Final Learning Project

Emily Bogdan

Introduction
I believe learning to be the act of consciously acquiring new knowledge, understanding and remembering that information, and applying it to your life through reformation. The degree of learning is directly proportional to the success of society; the more knowledge there is, the most power there is, and the potential for success is infinite. The sources I have chosen to show evidence for my opinion all involve some kind of reformation in different aspects of civilization and society: a reformation in religion, language, science, literature, government, social class, thought, architecture, music, and painting. The sources I have chosen to prove this idea are respectfully the 95 Theses, Hamlet, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, Gullivers Travels, Leviathan, Oliver Twist, Walden, the Versailles Palace, Beethovens 5th Symphony, and Impression: Sunrise. I have organized them in order of importance, in my own opinion of priorities, to the development of my personal society. This presentation is to display the different works of learning in the order of which my civilization would learn, with explanations that teach about the works.

Definition of Learning
Learning is consciously acquiring new knowledge, understanding and remembering that information, and applying it to your life through reformation.

95 Theses
A list of grievances against the Catholic Church, written in 1517, by Martin Luther, in Wittenberg, Germany

leaders and come to have an understanding of religion themselves. The list reflects the learning of past civilizations in that it displays Martin Luthers own original understanding of the scriptures and how he would have them applied to real life. It was a lateral learning, as Martin Luther had to think outside the box to go against the Catholic church as he pointed out its corruption: indulgences, biased interpretation of scripture, and misuse of power. This list reflects my definition of learning because Luther realized that the church was being untrue to the scriptures, and promoted change by posting his findings for others to see. He found a new understanding through study, remembered it, and applied it by telling others. In the end, he started a religious reformation that eventually allowed people to worship the way they chose.

95 Theses The 95 These started a religious reformation. It caused others to question their religious

Hamlet
A play written by William Shakespeare, in 1602, in England

Hamlet
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, which is just one example of how Shakespeares writing transformed the English language. Not only does Hamlet make use of new words, but it has a deep plot that still impresses people today. This shows learning in past civilizations because Shakespeare understood the English language such that he was able to create new words and implement them into his writing. As his plays became more popular, the people began to also utilize the new language. Hamlet shows my definition of learning in that Shakespeare reformed the language and promoted the learning of others as they made sense of the new vocabulary and began to use it in everyday life.

The Mathematical Principles of natural Philosophy

Book written by Sir Isaac Newton, in 1687, England

The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

Gullivers Travels
Satire written by Jonathan Swift in 1726, in England

Gullivers Travels
Gullivers Travels was a part of the reformation in literature. The past civilizations learned from this work first from the way it was written and second from its actual meaning. Written in satire, the people had to learn to understand satire, and then apply what they learned from the authors opinion in their life. The author, Jonathan Swift, wrote the satire in an effort to change the English society by metaphorically criticizing it in his book. This book supports my definition of learning in that it caused a reform in literature that required people to learn how to understand satire and take the meaning from the satire and apply it to their person lives and opinions.

Leviathan
Book written by Thomas Hobbes, in Europe, in 1649

Leviathan
Leviathan was written by Thomas Hobbes, who believed that society should be structured as a commonwealth with some kind of sovereign authority. He proposed that the people within the community make covenants between themselves instead of with the government, which was the case during his time. This idea to reform the government was a precedent to the Enlightenment. He displayed linear learning in that his idea of a commonwealth is still pretty similar to a monarchy, but he also showed lateral learning in that he transformed the idea of the people making deals with the government to making deals with each other. He reflected the learning of past civilizations in that he studied and applied old governments, and then his learning falls under my definition as he applied those teachings in a new way and thus began a reform in the government.

Oliver Twist
1838 novel written by Charles Dickens in England

Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist shows the reform, or need to reform, the social class in London during the 1800s. On top of the other problems that the Industrial Revolution was causing in the middle class, Dickens points out that the social structure of society was furthermore hurting children in the area. The novel shows the linear learning of its author, as a lot of insight and understanding of the social structure was necessary to create the story. It also promoted the learning of its readers, because as they read the story, the drive for change would be increased with the understanding of the problem. This supports my definition of learning as a reformation of the social class was required as an understanding of the problem developed, remembered, and finally applied in real life with a restructuring of the social class.

Walden
Essay written by Henry David Thoreau in Massachusetts in 1854

Walden
Henry David Thoreau promoted learning through his published book, Walden, that encouraged the reformation of thought. This book is the best example of transcendentalism because its author wrote it from his personal experience at Walden Pond in order to inspire others to learn for themselves. Thoreau linearly learned from Ralph Waldo Emersons ideas, but he also made sure to learn those ideas for himself by having his own personal experience. He eventually added to the reformation of thought in the nineteenth century as he supported aligning the self with nature and consequently truth. In order to do this, he learned the ideas of Emerson, applied and carried them out in his own life, and finally recorded his experience for everyone to remember and perhaps follow his example. He encouraged a reformation of thought by encouraging others to find truth in nature and being awake throughout life.

Versailles Palace
Palace built in 1669 in France through commissions of King Louis XIV

Versailles Palace
The Versailles Palace is an excellent display of the reformation in architecture during the 1600s. It incorporates the Baroque style in all aspects of its existence: it makes use of Baroque pillars, Baroque paintings and statures, mirrors, and extravagant gardens. Thus, it displays the impressive Baroque style by stressing the contrast between light and dark through the mirrors, impressing the viewing by adding emotion to the decorations with paintings and sculptures, and incorporating elaborate design in the gardens ad architecture. Versailles reflects the learning of past civilizations as it applied the style of Baroque art to architecture, a lateral sense of learning. The new, beautiful architecture reflects my definition of learning in that its builders had to understand the meaning and style of the Baroque period, remember its likeness, and apply it to architecture, thus starting a reformation in architecture.

Beethovens 5th Symphony

5th Symphony
Music written by Beethoven in 1808, presented in Vienna

This symphony is unforgettable because it develops clear communication to the listeners on multiple levels. This piece of music is the bridge between Romantic music and Classical music, as Beethoven incorporated both styles. The two themes within the music represent fate and hope. Throughout the movements of the song, the themes explore different aspects of themselves and battle between each other, and finally resolve into a finale celebrating the theme of hope. The Romantic element of the song is identified as how the entire symphony communicates to its listener through its clashing themes; the Classical element is how each movement is a little different than the others, causing a focus on movements rather than the entire symphony. Beethoven reflected learning in that he applied rules of both the Romantic and Classis periods in one symphony, where they were appropriate. The music represents my definition of learning in that it required a deep understanding of musical rules, applying those rules and breaking them in a creative way, and causing a musical reformation.

Beethovens 5th Symphony

Impression: Sunrise
Painting by Claude Money in Europe in 1874

Impression: Sunrise
This painting represents the reformation of painting from the Romantic era to the Impressionist era. With the invention of portable tubes of oil paint, the artists of the era loved to paint the scenic beauty of natural light, which is displayed here in the lighting of this painting of the sunrise. This lead to new techniques of painting, such as using short brush strokes and pointillism. Artists had to creatively invent new techniques to paint the lighting of the scenes they wished to paint. Impression: Sunrise is a beautiful example of how the artists technique allows the viewers eye to connect the colors of the short brush strokes in order to see an image, rather than bluntly displaying every line of the scene. It reflects my definition of learning as the techniques used to create the painting were developed through reformation in art by an understanding of how to break the previous rules of art and applying them to new situations.

Conclusion
As shown, learning can be defined as consciously acquiring new knowledge, understanding and remembering that information, and applying it to your life through reformation. While reflecting on my project as a whole, I have come to realize that reformation of knowledge is the ultimate display of deep learning. There are different levels of learning, and different levels are required for the diverse situations in life. Because lateral learning typically leads to reformation, I believe that lateral learning is more important to growing a society than linear learning; linear learning keeps the train of thought along the same solutions to a problem while lateral promotes new solutions. Linear learning is more useful to keep a society running while lateral learning is better for developing a society. Along the same lines, modern civilization could make use of any type of learning in all aspects of life because the growth of society happens with its sustainment; thus, it needs both linear and lateral learning to thrive. Due to the linear way students are taught to think, it seems as though only the computer industry is growing exponentially, due to the fact that computers think linearly in the same way students are taught. However, if we learn to think laterally and therefore in a way that promotes reformation, civilization could make improvements in economics, medicine, biology, art, and more. Not only would our society be sustained, it would expand. We could all die as a well-learned, well-rounded society. I can apply these ideas to my own life as I seek my education to become a Physician Assistant. In the field, I could be developing new treatment techniques for broken bones, traumatized minds, disheartened spirits, or even cancer. It is important that I learn how to laterally learn now so that when I get into the field, I can create new solutions for unhealthy individuals that could eventually change the face of medicine. By doing so, I will be exemplifying my own definition of learning as I understand, remember, apply, and reform knowledge.

References
Google images (see presentation notes) History of Creativity in the Arts, Science, & Technology, by Brent Strong and Mark Davis