Extra Credit Option 1:
Up to 2 points towards your lowest exam grade (of the 3 included for you grade).
Please submit a two paragraph summary based one of Shenk’s chapters. My intention here is to see if you read the book and that you can relate it to your own existing schema/knowledge—not a cut/paste of a summary online. You are to relate the chapter to your own experiences and thoughts.
For example, as you read SHENK—I want you to think about how the material you’ve learned in one of his chapters and what in particular was the interesting knowledge gained in the chapter? How has this knowledge you’ve learned (of material covered in the chapter) led to the kinds of thinking within yourself, and/or the kinds of conversations that has occurred outside of the classroom. Has this new knowledge crept its way into your everyday conversations at work? With a friend/family, while in your thoughts in the subway? Or another class? Or to a reinterpretation and reorganization of your experiences and knowledge? You can also point out the way in which your understanding of nature x nurture has changed as a result of what you’ve read. Post on your thoughts on OpenLab student site.
Respond via Reply here at OpenLab
the chapter that i am going to write about is chapter four.the title is The Similarities and Dissimilarities of Twins. Shenk talked about how there were actually cloned a cat names rainbow. rainbow and her clone Cc were the first pet to be successfully cloned. they shared the exact same nuclear DNA. the crazy thing was the rainbow was a calico cat but her twin was a grey and white cat who was slender and rainbow was plump. both these cats have different personalities despite having the same nuclear DNA. i talked a lot about this with my neighbor which i refer to hr as “the cat lady”. she has many cats that is her own and others that she rescues. she has told me she wanted to clone her favorite cat named Mimi but she does not know if its possible. i told her about how in 2001, geneticists at Texas A&M University showed that the cat rainbow and her twin share exactly the same nuclear DNA despite being two different cats like their fur color, their personalities and physically.
i also read in the same chapter that 39 year old man names Jim Lewis traced down and met his identical twin brother. both these brothers were same on deciding what they can and cannot do, what they like, same names of divorced and married people. i found this really fascinating i had to talk to my professor about it. i told him about these twins, on how they were separated at 4 weeks old and they grew up to be mostly identical with everything even though they grew up in two separate families. i talked about the babies having the same first and middle name, the same drinks they like and smoke the same thing. we ended up telling the whole class and had a class discussion on this topic, it was really interesting.
The chapter from Schenk that related to me the most was Chapter 3…The End of “Giftedness” The chapter basically talks about how it was though that extraordinary people were “gifted”, but the chapter ended up showing that practice is the key. Studies by Ericsson showed that “practice makes perfect”. This relates to me because I used to be at the belief that some people are just born great…but a couple of years ago, i had a personal trainer who explained to me that your body doesn’t change overnight. It takes practice and commitment. After reading Schenk, we had a discussion about it and it reinforced what his mantra was as he trains people…practice, practice, practice and dedication.
The five doctrines mentioned in the chapter – practice changes your body, skills are specific, the brain drives the brawn, practice style is crucial and short term intensity cannot replace long-term commitment – have now become a staple in my life. I am using these rules to guide me in my education and my future career choice. Speaking to a trusted confidant, he agreed with my current thinking and I believe my schema regarding greatness has been altered and altered in a more positive light. I will better myself and continue to grow and pass my knowledge to my peers. My new found guiding light of knowledge will be a catalyst in my life.