Tuesday, January 2, 2018

THE MINDS OF PLANTS


“From the memories of flowers to the sociability of trees, the cognitive abilities of our vegetal cousins are all around us”
By: Laura Ruggles
Level of Difficulty: ***
WATCH AND TAKE NOTES
·         In the mind of plants https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/mind-plants/  
QUESTIONS
1.       What surprising fact is revealed concerning the Cornish Mallow?
2.       What widely accepted fact seems to stand in the way of the view that “plants can learn from memories”?
3.       Read the accounts of the amazing capabilities of certain plants. What conclusion can be drawn from these examples?
4.       Read the example of the thaliana. According to the text, vernalisation  seems to be governed by a genetic process / a chemical process / a physical process / an experimental process.
5.       What surprising piece of information is provided concerning chromatin remodeling?
6.       Read the paragraph beginning “Both…”. A change in word order in one section of this paragraph would make better sense. State clearly what this correction is.
7.       Who would sleep better, a person living close to a motorway or a person living near a railway line?
8.       Read the paragraph beginning “But”. What conclusion can be drawn from the 2016 experiment?
9.       The systematic bias against non-humans including both animals and to a larger extent plants can be linked to…
10.   Read the three paragraph explanation of the reasons for zoochauvanism. Which sentence in these three paragraphs best expresses the main idea? Where else in the section could it be placed?
11.   We understand from the text that habituation is not considered a cognitive mechanism whereas trading in representations is. This is due to the fact that…
12.   Read the paragraph beginning “On the other hand…” and the three paragraphs that follow. What essay type is the structure of this section closest to?
13.   Read the account of Fransisco Calvo Garzon’s views. Does the argument the writer puts forward concerning the cognitive power of plants tie in with Garzon’s views or not?
14.   Read the last section of the text. Which of the following would be wrong according to this section? How would you correct it?
·         We need to be more open minded
·         We need to be more objective
·         We need to be more aware of grey areas
·         We need to define concepts such as memory, learning and thought
WRITING TASK
Use all the information you have gleaned to write an essay in which you discuss to what extent you think that plants actually think. Determine your position and justify it.
THE MINDS OF PLANTS
This insightful text challenges widely held beliefs concerning plants by showing what amazing feets they are capable of. Because it overturns so many so called ‘truisms’ it should have a wow factor despite its length. The writing task will hopefully give students a chance to put forward their own views.
1.       It seems to remember when and where the Sun has come up on previous days (and…)
2.       Memory requires a brain and plants lack even the most rudimentary nervous system
3.       Plants can sense and integrate information about dozens of different environmental variables and they use this knowledge to guide flexible, adaptive behavior.
4.       A chemical process
5.       Later produced cells remember past winters
6.       The sentence beginning “Perhaps” should read “Perhaps the interesting question isn’t  really whether or not cognition is needed for memories but…”
7.       A motorway; you will get used to the noise and perhaps not even notice after a while but you’ll probably startle at the sound of a train)
8.       Evidence is mounting that plants share some of the treasured learning capacities of animals.
9.       Aristotle’s influential notion of the scala naturae
10.   It seems that, when we are deciding whether to interpret behavior as intelligent, we rely on anthropomorphic prototypes /  After the sentence beginning  “Today”
11.   Unless it can operate offline a state or mechanism is not genuinely cognitive
12.   Argumentative
13.   It does; Garzon said nothing about plants; he just defined cognition

14.   The last / We need to refine…

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