Dynamic Subspace

Category: Pedagogy

  • USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019

    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Conning Tower

    As I wrote about yesterday, I met up with my former City Tech colleague Alan Lovegreen in March 2019 on the west side of Manhattan to visit the Intrepid Museum and USS Growler submarine. My last post showed pictures of from the Intrepid. Today’s post is all about the Growler.

    The claustrophobic interior of the Growler submarine was thrilling to walk through. Everything seemed to have its specific purpose and was made to go where it fit into the overall interior puzzle space. It’s hard to imagine the design work that went into building this (or the aircraft carrier next door for that matter) before computer aided design.

    Also, I could more easily visualize the similarity between voyaging under water in a submarine and voyaging in outer space in a spacecraft. Both create a living environment for human beings in otherwise inhospitable environments. The former keeps pressure out and the latter keeps pressure in. Catastrophe is possible in a number of ways–some slow and others sudden.

    The Growler is also a communication technology museum–loud speakers, telephones, exterior microphones, recording and processing devices, radios, sonar, mimeograph machine, typewriter, gauges, and indicators.

    When I’m willing to jump through the hoops of a CUNY class field trip, I imagine a multifaceted technologies of representation and technical communication gold mine at the Intrepid Museum and USS Growler submarine.

    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Torpedo Room
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Maneuvering Room
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Washroom
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Toilet
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Crew Bunks
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Top Hatch
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior Door
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Periscope
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Periscope view of the cruise ship docked at the next pier
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Office
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, CPO Quarters
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Bunks
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Wardroom
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Bunks
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Interior
    USS Growler (SSG-577), Cold War-era Cruise Missile Submarine Docked Next to Intrepid Museum, March 2019, Alan standing on the deck

  • November 2023 Update on the Generative AI and Pedagogy Bibliography Page

    A holographic projection of an AI emerges from the portal. Image generated with Stable Diffusion XL.

    Since my last update in September, I’ve continued adding MLA-formatted book and article entries to the Generative AI and Pedagogy Bibliography page each week as I come across them.

    There are now 434 bibliographic entries–an addition of 52 new entries. The online resource list at the bottom of the page is now up to 56 links–an increase of only one.

    Most of the new bibliographic entries are in the pedagogy, generative text, background, and textbook sections, but there are some interesting titles that I added to the other AI application sections.

    Following the explosion of new titles on artificial intelligence earlier this year, the rate of new publications have slowed. I suspect that some titles were rushed out to take advantage of the hype and now new titles are being released at normal publication rates. But, I also suspect that the pipeline is in the process of rebuilding, perhaps with even more titles than were in the first wave.

    As I’ve written before, the list isn’t exhaustive. I include titles that I find interesting through my research and study of generative AI. Nevertheless, I hope that it might be useful to folks who find it one way or another.

  • University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning

    Cathedral of Learning building at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010, photo taken from a distance.

    In 2010, Y and I went on a day trip to Pittsburgh to look around before going to Ikea to pick up some new furniture. My favorite place in Pittsburgh is the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, which I made use of when I lived there, so we made that one stop on our itinerary.

    From a distance, it is an easy to see landmark for getting around the University of Pittsburgh campus.

    Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, photo taken at its base near the entrance.

    Standing at its entrance, the building’s magnitude is unavoidable. And, to think that this gigantic building–the second tallest educational building in the world–is dedicated to learning.

    Interior of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh.

    It’s interior first floor study space is equally impressive. This cavernous space lends itself to individual and collaborative work.

    From an upper floor, you can look east to see Carnegie Mellon University.

    Sitting in the big chair in the study area of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh.

    Before leaving, Y took a photo of me sitting in one of the big chairs in the study area on the first floor of the Cathedral of Learning.

    I think that all universities should invest in basic studying and learning spaces where students can work individually and together. It can be something as architecturally impressive as the Cathedral of Learning, or it could be something designed around sustainability and efficiencies such as Georgia Tech’s Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons. Whatever form it takes, it should center on students and their needs whether they live on campus or commute. Essentially, students need space to study, work, and collaborate outside of the classroom.

  • Yorick, a Human Skull and Brain Teaching Aid for Cognition and Neuronarrative Related Lessons

    Anatomically correct human skull with working jaw and brain, front view
        Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
    of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
    borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
    abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
    it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
    not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
    gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
    that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
    now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
    Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
    her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
    come; make her laugh at that. -Shakespeare, Hamlet

    I bring my trusted skull and brain model nicknamed Yorick to my writing and science fiction classes when I want to talk about something related to cognition–e.g., how our attentional focus works, cognitive costs of switching cognitive tasks, time delay from sensory perception to processing to conscious awareness, where are the speech regions–Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area–located, etc. Yorick’s skull and multi-component brain gives students something that they can see and feel and manipulate when it gets passed around the classroom.

    Human skull left side
    Human skull right side
    Human skull cap removed to show brain model
    Human brain model
    Human skull model with skull cap removed and brain exposed

    And when students leave a hat behind, Yorick gets a treat.

    human skull model wearing a knitted Michael Kors hat

  • Update on the Search for Space Station L-4: A Conversation with Steve Lenzen

    Skylab Orbital Workshop Interior, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC. Photo taken in 2008.

    As I wrote last week here, I reached out to Steve Lenzen via postal mail about Space Station L-4, the Earth Sciences Educational Program from 1977, after I found his contact information on an archived version of GPN’s website. He worked at GPN from 1976 to 2006, and he co-founded Destination Education. He kindly replied to me via email with important details about the history of GPN and why it might be impossible to find a copy of the series. He explains:

    "The series was produced by Children's Television International, which was owned by Ray Gladfelter. When Ray was "winding down" his career, GPN took over distribution because Ray was an old friend of our director at the time. When Ray died, many, many years ago his old friend had also retired and GPN ceased distribution. Actually, GPN had ceased distribution years before that because there was no demand."

"Back when Ray produced the series many or most of the PBS Stations broadcast programs specifically designed for use in the classroom. This mode of getting educational programming into the classroom was started before the age of VHS and Betamax. The introduction of Betamax and then VHS is what led to the "death" of 16mm film and subsequently PBS stations airing a block of programs designed specifically for in classroom use. Starting in the late 80's, teachers were demanding that PBS Stations air only new, up-to-date programs depicting current hair styles, clothes, etc. If a series did not meet this criteria, teachers did not want it."

"Due to the lack of storage space, once a series was pulled from distribution GPN destroyed the submaster it had. The copyright holder/producer usually had a master. Space Station L-4 was pulled out of distribution long before advent of DVD which meant it cost of lot of money to keep old master, usually 2" Quad, 1" Helical, or Betamax in storage. As a result, the copyright owner also destroyed their copy."

"After Ray's death, his son . . . took control of Children's Television International. . . . The company, CTI, was, out of business by then so all he could do was find a place to give the tapes or destroy them."

    My next move is to reach out to Ray Gladfelter’s son. I will report back with any developments.

    If you’re unfamiliar with Space Station L-4, there are details about the show in my 2013 interview with Paul Lally, its producer, writer, and director, here.