One person that was discussed in todays lecture was John Harrison and his sea- chronometer. I found myself intriqued by this technological innovation and decided to research it a little bit. One interesting thing that I found about this topic was that even though many highly educated people attempted this problem of inventing a device that could measure longitude to an accuracy of half of a degree of a great circle, it was John Harrison, just your average person of the time without a lot of formal education, who accomplished this feat. This article helps to show that even though students rely on instructors to teach them what they know, it is not always the best way for innovation to occur. This is because sometimes determination and teaching yourself (as Harrison did) can work as good or better than learning from someone in the front of the room. I believe it is all about balance; however student should take thier own innitiative in accomplishing what they want to get out of thier education. As well I find it very interesting that Captain Cook and his voyages in some way are more well known than John Harrison; as without Harrison invention of the chronometer accurate navigation would not have been possible.
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1 comment:
Great post (and link). Nice follow-up from something I touched on briefly in today's lecture.
It is amazing how average individuals can invent such significant objects that change our knowledge and understanding forever.
Cathy
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