Learning:
The Journey of a Lifetime
A Cloud Chamber of the Mind

February 2006 History Notebook

An Example of a "Learning Process" Journal (using the 2 colored box format)

Scan of some loose sheets of paper of notes on Japan and China.

7:00 am This is primarily a form of clean-up as I have been going through some material that I brought to Australia. I have a small pile of loose paper that contains some notes that I made many years ago and haven't yet thrown away. I plan to scan them as Exhibit A and then redo them as a web page as Exhibit B.

Here is a scan of a mind map for Japan.

Here are the revised notes:

Mind map using Mind Genius. Here is the image:

This map allows me to play, if I wish, with color. For example, I could identify those areas that I would like to study and refresh my memory (and understanding!).

Both maps (the original sheet of paper and the mind map) give an indication of how complex one's understanding of a country can become. Yet the map is not the territory, and having lived in Japan for 4 months has given me a much better sense of the country than any reading could do. 8:15 am

Here is the second page. One of the features of this page is the quickly drawn map of Japan. This is more difficult to do on the Web.

I have added detail to the Geography node, and focus on it in the following image. This is a much more dynamic environment than paper where the image must continually be redrawn. 8:10 am

9:45 am China: A Personal View

How does one organize information about a country?

• GEOGRAPHY - comes first, since features of the land will influence history (e.g. what areas are suitable for agriculture, trade, settlement).
• HISTORY - identification of major events and people
• PRESENT - major issues and why

1. CONFUCIUS [551 - 479 BC]

• The single most influential person on the Chinese people: "the role and function of the inidvidual within society."
• A complex system of interpersonal relationships (the Five Relationships).
  • father - son
  • husband - wife
  • older and younger brothers
  • ruler - subjects
  • one friend - another friend
• A hierarchical system of order and social norms.
• A sense of love and obligation towards parents, ancestors and heaven.
• Many Chinese ways of behaving and holding of widely-held opinions can be explained by reference to Confucianism.

2. LAO-TZU [about same time as Confucius]

• Considered the founder of Taoism
• The individual lives in harmony with nature.
• introspective.

3. BUDDHISM [time of Christ]

• central ideas: impermanence, salvation, rebirth

HISTORY

Time	Description
1920's	two opposing forces Nationalists [Sun Yatsen, Chiang Kaishek] Communists [Mao Zedong]
1921	Communist Party formed
1928	Nationalists take control, move capital to Nanking
1937	Japan invades China
1945	China expels Japanese forces
1949	Communists defeat Nationalists
1958 - 1961	Great Leap Forward to industrialize
1959	enlargement of Tianenamen Square
1966 - 1969	Cultural Revolution
1978	Deng Xiaoping takes control of Communist Party

 

The above notes are a typing of a page of notes I made a few years ago, and just recently reviewed before throwing them away.

The use of lists: either point form or embedded within a table, are very effective for making a few points. This is simply an enumerating of a few important points, all within a single topic, so relationships among items is irrelevant. 10:20 am