve also collapsed or been damaged in an earthquake.  

“Maybe he’s doing the parkour to post on social media” guessed a student. Another student took up the thread “There must be something important enough happening if this photo was taken to be posted on social media.” 

The children finally concluded that this was a picture from a war torn zone. The bombing had probably not been recent - the onlooker was not in a panic. Additionally, the photographer had the time to frame a high resolution picture of the scene. So s/he must have planned to take the picture.  The children guessed that the location must have been somewhere in Afghanistan, Lebanon or Iraq.

Finally, one student guessed the correct place - “Palestine”. Another student explained the rationale behind the picture - “A  picture of a bombed out neighbourhood wouldn’t catch attention. But this kid doing parkour here would!” I revealed the story behind the picture - where a group of young Palestinian boys do parkour and post pictures on social media to garner attention about the life under colonization.  The final question posed by a student should give a lot of us adults food for thought “The Promised Land doesn’t deserve war. Religion doesn’t deserve war!”

The entire exercise took an hour. It was a testimony to the endurance of the children that they kept noticing further details and trying to reason out an explanation. I  was impressed how the class was working together building on each other's observations. Even when the students contradicted each other, it was respectful. They offered evidence to back up their claims. It was a team effort here.

So what do students get out of such a class. Superficially, they enjoy the conversation and sense of solving a puzzle. But on a deeper level, this exercise hones their observation skills. They learn to articulate their point of view and justify their claims. Pictures from different parts of the world adds to their repertoire of learning about cultures, politics and social realities. And finally, its not boring!!

Note : Due to copyright restrictions, the actual picture cannot be reproduced. Instead a link to the actual picture has been provided in the article as well as below:

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/whats-going-on-in-this-picture-nov-17-2014/