I've always loved RI Lectures - especially the Christmas ones, but I'm pleased to see there's a whole range of other ones available on YouTube. I've just been watching this one. Mind blowing.
Keeping The Kids Busy...
Keeping The Kids Busy...
I enjoyed that, thank you - Matt Parker keeps his hour moving along very effectively. That's an instance where YouTube is better than TV, you'd not see that on a mainstream channel.
Nullius in verba ... ☎||||||||||| ... To Fate I sue, of other means bereft, the only refuge for the wretched left.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
When flower power came along I stood for Human Rights, marched around for peace and freedom, had some nooky every night - we took it serious.
Who has a spare two minutes to play in this month's FG Trivia game! ... My other OS is Slackware.
Keeping The Kids Busy...
Well, he kept me and my 8 year-old grandkid occupied for the better part of an hour.
And this kid doesn't often sit still for more than a quarter of an hour.
He now wants to know who in the family can knit.
And this kid doesn't often sit still for more than a quarter of an hour.
He now wants to know who in the family can knit.
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence
Keeping The Kids Busy...
The RI Christmas Lectures this year start at 20:00 on BBC 4, today, tomorrow & Thursday. I've never missed them since the first one I saw with Eric Laithwaite, who passed away earlier this year. The following year was by Heinz Wolfe, who also passed away this year.
Keeping The Kids Busy...
I've just beeen watching the final one of this year's Christmas Lectures, on the subject of Communication & Language (had to watch it on iPlayer because (a) I'm down with the dreaded lurgy & have to keep going to sleep & (b) because my PC's on it's last legs & the processor can't cope with streaming TV any more, shutting down after a couple of mins.
Anyway, one of the points in the lecture had a dog which could retrieve toys on command, describing the toy in question - not only by the owner, but by a volunteer from the audience. But this led me onto a slightly different train of thought - something that any dog owners might be interested in following up. Given the fact dogs can associate shapes with words, might it be possible for them to associate shapes with other shapes? What I'm getting at here is that if a dog can associate the shape of a dinosaur with the word "Triceratops" (as in the demonstration), might the dog be trained to recognise the written word with the shape of the toy. In effect, this would mean that the dog would have the basic understanding of the concept of reading.
Anyway, one of the points in the lecture had a dog which could retrieve toys on command, describing the toy in question - not only by the owner, but by a volunteer from the audience. But this led me onto a slightly different train of thought - something that any dog owners might be interested in following up. Given the fact dogs can associate shapes with words, might it be possible for them to associate shapes with other shapes? What I'm getting at here is that if a dog can associate the shape of a dinosaur with the word "Triceratops" (as in the demonstration), might the dog be trained to recognise the written word with the shape of the toy. In effect, this would mean that the dog would have the basic understanding of the concept of reading.
Keeping The Kids Busy...
FourPart;1516460 wrote: I've just beeen watching the final one of this year's Christmas Lectures, on the subject of Communication & Language (had to watch it on iPlayer because (a) I'm down with the dreaded lurgy & have to keep going to sleep & (b) because my PC's on it's last legs & the processor can't cope with streaming TV any more, shutting down after a couple of mins.
Anyway, one of the points in the lecture had a dog which could retrieve toys on command, describing the toy in question - not only by the owner, but by a volunteer from the audience. But this led me onto a slightly different train of thought - something that any dog owners might be interested in following up. Given the fact dogs can associate shapes with words, might it be possible for them to associate shapes with other shapes? What I'm getting at here is that if a dog can associate the shape of a dinosaur with the word "Triceratops" (as in the demonstration), might the dog be trained to recognise the written word with the shape of the toy. In effect, this would mean that the dog would have the basic understanding of the concept of reading.
It depends on the level of complexity that the dog's brain can handle - I suspect that the differences in letter shapes would be too small but hey, the Egyptians did well enough with pictograms so it should work in theory.
Anyway, one of the points in the lecture had a dog which could retrieve toys on command, describing the toy in question - not only by the owner, but by a volunteer from the audience. But this led me onto a slightly different train of thought - something that any dog owners might be interested in following up. Given the fact dogs can associate shapes with words, might it be possible for them to associate shapes with other shapes? What I'm getting at here is that if a dog can associate the shape of a dinosaur with the word "Triceratops" (as in the demonstration), might the dog be trained to recognise the written word with the shape of the toy. In effect, this would mean that the dog would have the basic understanding of the concept of reading.
It depends on the level of complexity that the dog's brain can handle - I suspect that the differences in letter shapes would be too small but hey, the Egyptians did well enough with pictograms so it should work in theory.
Keeping The Kids Busy...
Bryn Mawr;1516514 wrote: It depends on the level of complexity that the dog's brain can handle - I suspect that the differences in letter shapes would be too small but hey, the Egyptians did well enough with pictograms so it should work in theory.
Children learn to read from picture books which incorporate the word into the form of the picture. I'm not talking high level syntax here, but if a floor were laid out, such, might a dog be trained to recognise the shape of the words & get it to place the toys onto the associated words.
DOLL BALL
STICK BONE
Children learn to read from picture books which incorporate the word into the form of the picture. I'm not talking high level syntax here, but if a floor were laid out, such, might a dog be trained to recognise the shape of the words & get it to place the toys onto the associated words.
DOLL BALL
STICK BONE
Keeping The Kids Busy...
FourPart;1516572 wrote: Children learn to read from picture books which incorporate the word into the form of the picture. I'm not talking high level syntax here, but if a floor were laid out, such, might a dog be trained to recognise the shape of the words & get it to place the toys onto the associated words.
DOLL BALL
STICK BONE
I would suggest that that level of differentiation would be too fine for a dog's brain, possibly D and S would be doable?
DOLL BALL
STICK BONE
I would suggest that that level of differentiation would be too fine for a dog's brain, possibly D and S would be doable?
Keeping The Kids Busy...
I'm sorry, Bryn, to disagree with you, but dogs do have variable intelligence as do human beings. I find that many people do underestimate a dog's intelligence and also the ability to 'work things out'. We have had 5 dogs in our 'married life time' and they have all been different personalities and they have all had different levels of intelligence. Our first dog was trained in just over three weeks, all the basic commands and with hand signals, so that he could follow commands that I gave with my hands and no voice sound. He was not a 'rescue dog' but we chose him from a litter of cross breed pups. All our other dogs have been 'rescue dogs', all mixed breeds except the 8 year old German Shepherd we adopted (his owner had died) - that one turned out to be a super animal and a gentle giant of a dog. He lived into his 16th year, so we were thrilled to be able to give him a 'forever home' for another 8 years !
As I say, don't feel that dogs have a very basic intelligence, because most dogs are brighter than they are given credit for. Over the decades we have found this out, to our absolute delight !
This is a photo of our 'rescue' German Shepherd - it's as if he is saying " I'll let you take the picture, but I've got my eyes on you while I'm in 'guard mode' "
Attached files
As I say, don't feel that dogs have a very basic intelligence, because most dogs are brighter than they are given credit for. Over the decades we have found this out, to our absolute delight !
This is a photo of our 'rescue' German Shepherd - it's as if he is saying " I'll let you take the picture, but I've got my eyes on you while I'm in 'guard mode' "
Attached files
I'm a Saga-lout, growing old disgracefully
Keeping The Kids Busy...
The problem is in estimating a critter's intelligence by Human standards, I think.
Pitstop can be utterly brilliant at getting us to do things that she wants, but then she can be completely baffled by simple reasoning tasks.
She picks up on the most subtle of signals from our behavior, and knows exactly what we are planning to do. But she can be completely baffled by a pane of glass between her and an object she wants when there is an easy path around said glass. And all the signals we try to give her about getting around the barrier never register with her.
Pitstop can be utterly brilliant at getting us to do things that she wants, but then she can be completely baffled by simple reasoning tasks.
She picks up on the most subtle of signals from our behavior, and knows exactly what we are planning to do. But she can be completely baffled by a pane of glass between her and an object she wants when there is an easy path around said glass. And all the signals we try to give her about getting around the barrier never register with her.
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence
Keeping The Kids Busy...
G#Gill;1516578 wrote: I'm sorry, Bryn, to disagree with you, but dogs do have variable intelligence as do human beings. I find that many people do underestimate a dog's intelligence and also the ability to 'work things out'. We have had 5 dogs in our 'married life time' and they have all been different personalities and they have all had different levels of intelligence. Our first dog was trained in just over three weeks, all the basic commands and with hand signals, so that he could follow commands that I gave with my hands and no voice sound. He was not a 'rescue dog' but we chose him from a litter of cross breed pups. All our other dogs have been 'rescue dogs', all mixed breeds except the 8 year old German Shepherd we adopted (his owner had died) - that one turned out to be a super animal and a gentle giant of a dog. He lived into his 16th year, so we were thrilled to be able to give him a 'forever home' for another 8 years !
As I say, don't feel that dogs have a very basic intelligence, because most dogs are brighter than they are given credit for. Over the decades we have found this out, to our absolute delight !
This is a photo of our 'rescue' German Shepherd - it's as if he is saying " I'll let you take the picture, but I've got my eyes on you while I'm in 'guard mode' "
I fully believe that the brightest dogs are very bright indeed but I do think that teaching them to read English would be a step too far - I just don't think their wired that way.
As I say, don't feel that dogs have a very basic intelligence, because most dogs are brighter than they are given credit for. Over the decades we have found this out, to our absolute delight !
This is a photo of our 'rescue' German Shepherd - it's as if he is saying " I'll let you take the picture, but I've got my eyes on you while I'm in 'guard mode' "
I fully believe that the brightest dogs are very bright indeed but I do think that teaching them to read English would be a step too far - I just don't think their wired that way.