Author: rwilliford

Victor’s Anatomy

Everyday we all make choices and whether we know it those choices impact everybody around us; one of the most valuable lessons to learn in life is your actions have consequences. In Victor’s Anatomy students will be immersed in a VR game where they will have to make empathetic or nonempathetic choices. When the game begins Nurse Amber is finishing her shift at the labor and delivery unit of a hospital and packing her things to leave. Heading out to her car she is stopped by a man who beings to ask her questions of life and creation, suddenly everything goes black and Amber wakes in a laboratory with the man. He reveals to her that he is Dr. Frankenstein and he wishes to create new life. He tells her she must use her abilities as a nurse to help him or she will die. Then the game transfers to the students control where they must try to help create this monster but prevent it from turning evil like its creator.

I was inspired by both Greys Anatomy and Frankenstein in this concept for I want students to also get a better understanding of human anatomy while learning about empathy. These will both be measured by questions about empathy and anatomy before and after the game is played. To follow up questions after the game students will be asked to write a personal refection to observe how it possible affected them in their personal lives. If time permits, I would also like to do a follow up refection a month later to see if their views on life or empathy have changed. It can be used in classrooms for students ages 15-24.

This game is to be submitted to be part of Teaching Tolerance, an organization for teachers dedicated to teaching students about bullying, acceptance and tolerance. They allow teachers to build learning plans for teaching students about empathy and this game could act as an addition to that.

Citations:

“Showing Empathy.” Teaching Tolerance, www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/showing-empathy.

The Importance of Using Your Own Name

On Saturday November 10th, Stevenson University students put on their final performance of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. The show starred Jordan Brown and Jackson Goodwin, these two were the comedy match made in heaven. Together they kept the audience intrigued whether through there battle over cucumber sandwiches and muffins or through their shared experience of faking the name Earnest. The director Jenny Male had her cast express true humor in relatable ways that allowed for the entire audience to enjoy. This comedy with the deeper meaning of being true to yourself and those around you was put on perfectly by the University and I look forward to attending other shows.

What if you did it for you?

In Frankenstein there is a part at the beginning where the narrator is explaining his life, he says ” Our studies were never forced…It was by this method, and not emulation that we were urged to application.” (Shelley 21). He says this meaning that he learned things that he wanted to learn and there was no pressure to be the best. He got to learn and study at his own pace, doing what he wanted for himself.  His parents didn’t force things on him and his friends were supportive but also studied their own things. Without the competition between friends, the narrator was able to truly enjoy his childhood for himself without worrying about doing what makes his friends and family happy.

The things you are currently doing/studying in your life, do they make you happy? Do you find enjoyment in them? Or are you doing it for somebody else, if so does doing it for them make you happy.

True Human Emotion

Human emotions are created by chemicals in the brain, these chemicals release different amounts to produce certain emotions. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, within the first few pages we are introduced to this concept of the human emotions being regulated by what they call a “Mood Organ”. These devices allow them to enter in a particular number or code and produce that kind of emotion. On the first page in a conversation between characters it is said “If you set the surge high enough, you’ll be glad you’re awake,” (Dick 3). While this concept seems cool and like it would make waking up was easier, I feel as though this is not natural. They are setting their bodies like clocks to produce a certain thing at a certain time so they don’t have to deal with being tired? I feel as though this dehumanizes their emotions as they are already preset to be felt. How would you feel having the mood organ present in everyday life with all emotions already predetermined for you?

 

Citation:

Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. New York: Penguin Random House, 1968. Print.