Subject: What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects?

Posted by Sharon Villines on 6/4/2010
In Reply To:What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? Posted by Tony Phuah on 6/4/2010

Message:

I think as long as it is connected to modeling, which some if not many ST/SD enthusiasts do, it won't be taught in any of the humanities, only the sciences, and probably not in many social sciences. The translation of the world into numbers, as well as the mathematical preparation, just isn't there. It's more than the preparation, however, it's a whole world view.

Models are so far removed from how that half of the population experiences the world that there would be little motivation for putting the numbers together with the emotional and tactile experience. Not impossible but a stretch without a generational shift in education. Not impossible but that is the barrier I see.

Modeling needs Steve Jobs' Human Interface Design. Perhaps more meaningful graphic images, as in Tufte.

A very superficial example of how I began counting events came out of being bored in a lecture that was ostensibly on Jane Addams. Hard to follow which who was said what because it was filled with pronouns.
For want of anything better to do, I began counting the pronouns and discovered that over 90% were male. It wasn't a lecture on Jane Addams, it was lecture on men and what they thought of her.

Two years ago I started a similar counting project on the NYTimes that I plan to publish and to continue the counting to see if it has any effect. I have a contact "inside" so I hope to get it circulated internally as well. One never knows what other forces might influence the numbers, but I have a two year base to work from. It has the problem of general societal change but one two year period followed by another shouldn't affect it that much.

(The study started as a one year project but the analysis didn't get done. Someday....)

Sharon

Follow Ups:

What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Sharon Villines 6/4/2010 
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Ed Johnson 6/4/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Tony Phuah 6/4/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Sharon Villines 6/4/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Tony Phuah 6/6/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Sharon Villines 6/6/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Tony Phuah 6/7/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Sharon Villines 6/7/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Bob Gorman 6/7/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Alex Leus 6/6/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Steve Crowley 6/6/2010
What are the differences between teaching ST/SD and other subjects? - Tony Phuah 6/6/2010