Over the Edge Dec 6, 1995 page 9

Student Success?
The Saga

by Jason

Curby: Clitoral stimulation as
the be all and end all of sexual
communication, or homophobic
epithets as critical thinking—
which would you like to discuss
on our ride to the university?

Me: you’ve been spending to much time with the latest edition of
Ove The Edge. I’m tired of that kind of stuff around here. I’m
going to U Vic next year— if I pass my killer Psych course. I’ve
memorized so much I think I’m going to break down.

Curby: Think of the Vauxhall.

Me: Kohlber has 8 stages of moral development, Perry has 9, and
Loevinger has stages between the stages. And now we come to
Bloom, and he has 8 levels in his heirarchy of the cognitive domain.
Geez.

Curby: Think of the Vauxhall. So there are 8 levels of cognitive
activity, 8 levels of test questions profs can throw at you. Associate
each level with a different part of this beautiful vehicle, and, presto,
you’ve got them. I dare you to try it, and I bet you’ll know all the
levels, in order, before we get to the university.

Me: Ok, the most basic level is (age lal could simply
ask you to memorize and regurgitate.

Curby: Associate that with the bumper, the thing that goes first,

that cuts through the smog.

Me: I’m just looking in my book. Second is “comprehension”—
you understand it.

‘Curby: Move inside the car and think ot me, the driver, the genius
who understands how this machine works. Think driver.

Me: Get real. “Application”’—profs could ask you to apply
‘abstractions to the real world.

‘Curby: Think tires. The four tires applying to the pavement. Where
the rubber meets the road.

Me: OK, “analysis”—breaking something down into its parts so
‘that the relationships among the parts are clear. Like “analyze this
poem.”

‘Curby: Think of the Vauxhall spread all over the garage floor last
August, bits of greasy paper covered with directions on how to
assemble. See parts everywhere.

Me: Now the highest levels. “Synthesis”—combining the parts into
a structure not clearly there before. Well, with this °78 Vauxhall
sporting a Dodge Dart bumper, a Mercedes leather-covered steering
wheel, and who knows what else, all held together with wire and
duct tape.

Curby: Right, picture the Vauxhall parts wired together.

Me: last is “evaluation”—a final exam question could ask you to
make judgements about the value of material and methods for given
purposes. And support your evaluation. Probably an essay-type
question.

Curby: By the way, it’s your week to pay for parking. Now, stand
back and take a look at this beautiful car, light green paint job, a
white passenger’s door without a handle, serious rust over the back
wheels—clearly 10 out of 10. It’s purpose was to get us from A to B
on time and the mission was accomplished. A thing of beauty and a
joy to behold.

Me: Ya, but...

Curby: So picture: bumper, driver, tires, parts, wired together,
home-to-parking lot. That’s Bloom’s taxonomy of whatever you
siad! I hope that helps you at U Vic—if you get in.

Me: I’ll always remember the Vauxhall. This could be the start of

a beautiful friendship.

What For’?

This week, we have got the
Prince George Public Interest
Research Group, PIRG. First
off, I have one thing to say:
PIRG IS NO LONGER IN THE
NEWSPAPER OFFICE!!!

Yes, we still have people
coming into the newspaper office
to find something about PIRG.
We always tell them that they
have moved, yet they always
come back. Go figure. They have
an office now (more or less) in
Room 5-125, and their phone
number is 960-6412.

Anyways, PIRG is a “student-
run, student funded, non-
partisan group dedicated to
research, education, and action
on environmental and social
justice issues.”

What they’ve done:

-carpooling (which must most
of us have seen)

-AJDS awareness week (in
conjunction with the health
centre) °*

-gay, lesbian, and bisexual

By Jes Burkitt

month film fest and info table in
the Wintergarden

-organized Women’s History
Month potluck (at the Internet
Cafe). This was a storytelling
potluck where each woman
brought artifacts from their
families and a dish from their
heritage, and told stories in order
to reclaim women’s history.

-Organized coffeehouse

-Turn Off TV week

-Buy Nothing day, a North
American wide protest to make
people aware of their
consumption and their power as
a consumer

-a transportation census, an
article which is coming up in
Over the Edge, written by a
PIRGie
What they’ re doing:

-working with Recycling and
Environmental Action and
Planning Society (REAPS) to
start composting at the university

-working to bring in a speaker

from Friends of Burma (to do
with the Pepsi boycott)

-working with Toni Fletcher
for the Hamper Drive, as well
as working towards poverty
awareness (ie. dispelling some of
the myths)

-developing popular theater

-there are 15 PIRGies
participating in the Joseph
Schaeffer workshop’ on
unlearning racism

-currently building a resource
library

Suffice it to say, they’ve been
busy. It might also be worth
mentioning that they’ve done
everything on a minuscule
budget made up of donations
from other PIRGs.

PIRG is looking for people
with ideas to do research,
education, or action for social
justice and the environment.
Their office hours in Room 5-
125 are 10:30 to 12:30 and 1:30
to 3:30, Monday to Friday.

Old-Fashioned Gingerbread People

Have the following stuff ready:

Icing:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white or brown sugar
1/4 cup icing sugar

Dough:

1/2 cup dark molasses

A few drops of water

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

A drop or two of food coloring
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 or 1/3 cup water

Blend the butter and sugar
until creamy, then beat in the
dark molasses. Set aside. Sift
flour(in a regular sieve) and then
resift it with the baking soda,
cloves, cinnamon, ginger and
salt. Add these ingredients to the
butter mixture in three parts,
alternating it with a either
measurements of water, starting
and ending with the flour
mixture. If you want to roll the
dough out with a rolling pin, and

submitted by Melisa Fegarido

then use cookie cutters or a knife
to cut out you gingerbread
people, use only 1/4 cup water. If
you’d rather model the dough by
rolling a ball for the head,
another larger one for the body,
and log-type shapes for the arms
and legs, use 1/3 cup of water.
You might need to use your
hands when you’re adding the
last bit of flour to the mixture, so
make sure to wash your hands
before you start.

Decorate your gingerbread
population with raisins and
redhots and licorice or whatever
you like, and then bake for about

8 minutes or longer, according
to their thickness. You’ll know
they’ re done when you press the
dough with your finger and it
springs back right away. Cool
the gingerbread on a rack.

To make icing, stir the icing
sugar and water to make paste.
You can add food coloring if you
like. A toothpick or small knife
is good enough for adding the
icing. And that’s all there is to
it.

Adapted from the Joy of
Cookbook