Read the essay 'On science and uncertainty' on pages 28-29 and post a blog entry in which you share you personal reflections using the following 'visible thinking' framework:
1. CONNECT to what you already knew
2. EXTEND: What new ideas did you get that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions?
3. CHALLENGE: What is still CHALLENGING or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings or puzzles do you now have?
What is science?
Science is a systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. However, it isn't always necessary for science to be true. People actually question the knowledge of science. "Science is founded on uncertainty." (Quotes form Lewis Thomas)
Therefore, we can not easily trust a new research's finding and conclusion because science is not just consisting of facts but also errors and this errors could lead to a new discovery but it is actually wrong because it has a "error" hence, it isn't necessary to believe a new research just because it is based on science.
What really amazes me is how people still believe in the conclusion stated by scientists just because they used theory to prove it. Like don't people see that those scientists are humans and they also tend to make errors. So why do they believe any scientific fact in seconds without thinking twice about it?
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014
Indigenous knowledge system
Indigenous knowledge system is the local knowledge that belongs to a specific society or culture. Although their knowledge belongs to them, we have to be very aware of its dynamism, and the way in which it has developed over time as it has come into contact with knowledge from other cultures such as European colonizers.
The Karamojong live in the southern part of Karamoja region in the north-east of Uganda, occupying an area equivalent to one tenth of the country. The Karamojong are part of a group that migrated from present-day Ethiopia and split into two branches, with one branch moving to Kenya to form the Kalenjin group and Maasai cluster. The other branch, called Ateker, migrated westwards. Ateker further split into several groups, including Turkana in present day Kenya, Iteso, Dodoth, Jie, Karamojong, and Kumam in Uganda, also Jiye and Toposa in southern Sudan all of them together now known as the "Teso Cluster" or "Karamojong Cluster".
Many Karamojong shun western-style clothes and instead wear "traditional" dress of a blanket -like shawl, often in red and black. The women wear elaborate bead work because they believe it is the best outfit to wear when herding the cattle and moving from place to place with them.
Another example comes from a South African colleague who engaged rural indigenous women by means of focused group discussions in her quest to understand the concept of health from an indigenous perspective. She learned that for the rural indigenous women of Southern Africa health
was basically about relationships! They believed that ill health occurred when relationships have broken down. In their indigenous thinking, even when restoration to health is sought through the bio medical approach, wholeness was possible only when broken relationships have been mended and restored because a person is most healthy when she or he is in harmony with others!
The Karamojong live in the southern part of Karamoja region in the north-east of Uganda, occupying an area equivalent to one tenth of the country. The Karamojong are part of a group that migrated from present-day Ethiopia and split into two branches, with one branch moving to Kenya to form the Kalenjin group and Maasai cluster. The other branch, called Ateker, migrated westwards. Ateker further split into several groups, including Turkana in present day Kenya, Iteso, Dodoth, Jie, Karamojong, and Kumam in Uganda, also Jiye and Toposa in southern Sudan all of them together now known as the "Teso Cluster" or "Karamojong Cluster".
Many Karamojong shun western-style clothes and instead wear "traditional" dress of a blanket -like shawl, often in red and black. The women wear elaborate bead work because they believe it is the best outfit to wear when herding the cattle and moving from place to place with them.
Another example comes from a South African colleague who engaged rural indigenous women by means of focused group discussions in her quest to understand the concept of health from an indigenous perspective. She learned that for the rural indigenous women of Southern Africa health
was basically about relationships! They believed that ill health occurred when relationships have broken down. In their indigenous thinking, even when restoration to health is sought through the bio medical approach, wholeness was possible only when broken relationships have been mended and restored because a person is most healthy when she or he is in harmony with others!
Friday, January 17, 2014
Is history a Science?
History is the study of the past, specifically how it relates to humans. It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about these events. Science is the concerted human effort to understand the history of the natural world and how the natural world works, with observable physical evidence as the basis of that understanding. The most striking difference between history and natural science is the degree to which proof can be established of the various contentions made by the scientist and the historian respectively.
History is not science because the answer seems self-evident. When scientists conduct their research, they are accompanied by laws of the scientific method. Progress in science rests on systematic testing, observation, and measurement of occurrence, normally requiring that results can be repeated if experiments are carried out with the same conditions. Whereas, historians are always necessarily dealing with incomplete information.
History is not science because the answer seems self-evident. When scientists conduct their research, they are accompanied by laws of the scientific method. Progress in science rests on systematic testing, observation, and measurement of occurrence, normally requiring that results can be repeated if experiments are carried out with the same conditions. Whereas, historians are always necessarily dealing with incomplete information.
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