until these contingencies harden into technological necessities and become nearly unchangeable in future generations. There’s an old story that is basically true: Ordinary Roman carts were constructed to match the width of Imperial Roman war chariots because it was easier to follow the ruts in the road left by the war chariots. The chariots were sized to accommodate the width of two large war horses, which translates into our English measurement as a width of 4′ 8.5″. Roads throughout the vast Roman empire were built to this spec. When the legions of Rome marched into Britain, they constructed long distance imperial roads 4′ 8.5″ wide. When the English started building tramways, they used the same width so the same horse carriages could be used. And when they started building railways with horseless carriages, naturally the rails were 4′ 8.5″ wide. Imported laborers from the British Isles built the first railways in the Americas using the same tools and jigs they were used to. Fast forward to the US Space shuttle, which is built in parts around the country and assembled in Florida. Because the two large solid fuel rocket engines on the side of the launch Shuttle were sent by railroad from Utah, and that line transversed a tunnel not much wider than the standard track, the rockets themselves could not be much wider than 4′ 8.5.”
Sarah Rixon on 06 Mar 14"Type Description Descriptive writing Not reflective. Description of events that occurred/report of literature. No attempt to provide reasons/justification for events. Descriptive reflection Reflective, not only a description of events but some attempt to provide reason/justification for events or actions but in a reportive or descriptive way. For example, "I chose this problem-solving activity because I believe that students should be active rather than passive learners". Recognition of alternate viewpoints in the research and literature which are reported. For example, Tyler (1949), because of the assumptions on which his approach rest suggests that the curriculum process should begin with objectives. Yinger (1979), on the other hand argues that the "task" is the starting point. Two forms: Reflection based generally on one perspective/factor as rationale. Reflection is based on the recognition of multiple factors and perspectives Dialogic reflection Demonstrates a "stepping back" from the events/actions leading to a different level of mulling about, discourse with self and exploring the experience, events, and actions using qualities of judgements and possible alternatives for explaining and hypothesising. Such reflection is analytics or/and integrative of factors and perspectives and may recognise inconsistencies in attempting to provide rationales and critique, for example. While I planned to use mainly written text materials I became aware very quickly that a number of students did not respond to these. Thinking about this now there may have been several reasons for this. A number of students, while reasonably proficient in English, even though they had been NESB learners, may still have lacked some confidence in handling the level of language in the text. Alternatively, a number of students may have been visual and tactile learners. In any case I found that I had to employ more concrete activities in my teaching. Critical reflection Demonstrates an aware
