13th July Group 4

Group 4

Alison Kwok 3T (17)

Nichole Cheung 3T (9)

Chelsea Wong 3S (32)

Sharon Ng 3A (25)

13th July, 2016

Lecture 1: Creative Writing

Creative writing was the first thing we learnt today. We were all really excited to get in touch with our creative side and improve our writing skills. We started off by learning about the difference between a story and a situation. A story has to include an emotion and has to express what the writer is feeling and is trying to convey. A situation, however, has to include a plot, characters, settings and facts, and has to be in first person. We also had to construct our own stories by ourselves, which was a challenge for most of us. We had to use the worksheet provided and choose our own characters, setting and emotions used in the story. We had to compose our own stories then share it with our other group mates. We all learnt a lot of new adjectives from each other. Later on during the lesson, we were given two types of chocolate to write an ode about. An ode is actually a poem, and its supposed use was to flatter and praise someone or something. We all had to praise the chocolates we were given with an ode. This was really difficult for many for us at first, as we weren't really experienced with writing, especially poems. However, we were guided along the way and we learnt a lot more about the methods and the uses of creative writing and odes. We ended the lesson by learning much more than we expected to, and it also gave us an insight on how creative writing should be built up of something more just plain adjectives, but also plots settings and characters.

We then visited the Computer History Museum and saw various types of old machines and technology. One that caught our eye was the Type 001 mechanical card punch. We found out that it was Herman Hollerith who patented the first key punch in 1901, which was operated from a keyboard. The operation could punch 0-9. We all took turns punching our names into our cards. It took us a bit of time to understand how the system worked but we managed to punch in our names with the help of the staff there. We ended up with our very own name cards punched by technology of the olden days. We were all really impressed by the huge amount technology could do. We also learnt about calculation by using Napier's bones in the 'Revolution' area of the exhibit. The original idea for this multiplication aid came from the Middle East. Europeans then learnt it from John Napier's Rabdologia in 1617. The method of Napier's bones is used by arranging rows and rows of bones, which were bars inscribed with number sequences, then adding certain numbers on the bars to do multiplication. We all agreed that even though this method was much more difficult to comprehend, and carry out than our usual calculators, it was innovative and creative, and it also lead to the useful and efficient technology we have nowadays. Then we moved on to the IBM technology and the birth of the computer. World war ii IBM technology helped the US fight the Nazi Germany, yet it also helped Germany fight the US. The IBM supported America's war effort, placing its facilities at government disposal, providing the processing power to manage supply inventories and soldier records. This also started the birth of the very first computer. We all understood now how important technology has helped us during different time periods, especially times in distress during World War II.

Reflection

We all enjoyed our creative writing class held in the morning as we all thought that by writing a story and an ode today, we have managed to challenge ourselves and push ourselves over the limits of what we normally write. We all wrote our own odes, making sure that we rhymed our last words and that we have made use of all our five senses to illustrate and depict the chocolates we chose. We thought that this activity was interesting and innovative as it encouraged us to use our five senses and our creativity. We also got the chance to taste the delicious chocolate that we chose, which again acted as an encouragement for us to complete our work. We all thought that the methods our teacher taught today have helped us a lot with improving our writing skills. For example, we learnt that creative writing consists of different sections and parts, for example setting and character, and simple adding a lot of adjectives into a piece of writing would not make it creative or a good story. We also helped each other proofread and improve our writing by working together as a group, bonding as a team while making up our poems and stories. We all agreed that this lesson was a great learning experience for all of us as we had improved our writing skills and our thinking skills, teaching us to write with flow and think with creativity.

We also had a great time in Silicon Valley and the Computer History Museum. We gained a lot of insight on technology overall by going on these field trips. We learnt and saw more about olden typewriters and computers. Throughout this exhibition, we understood more about the uses of technology and how technology has helped us achieve different goals in various ways. We now acknowledge and appreciate technology and the many benefits it has brought us. We also had the opportunity to play games in the olden days, for example, Pacman and Spacewar. We had a wonderful time at the Computer History Museum. 

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