A Private Universe

Another video that can be used to trigger student-faculty discussion about learning is “A Private Universe,” also available free as streaming video on the web from Annenberg Media; it was produced by Matt Schneps and his team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center. You have to create a sign-in to watch it. But the questions are for assessment purposes and not invasive. The streaming video is not as smooth a download as I would like. I have to keep stopping it and starting it when it would freeze up. It's worth the effort though.
Why is this video important? It shows exactly how difficult it is to change people's preconceptions of how the world works. Since that is our project, especially in anthropology, the video is a sobering reminder of exactly how subtle and how difficult the task we face really is. Anyone who still thinks they can construct a lecture that will do the job after seeing this video has their head in the sand.