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Pass? or Prepared?

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: April 26, 2000
E-Mail jeanne
E-Mail Susan

Rudiger Appel's Figurine and Link to his site.Modern and Postmodern
and the Story of the Whales

Go to Martin Ryder's "Affordances and Constraints of the Internet for Learning and Instruction" (Internet) See particularly the Stone story of Dr. Laurel's whales. Under Modern to Postmodern, about a quarter of the way down the file. Good, clear explanation:
"This encounter is a vivid contrast between modern and postmodern thinking. The modernist presents the truth, just as it was nailed on the door at the church of Wittenburg in 1557; just as it was introduced to American children in six complete volumes for most of the 19th Century, just as it was represented on the 1950s television quiz show "the 64,000 Question". The postmodernist offers multiple perspectives from a complex world, including, perhaps, the modernist conception of truth (Wilson, 1994)."

Answer the following questions based on the whale story.
Click on the number of the question to see jeanne's answer.

  1. How did Dr. Laurel conceive of the whale story?

  2. In what way does Dr. Laurel's decision to let the reader put together his/her own ordering of how the story is told reflect interatctivity?

  3. How does this ceding of some control to the viewer fit with postmodernism?

  4. What do you think Van Doren meant by ""Encyclopedias don't present viewpoints," he said, biting off the words. "Encyclopedias present truth." ?

  5. How does the story of the whales relate to our ability to listen in good faith to those who hold different perspectives from us?

  6. How does the story of the whales relate to criminal justice?

Figurine by Rudiger Appel. Notice that you can see three effects in the animation. Either the Variation on the Kandinsky figurine appears to turn in a clockwise direction, or in a counterclockwise direction, or it appears to open and close. Can you see all three effects? Try. Fascinated? Link to Appel's site and then link to the background he provides. Scroll down until you find a link to background.

Chantessy's Page Chantessy's Mardi Gras Alphabet was originally used on this page. We changed it because it was too distracting as eye candy. Chantessy was the first contributor to our Kids' Site when we began Dear Habermas. Visit her page. Check out the sliders puzzles on her fun page. Or check out her candy box and send a friend a posty. Non-violent ways to respond to structural violence in the academy! It's great fun.