Why I Like My School

I am teaching Learning Theory over the summer. I was explaining to my students that we learn to recognize patterns in the world by seeing lots of examples of them. Eventually, we create sort of an average representation, and we recognize things that are close to that prototype as being new instances of the pattern. If we actually see that prototype for the first time (which usually only happens in a lab situation, where the pattern has been deliberately created and the prototype actually exists), we recognize it more quickly and easily than less typical instances that we've seen before. The real-world example that I gave was that I've been a fantasy/sf fan for years. When I finally read Lord of the Rings before the movies came out, everything seemed incredibly friendly and familiar--because it was the central, prototypical example of all the other stuff I'd read.

Then we spent a fair portion of the discussion session talking about the eyewitness testimony work and comparing it to the experience of reading a book and then seeing the movie, and creating a representation of the story that has elements of both. We were using examples from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and the upcoming Narnia movies.

I can talk about these things with my students, and they've seen them all and get the references. I spent half an hour after class today showing one of my students the new Mirrormask trailer and convincing her to read Neil Gaiman because she happened to be wearing a Labyrinth shirt. And then I spent another half hour geeking with my suitemate about all the sf and fantasy movies that are coming out this year.

And we all know where we are going to be on Friday night, too. I like working at a geek school.