Active Learning: Results of my Survey/ Interview

For the first part of my active learning, I interviewed 10 people and asked them the two questions below.

Question 1:
What is torture?
9 Said torture is causing pain upon other people to make them do something.
1 Said it was something bad.

Question 2:
Is torture still going on today or is it something that happened in the past?
7 Said it only happened in the past
1 Said it still happens
2 Said they were not sure.

Video (How torture works)

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The video does not fit on the blog screen so the link will take us to Screencast.

The video is here:

Passive Learning

The word torture as a noun means the action of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting pain. When the word is used as a verb it means to inflict severe pain. I chose to do my research on torture because I thought about how Winston was being tortured after he was caught committing thought crimes. I thought that torture was a very interesting topic and I felt that many people know the general idea of what it is such as inflicting pain upon someone else and that torture is bad. What I wanted to do is prove that many people have the general idea but there are still many things that people do not understand about torture and why it is bad. People might think that torture is uncommon in the world and that it is something of the past however, there are 150 countries in the world that still use torture today and 80 of the 150 have caused people to die after or during the tortures. Torture is a serious issue that is still happening and everyone needs to understand that torture is inhumane and immoral. The UN has already come together because the UN have decided that torture is immoral and that it must be stopped.

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KL5RyQj2Qv1H41yvplGTP1vXJydSgJjCgS5JnfvPByqNSVJxhGmp!342722273!-1332762173?docId=5000643484

Active Learning

For the active learning portion of my project, I interviewed a couple of people in the academy and asked them questions about torture. All of them could tell me that torture is when physical or emotional pain is inflicted upon another person to achieve something such as getting the victim to obey what the person who is torturing says to do. Most of the people I interviewed did not see domestic violence as a form of torture. This is a form of torture because it makes the victim comply with the person who is giving out the punishments. What I want for the class to learn from this small interview is that torture is everywhere and that even though there have been no reports of torture in those areas, it could still be there.

Pictures

Torture Chair

Torture Room

Paper

Jonathan Chen

English 1AB 8:30

5/6/09

I Believe Paper

            I believe in perseverance and that hard work does not equal success. I think that this is because in my project and in my book I have experienced this.  When I was looking for that passive learning part in my project, I was working very hard but I still did not get much information. This was like how Winston tried hard to rebel against Big Brother but he failed too. The second thing I believe in is perseverance.  I believe that Winston Smith was an inspiration in the story. This is because in the story when he was bring tortured, he refused to follow the norms of his society because he had values and he believed that theirs were wrong. Only people who are strong will have perseverance. This shows that there is a very strong sense of perseverance in Winston. I think that this is the reason why I chose this book to be my inspirational book. In the book it reads: “’Do you remember,” he went on, ‘writing in your diary, ‘Freedom is to say that two plus two makes four?’

            ‘Yes,’ said Winston

O’Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.

            ‘How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?’

            ‘Four.’

            ‘And if the party says that’s it is not four but five—then how many?’

            ‘Four.’

            The word ended in a sharp gasp of pain. The needle on the dial shot up to fifty-five. The sweat sprung out all over Winston’s body. The air tore into his lungs and issued again in deep groans, which even by clenching his teeth could not stop. O’Brien watched him, four fingers still extended. He drew back the lever. This time the pain was only slightly eased.

‘How many fingers, Winston?’

‘Four.’

The needle went up to sixty” (pg 249-250)

This part of the book shows a very good example of perseverance. This shows a strong sense of individuality and perseverance because he did not conform to what other people believed and he did not give up his beliefs when he was being tortured. I think that I believe in perseverance and individuality because it can inspire people greatly like this book has done to me. After reading that part of the book, I was inspired to have more self-confidence and to stick to what I believe in. I think that perseverance and individuality is very important because they help people realize where they come from and who they really are. Even though in the end of the story Winston still died and got brainwashed, I feel like he did what he could and this leads to the second thing that I believe and that is that hard work does not always equal success. This is very similar to “practice make better not perfect.” I do not think of this as an excuse but it is something that I sort of live by because I think that those sayings are very true. I think that this is because we can be practicing but since we are still humans we can still make mistakes and so we can get better but we still make mistakes sometimes.