Individual "Take Home Final Exam" Tasks
Due: 10 a.m. on Thursday 05/05/2016
Location: ITTC 134 classroom/lab
Purpose: To be well prepared to contribute to group presentation.


  1. Polya on problem solving: Finding a way out of a difficulty or around an obstacle ...
  2. "A problem solver must know his mind and an athlete must know his body in about the same way as a jockey knows his horses. I imagine that a jockey studies horses not for the sake of pure science but to make them perform better ..."

    1. List at least 6 difficulties that you see yourself or any problem solver or problem solvers needing to find their way out of. (Hints: Music, athletics, academics, art, everyday life, teams, communities, groups, ...).

    2. What specific ideas from this class can you list that enable you to perform better because you as a problem solver know your mind better and thus have better problem solving ability? Explain each idea to someone who has not taken the class. Explain how it helps you to perform better or can help you to perform better.

    3. How does the three step problem solving approach and the metaphor of Venkman, Stantz and Spengler help you in the future in "attaining an aim which was not immediately attainable".

  3. Dr. Peter Venkman: "He Slimed Me... I feel so funky."
    Which Ghostbuster first sees the green slimer (... and calls it a disgusting blob)?
    
    Which Ghostbuster tries to get an instrument reading from a hotel guest,
         then pushes the guest's shoulder, thinking that the guest might possibly be a ghost
         and be part of the problem they are trying to find and solve?
    
    What does Dr. Raymond Stantz say in response to Venkman and the news 
         that Venkman had just been slimed?  
         Venkman was lying flat on his back there on the 12th floor of the Hotel Sedgewick?
    
    What does Dr. Egon Spengler say when he hears the news?
    
  4. Draw this Figure 8.1 diagram. Carefully draw it using pencil or pen so it is a clear reproduction of the diagram. More details on the Figure 8.1 diagram terms that might be helpful.

    P is the Present State and G is the Goal State. What does the Comparator represent? What is an OPERAND? How is an OPERAND the opposite of ACTION or operator. Figure 8.1 diagram is from GoalDirectedLearning.pdf resource.

  5. Some discussion of the meaning of the terms in the diagram: operand.txt on verbs and nouns, work and product of work, solving slimer problems and tranforming the reality of life at Hotel Sedgewick by Ghostbusters problem solving.

    Problem solving scene in the ballroom of the Hotel Sedgewick. And "The Flowers are Still Standing!"

    Operand is a noun, a thing.                  Hotel Sedgewick with slimer ghost.
    Operand is something that gets changed.
    Operand is something that gets transformed.  Hotel Sedgewick with slimer gone.
                                                 The slimer is entrapped, taken back 
                                                 to Ghostbusters headquarters and placed
                                                 in the Ectocontainment System.
    
    Action is a verb, an act.                    Ghostbusters solving the problem.
                                                 Ghostbusters team working, using their tools,
                                                 getting first successful experience 
                                                 at problem solving, at ghostbusting, 
                                                 dealing with slimers and unlicensed nuclear
                                                 accelerators and entrapment devices.
    
    
  6. Class handout: A Mind For Numbers - How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley.
  7. Amazon.com link to A Mind For Numbers book.

    1. There are 14 different editorial reviews toward the top of the www.amazon.com page for A Mind For Numbers. (from Mike Rowe through Library Journal to Francis Spielhagen). Write down word for word your favorite editorial review, perhaps based on what you most liked about the MindForNumbers.pdf handout.
    2. Do a Look Inside the book and perhaps a Listen (free portion of the AudioBook will play).

      Using First Pages and/or Surprise Me! from the Look Inside amazon.com tool, find a paragraph of the book that most connects with you and quote it in full.

      VIP: Be sure to write it out neatly enough an clearly enough in Pen or Pencil so it can be used in the group presentation, and also so that members of your group can look at it and brainstorm about it.

    3. Reread the A Mind For Numbers handout (linked to above) and write about half a page about what you think you understand better or can develop further than when you worked on this in class as a group exercise. Would it make a difference in the future for your learning and using math? Does it connect with Maisel's Coaching the Artist, with GB problem solving steps, with From STEM to STEAM? What can you use? What might make you a more valuable employee, citizen, parent to your children? What can be used in your group discussion and/or presentation? Brainstorm. Think. Write.

  8. Geog Colvin's book Talent is Overrated on www.amazon.com has 30 to 40 free preview pages you can look at along with the table of contents. Use First Pages to browse through the beginning of the book and use Surprise Me! to randomly see later pages and chapters of the book.

    Write down (quote it in its entirety) a paragraph that you find especially interesting or relevant. It will be a paragraph that might add to your understanding of the topics in problem solving and GB, PW, DWW and Growth Mindset, Fixed Mindset and Coaching the Artist Within and so on for the class.

    You will share this paragraph with your group on 05/05/Thursday during the preparation for your group presentation. It should be written legibly enough with PEN or PENCIL so that it could be placed on the camera/elmo during your group presentation.

  9. Small groups discussion -- new handout from the last day of class: Mindset by Carol Dweck - Fixed versus Growth Mindset concepts, as discussed and developed in several group exercises involving From STEM to STEAM readings/handout from March and early April.
    1. Amazon.com Mindset by Carol Dweck. Look Inside pages, First Pages or Surprise Me.

      Write down (quote it in its entirety) a paragraph that you find especially interesting or relevant. It will be a paragraph that might add to your understanding of the topics in problem solving and GB, PW, DWW and Growth Mindset, Fixed Mindset and Coaching the Artist Within and so on for the class.

      You will share this paragraph with your group on 05/05/Thursday during the preparation for your group presentation. It should be written legibly enough with PEN or PENCIL so that it could be placed on the camera/elmo during your group presentation.

    2. Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review of Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.'s Mindset:
      Which of the eight is the one to which you most relate?

      Note: All 8 key takeaway's are available on the Look Inside pages - First Pages - pages 6 and 7 list them.

      Write out word for word the key takeaway that seems most relevant for you or for the group presentation/group discussion on May 5th.
      Discuss and/or explain why you chose this one.

    3. Reread the Mindset.pdf handout: Write what you found most interesting from the PDF and handout. Write down and discuss what from it might be useful or relevant to a UNI Panther regarding either academics or arts or athletics, or all three.
  10. Of Mice and Men: What is the way to solve problems? What was the great example and who or what inspired it?
  11. What are the 3 D's of the waggle dancing bees? Waggle Dancing Bees problem solving. 3 D's are conveyed by the waggle dance. What are the 3 Ds?

Resources from pages semesters: Fall 2015 take home final assignment ...