7/11/2016

Group 2

Ingrid Luk

Doris Wong

Natalie Yeung

Sharon Lau

Alicia Au

With the sun shining upon us, our second week at Stanford University started. After a delicious breakfast as usual, the five of us headed for the ‘Legal Studies’ session. At first, the teacher introduced the mock trial to us by showing a video clip from the movie ’Verdict’, pointing out the various roles of people in the courtroom, such as the judge, jurors, attorney for defense and prosecution. She also elaborated on techniques that attorneys use in direct and cross-examination of witnesses.  Then, to make us fully understand court proceedings and techniques used, we were assigned roles in a mock trial.  The case involved the use of guns in school. The whole exercise was great fun, very engaging and interesting. One of the
witnesses even said that bullying is peaceful; post office is the most
trustworthy and so on with many other hilarious things. Other than
that, we have also learnt different techniques from the teacher during
different situations such raising objections to our opponents' questions, making clearer statements, making more eye contact, using facial expressions to getting our point across, etc. The tips and tricks given by the
teacher were not only useful during a mock trail but also useful for
normal communication, group discussions, public speaking and
debating, which we will certainly treasure a lot. To conclude, this
lesson was a once in a life time experience which we will never
forget.

Our next lesson post lunch was ‘Design thinking Mindsets: Daring Greatly’. Our instructor, Miss Yi, started the lesson in a fun and active way. She brought us to the grassland nearby to play a game. After having a brainstorming session about the most bizarre party we can ever think of, we were told to use our bodies to represent different things, such as the four seasons and even an iPhone. The teacher also encouraged us not to be afraid of failure as we might receive a completely different outcome and we can learn experiences through the process of failing. 

We also went to the Design School, popularly known as the D School, where most of the creative things are designed and kept. The building is not only used by students who study art, but also students studying business, science, and other subjects.  The desks and other equipment have wheels, which makes them movable and easy to change the design of the room. Whiteboards are not only used by students to write and present things, but can also be used to separate rooms so as to make good use of the space there. The building is really inspiring and it encouraged us to think out of the box. After the visit, we played a game, in which we were required to trade things with others people starting with a paper clip. This helped us to build up our confidence and open up and not be afraid of                                         failure.