GNED 101 Weekly Lessons

Midterm exam

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The midterm exam is worth 15% of your total mark in this course and is in two parts: 10 multiple choice questions worth 0.5 marks each for a total of 5 marks and your choice of a series of written answer questions, worth a possible 10 marks.

The multiple choice questions cover all of the material presented in the first six weeks: the introduction, Plato, Clifford, Kusugak, Colonialism, and Theories of Anxiety.

You should look over this list and if there is anything you don't recognize or aren't sure you understand, you should review it in the written lesson or ask me for clarification:

  • The difference between information, knowledge, and understanding, as Jim thinks of them
  • You should know what happens in Plato's Allegory of the Cave
  • You should know who Socrates was and how he died
  • You should know what an allegory is
  • You should understand how each of the three "influential interpretations" I went through interpret aspects of the allegories like the shadows, the outside world, etc. (Plato’s original, The Enlightenment, the Mass Media)
  • The role of the teacher as suggested by what Socrates says
  • You should have a good grasp of how Clifford thinks about personal belief
  • You should understand Clifford's attitude toward the shipowner in the story he begins with
  • You should understand Clifford’s strong opinions about the importance of basing beliefs on evidence as a moral position
  • You should understand what Clifford considers to be the dangers associated with credulity and viral misinformation

 
  • You should understand what is meant by Indigenous vs settler cultures
  • You should know the Three C's of Colonialism
    (Colonization, Christianity, Commerce)
  • You should understand what is meant by the Lakota phrase “All my relations”
  • You should know that the residential school system is now recognized as “Canada's genocide”
  • You should understand what the Doctrine of Discovery was and how it was involved in the original settling of Canada
  • You should know what the Two-row Wampum Belt was and how it was understood by the indigenous peoples at the time and in the documentary
  • You should have an idea of what UNDRIP is about and the significance of Bill C-15
  • You should understand the Psychoanalytical (or Freudian) approach (theory of causes and methods of treatment)
  • You should understand the Id, Ego, and Superego; Repression and the Return of the Repressed
  • You should understand the Behaviourist approach (theory of causes and methods of treatment)
  • You should understand gradual exposure re-conditioning
  • You should understand the Cognitive approach (theory of causes and methods of treatment)
  • You should understand the Neurological approach (theory of causes and methods of treatment)

The multiple choice questions and the written answer topics below expect you to have a good understanding of this information and these ideas.

Written answer topics


  • Please don't just type your answer into the Blackboard submission box. You should write your answer offline in Word or a similar program and save a copy in case anything goes wrong with your Blackboard submission. I strongly recommend that you write any posts, written exam answers, essays etc in any of your classes ahead of the due date, put what you have written aside, and then come back to it with fresh eyes and proofread and edit it for clarity, spelling, and so forth.
  • Do not upload PDFs or Apple Pages files. When you are ready to submit, you should go to the submission page in Blackboard and either click Write Submission and copy and paste your answer into the box provided or click Browse Local Files next to Attach File and attach a Microsoft Word doc file only.

The topics for the written answer are kind of like those on the mini test, but maybe a bit more challenging. They expect you both to show your accurate knowledge of the material I taught and to think about it yourself.

Explain your new knowledge and understanding in your own words, so that I can evaluate it.

Keys to success:

  • Remember I am never just asking for your opinion. I am asking for evidence that you understood the opinions and facts presented in the material. (I'm happy to hear your opinions as well, but I'm marking you on your understanding of the ideas and facts in the lesson.)
  • You should ask yourself why I am asking this question and then answer the question in its own terms. Then you are free to add you own thoughts and feelings.
  • Accuracy matters. You need to have a clear, good understanding of what was taught and to show that you have that understanding.
  • Be sure to answer the whole question, thoroughly.
  • Do not cannibalize material from the Internet. Period.
  • Don’t overly plagiarize from the lesson or the reading. Take the time to understand and then put it in your own words. You can quote from my lesson and the reading within limits, but you should not just create a collage of copy-and-paste.
  • Spell people's names correctly. Do not let Microsoft Turd do your spellcheck for you. Use complete sentences and appropriate paragraph breaks. Choose your words carefully but naturally; don't use a thesaurus.
  • I strongly recommend that you write a draft of your answer and then put it aside, for a day or more if possible, or at least for 20 minutes or so. Now re-read your answer aloud to yourself. Anywhere you yourself stumble or don't understand what you are saying it needs to be fixed. ;-)
  • Your answer will be evaluated out of 10 marks, based on the following criteria:
  • Accurate, clear, and precise understanding of the material (your ability to re-explain it in your own words)
  • Completeness of your response (have you responded fully and adequately to every part of the topic?)
  • The clarity and relevance of your own ideas, if you are asked to share them

If you want to talk about other aspects of the theme not mentioned by me in the exam topic, I will be happy to read what you have to say, but be sure you respond to the topic fully, completely, and accurately first. That is what I will be marking you on.

If you want to respond to a topic, but are not sure what I am looking for when it comes to some part of it, feel free to email me asking for further clarification.

WRITTEN ANSWER INSTRUCTIONS: WRITE AN INFORMAL BUT CLEAR RESPONSE TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS

You will probably want to write between 400 and 800 words. More is fine.

1.

The white Europeans brought a number of ideologies with them to Turtle Island

  • Christianity
  • Capitalism
  • Faith in progress, science and technology
  • An assumption that humans are the boss of the earth
  • An assumption that they would be doing the indigenous people a favour by converting them to the settler ways of life and ways of seeing the world

What are some ways indigenous people lived and saw reality that were very different from the European attitudes? Would you say the indigenous perspective was a case of “shadows on the wall” and the Europeans had a more realistic attitude? Or vice-versa? Or is it more complicated than that? Discuss.

2.

I introduced four influential psychiatric approaches to the problem of anxiety: the psychoanalytical, the behaviourist, the cognitive, and the neurophysiological. Pretend you yourself are suffering from serious anxiety (if you aren't ;-). Which approach would you be most likely to try in order to help yourself? Describe what that theory assumes is the source of anxiety and how it tries to treat anxiety disorders. Why would you be most likely to choose this approach? Which of the four approaches would you be least inclined to try? Why? Describe what that theory thinks is the source of anxiety and how it tries to treat anxiety disorders. Why would you be least likely to try that approach?

You must explain and discuss two of the four approaches clearly and accurately.