Weeks 7 – 8: Making sense, making mistakes

Our Tuesday class information can be found here. Items below in bold are due by midnight that day but can/should? be done earlier.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
21 post photo post question	22 share progress (week6) read Perusall	23 class .	24 . .	25 Perusall due office hours	26 . .	27 . .
28 post photo post question	1 share progress review Perusall	2 class .	3 . .	4 Perusall office hours	5 . .	6 . .
7 post photo post question	8 . .	9 class .	10 . .	11 Perusall office hours	12 . .	13 . .

I see a few key questions emerging that relate to everyone: what does the filter (and/or ink) really do – particularly to the light that doesn’t “get through”? how does that change what colors we see? What does that tell us about different colors – red seems fundamentally different from yellow; green is in the rainbow but can also be made by mixing colors – what’s going on? I would love to continue to focus on yellow in particular – but feel free to expand these questions to other colors if so inspired or if it helps you in making sense of these ideas.

While we’re going to be focusing on making sense of our observations, we’re also going to be making mistakes (“breaking eggs,” to use Haley’s metaphor?). And in our conversations about the “Stupidity” article, this question about how we feel about feelings (meta-affect – how you feel about being confused, for example, or wrong, or uncertain) came up. I’m going to have us take two weeks to dig into a reading by Jennifer Radoff, Lama Jaber and David Hammer about meta-affect. First few pages are due for next week.

1. As always, be working to make sense of color – focusing on one of the following 3 questions (and continue with investigations you’re doing). Dedicate about 5 hours each week to this; look at and post to Currents under Week 5.

(A) What is the filter (and/or ink) doing to the light that doesn’t “get through?” We had some options – “absorbing,” “refracting” (bending), “reflecting,” or “mutating/transmogrifying” (which is to say :turning into something else). What do you think? (In your answer, you may need to define/explain what the term you use means to you.) How come?

(B) We argued that a red filter lets only red light through while OYGBIV is not (it’s reflected? or absorbed? or mutated?… that was question 1!). We then discussed what a yellow filter does, and we had two options: it lets Y through; or it lets ROYG through. Which one do you believe is true? What makes you think this? — in answering this, consider Melissa’s photos of a prism’s light after passing through a yellow filter, or Mike’s of the prism’s light through 7 yellow filters, or Hannah’s and Haley’s views of ink in cups, or any other observations you make. If you’re feeling ambitious, what do you think the magenta filter lets through? (There’s no M in ROYGBIV!)

(C) We’ve had a working hypothesis that the rainbow colors are the “single” colors and mixtures are not in the rainbow. This works for thinking about white and black and brown. But Joshua pointed out that green – in the rainbow – is a mixture of blue and yellow. Thoughts?Also: share (1) your workspace photos and (2) your list of questions. Due by Sunday night, every Sunday, on Currents.

And, as always, be keeping track in your notebook; including notes, thoughts, etc. from class on Tuesday. (Still a few weeks until it gets graded.)