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Sergio Rojas (Ph.D. in Physics) Department of Physics Bol Universidad Simon var
email: srojas@usb.ve http://caos.fs.usb.ve/srojas/
Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
MOTIVATION
Thoughts are free and subject to no rule. On them rests the freedom of man, and they tower above the light of nature...create a new heaven, a new rmament, a new source of energy from which new arts ow. Theophrastus Phillippus (Paracelsus) Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. Albert Einstein
Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
Exploratory Questions
A couple of exploratory questions one could ask our students during the rst day of any class are:
What are you doing at this University? Why are you attending this class?
A variety of answers will be obtained. Before continuing, let me, please, take your answers too.
Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
Received Answers
I am studying to get my diploma on (whatever subject), and a requirement to obtain it is to pass this course.
Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
The story
After the short interchange with the students, I ask them to help me reading the following story: A strange fellow approached three construction workers who were part of the team building a cathedral. Excuse me, young man, what are you doing? the strange guy asked one of the workers, who was doing his work with some anxiety. I am cutting stones, the worker replied. Realizing that the construction worker had no desire to engage in conversation, the strange man repeated his question to another worker. This time, this construction worker paused and stated that he was a stonecutter from the north who had come to work and who would return home as soon as he had earned some money.
Bol Sergio Rojas, Universidad Simon var ON MOTIVATION AND INSPIRATION 9
Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
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The third worker is like the active-learner student, who has realized that their University life is much more than obtaining a University diploma and/or passing grade in a class. The active-learner student understands that every subject is interconnected each to another, and consequently he or she needs to understand everything as a whole. Thus, several perspectives can be applied to study any subject. For these students, the University diploma will come as a matter of consciously driving their way through every aspect of the University life.
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Outline
Motivation A couple of questions Some of the received answers The story What the heck the story has to do with University life? Concluding remarks
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Ending remarks
The hope of telling this story is to reshape students reasoning about their University life. Indeed, after the story has been told, at least in that short period of time, the answer by the students to the posed questions takes another view. Eventually it will be part of their long memory resources and will guide them to approach their endeavors from a different perspectives.
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