Last week we sent a bulletin about clever decisions.
This week, in a kind of “Cleverness Part II”, we’re talking cows.
I (Jason) ran an assembly at Stivichall Primary this morning, and I used the intriguing news story of a cow that has been seen to use a tool, something usually thought as reserved for “cleverer” animals. Here’s my plan and match report, which you can either rinse-and-repeat with your class, or use as a basis for your own session.
Warm up questions
What’s the cleverest thing you’ve seen an animal do?
A cow has become famous for doing something clever. What do you think it was?
Then show the video (and there’s an accompanying news article here).
What was clever about that?
A boy in Year 4 put it eloquently, that everything is an expert of its own body, but not of using things outside of its own body. I talked here about chimpanzees using sticks to get termites out of nests; crows dropping nuts on roads so that cars crack them open is another. But cows have not been on the list of tool-using animals before.
Main questions
Is this clever enough for you to think we should stop eating cows?
What evidence of cows being clever would you need to see for you to stop eating cows?
I gave the example that “if a cow had come in to take this assembly and ask you not to eat cows, you’d probably stop ordering Big Macs.”
The last thought from a student on this final question was, “If a cow did my homework.” That was a lovely “offer” for a final question from me:
“Lots of students are already using AI to do their homework. But if you wouldn’t want to eat a cow that could do your homework, does the same logic apply to AI? What would an AI have to be able to do for it to wrong to switch it off for ever?”
What’s new in the Philosoverse?
Jason will be in Hong Kong at the invitation of the Yew Chung Education Foundation on 12 and 13 March. He is available for work in China, SE Asia, Australia from the 16th March to the 8th April.
In addition to the usual work of CPD sessions, assemblies, demonstration sessions, shared planning and so on, we would love to run an open course, perhaps over two days, at a conveniently accessible school where delegates from other schools could join. Please get in touch ASAP to register an interest.