The real Avatar story – http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1222-hance_avatar.html

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1222-hance_avatar.html

“Texas-based Hunt Oil, with full support of the Peruvian government, moved into the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve with helicopters and large machinery for seismic testing. A scene not unlike Avatar, which shows a corporation entering indigenous territory with gun ships. The seismic testing alone involves 300 miles of testing trails, over 12,000 explosive charges, and 100 helicopter land pads in the middle of a largely-untouched and unknown region of the Amazonian rainforest. The reserve, which was created to protect native peoples’ homes, may soon be turned into a land of oil scars. Indigenous groups say they were never properly consulted by Hunt Oil for use of their land.”

Read this link  – when will it stop – not until every last tree is is felled and bulldozed away?

Numeracy video – nursing drug calculations

Here are two videos I made last week for a presentation. I used my little camera.

embedding slideshare – again

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Taliban

Here is a very good video about the recent fighting in Pakistan and the rise of the Taliban there. It talks about the Madrassa schools which are apparently tolerated by the Pakistani government and are teaching extremist Islamic law to the children and turning them into Taliban. Martydom is taught as a blessing.

Coming to the end of her bleak journey, Obaid-Chinoy reminds us that there are 80 million children in Pakistan, many of them living in poverty. If the militants continue to expand their war and to recruit children freely, as they do now, then Pakistan may soon belong to them.

Using the library

Shame on NZ and the National Government – No to the Boycott UN’s conferernce on Race Relations

The United States were the first to boycott the conference and a number of other countries, including New Zealand, followed suit. – Is this what we are to expect from the National Government from now on? – Ok The President of Iran was certainly ‘in your face’ but if you look at the history of Palestine – DO YOU BLAME HIM??? Countries like NZ, Britian, USA, Australia have to admit the state of Israel IS racist and the creation of this state in Palestine was one of the biggest stupidest mistakes in all of history. It is at the core of so much of the worlds’ troubles today. No we cannot undo the past but we can at least allow discussion on the subject – open some dialogue and admit mistakes were made.

Thank you to Commissioner Joris de Bres for attending the conference in Geneva independently of the Government and for questioning why New Zealand chose to stay away.

The UN’s high commissioner on human rights has condemned President Ahmadinejad for political grandstanding but says the appropriate response is debate, not boycotts. – I agree! We must debate these issue and not allow NZ to be pulled along with countries like USA and Britian – their agenda is not necessarily ours.

NZ has a history of attempting to redress past injustices in Aotearoa, perhaps past injustices in Palestine also need redressing for the world to move forward in peace. Maybe NZ could have played a part in helping to bring this about.

NZ Race Relations Commissioner Gives Speech at UN

Labour accuse McCully of Being a Bully

Iran works on new proposals for more nuclear talks

Shame on you John Key – shame

Confessions of an economic hitman –

Excellent video. Please watch it.

Staff Communication – PD opportunity

Kia ora,

You may be aware there is currently a TEC funded ‘Literacy and Numeracy Capability Development’ project underway within the Otago Polytechnic. This is a three year project to embed the Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy into courses.

The Foundation Learning Progressions for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (FLP ) are a new national tool that have been developed for use in tertiary education. There is a TEC expectation that embedding literacy and numeracy into all of OP’s programmes will become ‘business as usual’ following the three year project. It is also hoped the use of the FLP will enhance teaching and learning and lead to an improvement in the success and retention of our students.

Last year TEC funded a “literacy cluster’ programme which focussed on embedding literacy into vocational course content. This year they are funding a ‘numeracy cluster’.

The three numeracy strands include:

Making Sense of Number to Solve Problems

Reasoning Statistically

Measuring and Interpreting Shape and Space.

The ‘cluster meetings’ are for OP staff only and consist of 8 full day workshops spread over 6 weeks and 4 other shorter meetings. You DO NOT have to be a maths expert to participate in this professional development. If you are lacking in confidence with your numerical skills then this is the PD for you. Often learners make the best teachers!

Equally, if you are a maths expert this P.D. is for you. You will be shown methods and strategies for bringing the content down to the level of the learner.

This P.D. time is over and above the time for P.D. you have already been allocated and we also have funding for relievers to cover your class responsibilities.

If your programme manager hasn’t already done so, could you please discuss this opportunity with them or contact Helen Lindsay hlindsay@tekotago.ac.nz directly.

This is an opportunity for you to take a leadership role within your school and become a “champion” of the foundation learning progressions. Following the cluster meetings you will be encouraged to take a leading role in your school or programme to support other staff with the task of embedding the numeracy and literacy progressions into the various courses offered by your school.

The dates for numeracy cluster professional development are as follows:

April 21 and 22 (&23rd 1 – 2 hours possibly)

May 14 and 15

June 3 and 4 (note a change from earlier correspondence to PM’s)

June 25 and 26

Week beginning July 20 – 2 days TBA

Week beginning Aug 10 – 2 days TBA

Ka kite ano,

Helen

‘The Philosophy of Liberty’

An exercise in communication embedded within sustainability.

Following a conversation between Steve Parker and Anna Hughes in the sustainability google group I watched the video “The Philosophy of Liberty‘ .

It is a good resource to provoke discussion.

I have written this response to the video and I welcome your comments. Also it occurred to me that this ‘essay’ could be used as a writing skills task embedded within the context of sustainability – I have some questions at the bottom,

First watch the video…

http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?q=the%20hilosophy%20of%20liberty&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&safe=on&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv#

Here are two comments from the author in answer to some of the criticism of his video:

“There will always be inequality. There is nothing fair about one man being born blind and the other with sight. That outcome is evolutions fate, and no amount of stone-age thinking collectivism will ever rectify the situation.”

“Hunter-gatherers were egalitarians! Sharing makes a heck of a lot of sense if you’re simply trying [to] scrape by enough food/shelter/clothing to survive. In modern chaotic developed economies where participants spend ~90% of their time producing luxuries and new wealth arises mainly from new ideas, sharing is not the best way to motivate and inspire people to maximize output.”

My response to his comments are: “The author of this video clearly has a misunderstanding of the theory of evolution and seems ignorant to the state of many people’s lives in the world.

The video states, “Since you own your life you are responsible for your life” –

I state “What about responsibility for the lives of others?”

Here is my lengthly response to the video :

The Essay

Libertarianism and philosophy go hand and hand, especially when your philosophy of life includes the belief that there is no ‘right or wrong’. Libertarians know “what is right for me’ but do they think about what is the right for the greater good? Perhaps, however, I think the author of this video, and probably most libertarians have good intentions for humankind but are lacking a certain level of ’spiritual evolution’ for their system to ever work. I define spiritual evolution in the context of this essay as ‘an awareness, which acknowledges the interconnection of all human beings and species on this planet and the need to consider others as well as themselves”.

As the author has chosen to use the theory of evolution to support his ideas I will do the same. Who was it that said, “Nothing makes sense except in the light of evolution”? Darwinian Theory explains much about human nature, and so, let’s apply it to the ‘Philosophy of Liberty’ and Libertarianism.

Along with many higher order mammals, humans evolved as a co-operative species, surviving by using strategies such as living within communities and sharing resources. This altruistic behaviour served humans very well for hundreds of thousands of years. Is altruism still working? If not, what has gone wrong? Why are humans going to war with each other, flying planes into skyscrapers and destroying the planet with over consumption and pollution? This is not altruistic behaviour. The answer might be revealed through an understanding of the theory of ‘mate selection’.

The theory of mate selection states that many animal species display their strength, territory or resources through adaptations like colourful feathers, song, nest building, demonstrations of physical prowess, etc in the hope of attracting a mate or scaring off a rival for a mate. Likewise, humans put value on the acquisition of wealth; fancy clothes or property etc for the same reason. The owner of the massive house with its large plasma TV is really saying – “Look at me, haven’t I become successful, come and mate with me, I can not only provide food and shelter, but I am so successful I have excess to spare. This instinct to ‘store acorns’ is ‘materialism’ and it is in our genes. We can’t help it! Material possessions are seen as sexy.

Materialism is therefore an evolutionary trait that has increased reproductive success and hence survival of the fittest. Altruism is another one. Altruism and materialism are not mutually exclusive. Altruism sits within a superset of behavioural traits, which include materialism and were selected earlier by an environment of scarcity and intra-specific competition. Altruism is a higher evolutionary strategy, which has enabled humans to succeed not only biologically but culturally as well. Through cultural evolution humans are now in a position to enjoy music, fine food, international travel, fast cars, the right to bear arms, nuclear weapons, fashion clothing, I-pods, plastic bags, etc. All those wonderful inventions and commodities that libertarians believe we have the freedom and right to possess.

So humans are both materialistic and altruistic. Is this a fatal flaw in our evolution? As we know, humans are fighting each other over ownership of territory and resources and destroying the planet with over consumption and pollution, so if we are altruistic why don’t we just stop this nonsense and save the world?

The answer is twofold. Firstly, research into other altruistic species has shown that altruistic behaviour is only extended to ‘kin’. This is called kin selection. Help or “sharing” is offered only to those with genes in common, i.e. relatives. Secondly, there is an alternative to the altruism gene; the ‘cheating gene’. “Cheating” is a behavioural strategy that survives within a predominantly altruistic population. Cheaters are tolerated by the altruists and get ahead by exploiting their good nature.

The ‘Cheating’ strategy thrives within a model of ‘liberty and freedom’. If people are rewarded by putting themselves and their greediness before the greater good of the species and the planet then the ‘cheating’ gene’ will continue. Indeed it will be selected for.

To stop the nonsense and save the planet from destruction we must consciously fight against our natural instincts to be selfish and change our value system. We must sanction cheating behaviour and extend our altruism beyond kin or our local gene pool (e.g a country) to include all races and creeds on earth. We must look at the species as having a global gene pool. We must recognise all humans as being kin.

Libertarianism does not recognise the interrelatedness and interrelationships between all the people on this planet. It provides a haven for inherently selfish people – people with the ‘cheating’ gene. Unless humans recognise we have an inherent nature for materialism and greediness, which competes with our altruistic tendencies, we are doomed to compete and fight with each other forever.

Evolution acts at the level of the species but it is enacted at the level of the individual. Intelligent, educated 21st Century, ‘enlightened’ individuals have reached a point in evolution where they are able to understand some of the nature of human behaviour. They are able to see that only a value system firmly grounded in notions of community responsibility and caring for others will ensure the survival of our species. We have been “vehicles for our DNA” (S. Gould) at the cost of our environment for too long. Our environment will eventually no longer be able to support an ever growing population of selfish destructive human genetic material.

Libertarianism as an evolutionary step, will only work if we are all enlightened. This is sadly not the case. Libertarianism only serves the needs of a minority. Whilst there are still greedy people in the world, libertarianism and the notion of ‘freedom’ are too risky, and sane humanitarian democratically elected governments must remain.

The end

Communication skills task:

1. Comment on the structure of this essay – how could you improve it?
2. Find the references that are missing and insert them into text
   
3. Add some examples to illustrate some points made
   
4. Add any missing definitions that are needed.
5. Write your own counter or supporting argument.

Meeting with Midwifery Department

Jean Patterson and I sat down and talked around the whole issue of students who are, for a variety of reasons not already equipped with level 2/3 literacy and numeracy skills when they arrive on our doorstep to study at level 5.

We decided (to keep the problem manageable) we would concentrate on how the midwifery department could begin to address this problem by concentrating on the Learning Progressions Tool (LPT). Jean has been given 10 hours of professional development time in 2009 to begin the process of ‘embedding’ literacy and numeracy into the midwifery programme. After some discussion…

We decided:

• Jean would select a new 1st year (assessment) task and use the progressions to map the literacy and /or numeracy demands of the task
• She will forward a copy of the task to me and I will attempt to do the same
• We will jointly prepare a departmental presentation of this process using powerpoint
• Jean will request that staff attend a team meeting for the purpose of this presentation and a workshop which will follow
• Jean will ask these staff to bring a 1st year assessment task that they have written for the purpose of mapping it against the learning progressions at the workshop
• The workshop will be on the 4th of June
• An initial vision for the midwifery department would be to have ALL staff map at least one (if not all) of their 1st Year assessment tasks against the progressions so there is a “profile” of the literacy and numeracy demands of the first year of the Bachelor of Midwifery.
• This detailed ‘course profile‘ can form the basis from which we will be able to judge the abilities required of the students to achieve in the course.
• The course profile can be used to identify any mismatches between the skills required from the course and the skills actually taught in the course (such as APA referencing – currently required,  but not taught, Drug calculations – maths ability required but not taught, drug calculation given in booklet form only)
• It can then be documented how the gap between the skills required and the skills taught is being plugged. -
• We can identify where the gap is plugged by the department through its’ embedded literacy content (such as timetabled visits to the library with a librarian) or
• plugged by the Learning Centre or School of Foundation Studies, through supplementary classes/workshops or
• NOT plugged at all.

Jean and I will meet again soon.