Saturday, November 22, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Cafe Scientifique Dubai: Event 2
Event 2: Human Brain-to-Brain Interface
Date: Friday 31 May 2013
Time: 5:00pm-6:30pm
Now that rat brains have been connected via the internet, it's only a matter of time before human brains link up directly in cyberspace. Join us as we discuss the human brain, the meaning of consciousness, and the consequences of uploading the mind and storing it digitally.
For more info, visit: www.cafescidubai.com
Space Oddity
A revised version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station. There's something poignant about the video - that's Earth in the background! For REAL!!
Talking of Books
A few of the Winchester Students were on 103.8 Dubai Eye's 'Talking of Books' radio programme this year.
Click here to listen to Raya, Edeline, and Mr Roberts talk about David Deutsch's book, The Beginning of Infinity.
Click here to listen to Mehvash, Faiza, and Mr Roberts talk about Peter Diamandis' book, Abundance
Jason Silva Visits Winchester Again!
Wonder Junkie, Epiphany Addict, Re-mixer of Awe, Ideas DJ - The incredible Jason Silva visited the Winchester School again this year! It was great to have him over! A lucky few even got to have lunch with him! Jason is the most inspirational, exciting person on the planet. Check him out on: thisisjasonsilva.com
Winchester Debates 2013
After a few extremely rousing and keenly contested preliminary rounds, we had the finals of the 2013 Winchester debates earlier this month.
The motion was: "This house believes mankind should pursue immortality."
Click here to view the video
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Students take learning into their own hands
The video with the most views and downloads on TED is Ken Robinson's talk on how 'Schools Kill Creativity.' This year's TED prize went to Sugata Mitra's idea of having a school in the Cloud. The tide is changing... will we see a Learning Revolution?
Watch this video in which students at Monument Mountain Regional High School take their learning into their own hands.
Based on what you watched in the video, if you had to design your own school, how would you structure it? Who would get to attend? What problems do you foresee? What would the role of the teacher be? I look forward to reading your response.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Names
Do parents / should parents have the right to name their children whatever they like?
Read this article and then post your thoughts.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
High-Tech High
Click on the image above to watch a video of a school with a radical new approach to education and then answer the questions below.
1) Would you like to study at High-tech High? Say why or why not.
2) How long can you go without connecting to a device or to the internet? What do you feel when you are not connected or don't have access to the internet?
End-of-course exams?
What do you make of Education Secretary, Michael Gove's decision to bring back the traditional two-year A levels and end-of-course exams?
Astronomy Club Website Updates
Our Astronomy Club page has been updated with info about all the stuff we've been up to over the last few months. Click here to view.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Shakespeare at DUCTAC
The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)
Shake out of your seat with laughter with Dubai Drama Group’s season opening production of the critically-acclaimed parody at Dubai Community Theatre and Art Center, Mall of the Emirates.
The Sixth Form Literature Students are going on Friday 5 Oct for the 4:30pm show.
Anyone interested is welcome to join us at the venue.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
TEDx Winchester Promo Video
TEDx
Why should we use all our creative power? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money. - Brenda Ueland
Thunk 36
A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light. © Ian Gilbert
Thunk 35
If you acted as if you were a good person, does that make you a good person?
Friday, June 8, 2012
Venus Transit
Well, Venus made its way safely across the face of the sun. The world didn't end (no thanks to the gong meditation masters)
I know, in this age of high-tech CGI and animations and HD graphics etc. the sight of Venus through the telescope as a black dot might have been underwhelming. Some of you might probably be wondering what the fuss was all about and whether it was worth missing out on your beauty sleep. But all I can say, is YES, it was most certainly worth it. How many people in the world can say they saw this? Just a handful. There was Venus - silhouetted against the fiery nuclear fusion explosion that is our sun - traversing its way on its orbit blissfully oblivious of our existence.
That black spot was Venus - our sister planet - baking hot and barren - but our sister planet all the same.
Those black flecks and blemishes that were the sunspots may have seemed unimpressive - but consider the fact that each one of those sunspots could swallow the entire earth. Those sunspots are associated with massive magnetic fields and intense coronal activity. And you got to see all of this with your own eyes (albeit with the aid of a telescope :)
Here are some awesome NASA images of the Venus Transit.
Friday, May 4, 2012
After a long wait, I've finally got our TEDx licences. More info below.
About
the Winchester School TEDx Events
|
The TEDx talks at
Winchester are under approved licence
from© TED CONFERENCES, LLC
The aim is to
bring together the best minds from among the teachers and students both from
the Winchester school and other schools in Dubai to talk about the power of ideas in a non-competitive environment in the
spirit of free inquiry and honest exchange of thought.
Speakers are
encouraged to give the ‘Talk of their
Life’
|
About
TEDxYouth@Winchester
|
If we wish to live
in a 21st century world that is compassionate, creative, and
scientifically literate then we need to encourage the youth to start
challenging old notions and questioning traditional ways of doing things. The
system needs repairing, and the best people to fix it are the youth. The young
speakers at this event are encouraged to approach the theme from any angle:
economics, art, literature, science, personal experience etc. They are
encouraged to speak with passion, sincerity, and conviction to entertain, educate, and enlighten
the audience.
|
About
TEDxWinchesterTeachers
|
New advances and
cutting-edge discoveries in the fields of artificial intelligence,
neuroscience, genetics, quantum computing, nanotechnology, and cosmology are dramatically
changing how we perceive the world. If we wish to prepare students for a
radically different future, the traditional methods of education cannot
continue. Speakers at this event are encouraged to talk about the changes in
the educational system that need to take place that will encourage innovation, creativity, compassion,
curiosity, risk-taking, and a love
for learning.
|
Here’s our webpage: www.tedxwinchesterschool.com
To register as a speaker/member
of audience: click hereOur Promotional Video: the power of ideas
An idea worth spreading
An idea
worth spreading is an idea that does not depend on dogma and authority, but
instead is based on the values of the age of enlightenment. It is an idea that
would help usher in the technological singularity and help us understand
everything: the human mind, the mystery of consciousness, and the nature of
reality and the universe.
An idea worth spreading is an idea that would promote kindness, creativity, art, and compassion.
An idea worth spreading would help find solutions, offer explanations, prevent cultural and intellectual stasis, and promote progress and innovation. It would propagate itself mimetically and would not be immune from criticism.
An idea worth spreading is an idea that would promote kindness, creativity, art, and compassion.
An idea worth spreading would help find solutions, offer explanations, prevent cultural and intellectual stasis, and promote progress and innovation. It would propagate itself mimetically and would not be immune from criticism.
- Rohan
Roberts (Organiser – The Winchester School TEDx Events)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Raya's in the newspapers!
Xpress Newspaper: Gifted with Existential Intelligence
Gulf News: Teenager set to Redefine Brilliance
Congratulations, Raya!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Congratulations!!
Congratulations to Teresa Francis! Her short story 'The Open Door' won first place in the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature short story writing competition.
The awards ceremony is at the Intercontinental Hotel in Festival City at 1:30 pm on Friday 9 March. I'll be there. Hope you all can make it too!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Humans, for the most part, are superstitious. And no one loves their superstitions more than sports people. However, it's depressing to be confronted with the fact that pigeons are superstitious as well. What's the point of our large encephalogram quotient and powerful neo cortex? At the end of the day we're no better than superstitious pigeons.
Humanzee
"The human genome and the chimpanzee genome are now known in full. Intermediate genomes of varying proportions can be interpolated on paper. Moving from paper to flesh and blood would require embryological technologies that will probably come on stream during our lifetime. I think it will be done, and an approximate reconstruction of the common ancestor of ourselves and chimpanzees will be brought to life. The intermediate genome between this reconstituted 'ancestor' and modern humans would, if implanted in an embryo, grow into something like a reborn Australopithecus." - Richard Dawkins (Biologist, Oxford University)
We've all heard of hybrids such as Tions and Ligers and Mules. But a few months ago, a rare Donkra was born in Haicang Zoo in China. Humans and chimps are just as genetically related to each other as a Zebra and Donkey - probably closer.
So, the question is: If (when) we have a human-chimp hybrid how should we treat it? Would it be ok to use it as a slave? Would it be immoral to eat it? Would it be murder if someone killed it? Should it have rights?
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Thunk 35
A Thunk is a beguilingly simple-looking question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light. © Ian Gilbert
Thunk 35
If you had a billion dollars to spend on humanity, would you use it to eradicate racism or to eradicate malaria?
If you had a billion dollars to spend on humanity, would you use it to eradicate racism or to eradicate malaria?
Friday, January 13, 2012
Most pointless work of Art?
What is the most detestable, the most repellent, and the most pointless work of art you have ever seen?
In 1995, Jake and Dinos Chapman created Ubermensch, a lifelike 12ft-tall fibreglass image of Hawking in his wheelchair perched on top of a rocky pinnacle. It was clearly not a homage to Hawking's intellect or courage. Its title – meaning "Overman" or "superman", a term used in Nietzsche's philosophical writings – is plainly intended sarcastically. The work seems to suggest that Hawking, the modern superman, is a prisoner of his sick body. It stresses his carnal weakness and mocks the idea that his mind has somehow conquered matter.
It is less a work of art than a sneer. The Chapmans went on to make more interesting art. But the clumsiness of this caricature betrays their limitations.
They got it bizarrely, horribly wrong. Hawking's story really is an epic triumph of the human mind. His defiance of illness is profoundly moving, his ability to mentally explore the universe in spite of it an inspiration for our time and times to come. How many lives are so poetic? - Guardian.
So, the question is: What is the purpose of art?
Monday, January 2, 2012
Experiments
There are various psychological experiments out there that have been conducted by scientists to give us an insight into human behaviour. There's the Asch Experiment, the Standford Prison Experiment, The Milgram Experiment...
Is the Little Albert Experiment ethical? (It's based on the Pavlov's Response)
Say why or why not.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Congratulations!!
Congratulations to Raya Bidshahri and Teresa Francis! Their short story submissions are in the top ten shortlist at the Emirates Festival of Literature. Considering how many hundreds of stories were sent by students from all over the UAE, this is a stupendous achievement. They are truly inspirational.
Click below to read their work (Do leave a comment of commendation or appreciation)
Teresa's Story
Monday, December 12, 2011
Superstitions and Occultations of the Moon
On December 10, the Winchester Astronomy Club met to view the lunar eclipse through the Celestron CPC 1100 telescope. It was a memorable experience - especially as we slewed the telescope to view Venus and then Jupiter and its four moons. We also caught sight of an exceptionally bright shooting star!
It is exasperating to hear of various superstitions associated with an eclipse. Has anyone come across any superstitions concerning eclipses?
(The lunar eclipse isn’t really an eclipse. Technically speaking, it is an occultation of the moon—caused by the earth coming between the sun and the moon and casting its shadow on the moon. It should really be called a lunar eclipse if the phenomenon is being observed from the sun. Only when viewed from the sun will the moon would be *eclipsed* by the earth.)
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Right and Wrong Language?
Stephen Fry is the high priest of the English Language. He's a word wizard, a linguistic master, and a national treasure of England. He is inimitable, unmatchable, and quintessentially English. The pen falters, and the lexicon runs dry in attempting to describe the literary prowess of this polymath. His books, articles, films, documentaries, and TV shows have given me countless hours of amusement and delight.
Here’s a clip of Stephen Fry declaiming against overempahsis on grammar and inveighing against pedants of the English language.
“There is no right or wrong language, just as there are no right or wrong clothes” he says, “it all depends on context, convention, and circumstance.” How far do you agree?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Knowledge
Is there any knowledge that humans should not seek to discover (because it's undesirable, immoral, too dangerous or for any other reason)?
Emirates Festival of Literature
The deadline (12 December) for the Emirates festival of Literature submissions is fast approaching. Please email me a copy of your short story and poem. Also remember to upload your work on the Festival website.
Click here for more info and to submit your work: Emirates Festival of Literature
Death
If doctors could read your genetic code and tell you with a fair degree of certainty when and how you would die, would you want to know? Explain your reasons.
Happiness
If we could spray a happiness spray in the air and make people happy, should we do it?
Alternatively, if there was an anti-grief pill, would you take it? (If you were to discover the loss of a loved one, would it be ethical to rush to the medicine cabinet and pop an anti-grief pill?)
Where do anti-depressants come into this discussion? Millions of people take them, need them, and cannot survive without them.
JC Debate
Conrgatulations to Yolany Aher and Raya Bidshahri for winning first and second place as best individual speakers in the16-and-under division at the recently concluded Jumeirah College inter-school debate. That's a phenomenal achievement! Kudos and hats off!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)