Enduring Ideas: Sense of Place
Guided Tour (5)
Activity Tutorials (22)
- Teaching History from Multiple Perspectives
- Metaphors and Similes
- Conceptual Learning
- One Problem...Multiple Perspectives
- Number Line
- Multiplying, Dividing and Factoring Units
- Enduring Ideas: Sense of Place
- Understanding Ecosystems
- Self-similarity and Thinking
- Perspectives on Art
- Deconstructing Distinctions: Sex and Gender
- Us and Them
- Synonyms & Similarities - Sex vs. Gender
- Building Analogies
- Controllable Factors
- Thinking About Business
- Using Dry Erase and Stickers
- Organizing Systems
- Distinction: Context Matters
- The Content and Context of a Distinction
- Making A Relationship Explicit
- 3 Types of Perspective Taking
Expert Talks (13)
Customer Testimonials (10)
Video Summary
Transcript of video: Some ideas are universal to human existence-shared by all cultures, at all times. People have always wondered, "why are we here? What makes us happy or sad? What makes a place seem unique?" Over centuries, we've tried to answer these questions from many angles, from spiritual to scientific. Every field of human knowledge, from biology to philosophy to religion, has evolved to address big enduring questions. Many enduring ideas are so broad in scope, it's hard to know where to start thinking about them. ThinkBlocks can help you isolate the essential features of an enduring idea, and explore the idea from the perspective of any discipline. We use the enduring idea of sense of place, but you can use any idea. First, explore the sense of a specific location. Place a ThinkBlock labeled with your hometown in the perspective line of Sense of Place. Ask, "what makes your hometown feel special?" Discuss how these features help define your hometown?s sense of place, and how these features might induce a different sense of place in another context. Next, discuss your hometown?s sense of place from the perspective of different disciplines, such as History or Economics. Every collection of ideas emphasizes different features of the overall sense of place. Repeat this exercise for different disciplines and places. Now explore your personal sense of place. For instance, ask "where do you feel most comfortable?" Isolate the important features of your comfort zone, then explore how different combinations of these features can lead to feelings of comfort or discomfort elsewhere. This exercise helps you get a feel for your sense of a place, and how that sense is influenced by specific features. Try it for other aspects of personal sense of place, like happiness or deja vu. You can explore any enduring idea with ThinkBlocks. ThinkBlocks help you identify and expand upon concrete factors that contribute to mysterious enduring questions.
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