Disruption has been my classes unit for the past four months, giving us enough time to research different aspects of it. On our field school to California, we were given several different chances to learn more about disruption in specific places, including the USS Midway and the San Diego Safari Park. We were told to make a video at one of these destinations and use evidence to support what kind of disruption we found.
I worked together with Robbie to create a video about the disruption at the Safari Park and how it has effected the animals wellbeing. Our video was based around the rehabilitation and release of animals back into the wild after staying at the Safari Park. We had the opportunity to have several interviews with workers and volunteers at the park about their thoughts on our subject. Each interview that we had, gave us new information that helped us better understand what the Safari Park was doing to release the animals back into the wild. One example of an animal that can be reintroduced back into the wild are the California Condors, which were an extinct species in the wild, but now there are many that have been reintroduced into the wild by this Safari Park.
Robbie and I not only learned about the animals that can be released into the wild, but also the ones that can’t. Most large animals, including tigers, lions, and elephants, cant be released because they have spent most of their lives in the zoo, and therefor wouldn’t know how to survive in the wild. We asked the interviewees what they thought about this and found out that the Safari Park is happy to take care of the animals if it means that they are safer there than they are in the wild.
After looking at all of our footage from the Safari Park once we got home from California, Robbie and I made a video to represent our learning. This video was informative and interesting, but unfortunately was very long and had some scenes that didn’t make sense.
After getting useful critiques from my class, Robbie and I worked quickly to create a better second draft. Not only was the second draft significantly shorter, it also had music that transitioned better and more explanations of what was happening. We are very proud of our second draft and I think that it does a great job of identifying the disruption that can be found at the San Diego Safari Park.
Final draft:
The last step in our unit was to write a Synthesis Essay using three of the sources that we found during our unit, including the ones we have from our field school. Our driving question was: How has technology acted as a disruption throughout history? This is a very large question which gave my class the opportunity to take our essays in any direction we wanted as long as it answered the driving question. I decided to write about the reliance we have on technology and how it has grown throughout time. I used the Computer History Museum, an article about twitter by CNN Tech, and the book Little Brother, as my sources for my essay.
We were given two classes to write our essays, and I decided to split the work up evenly so that I could complete the essay on time or with time to spare. I wrote down the notes and formatting that I wanted to remember on the price of paper I was given in the beginning of the essay. This helped me stay on track durning the class time we were given and work as efficiently as possible. On the first day of writing, I finished all five paragraphs and included a title, my name, 2.0 line spacing, and indentation of paragraphs. Although I was technically finished my essay, I wanted to add more information and make my points more precise.
The next day, I finished my essay in the time period we were given and handed it in as soon as I was finished. I worked very hard to produce this essay and I am proud of the work that I have accomplished in the time we were given. There were, of course, things that I wish I had time to do at the end of class, including more editing.
My essay notes:
This is my final essay:
Reliance on Technology Throughout History
Looking back on our unit of disruption, I have learned so much about the disruption around me and how it links to technology. I am very excited to keep exploring this subject on my own, now that the unit is done. I hope that I can find disruption when I travel on my own, like i did with my class in California. One thing that I have learned from this unit is that disruption doesn’t always have to be bad, in fact, it can be a really good thing. Disruption is the act of changing something, and I hope that I can find positive disruption around me in the future.
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