Omitted Information

4. Omitted information (story)

In telling a story one normally leaves out all the information which is not essential for the development of the story. But if one wants to examine the situation itself rather than the way it has been described by someone else then one has to try and put that information back. One takes a story which may come from a newspaper or may be a very well-known story. In open class the students are asked for suggestions as to what has been left out e.g. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

• Was it on the way up or on the way back?
• Was Jill hurt?
• Why did Jill fall down anyway?
• Why did Jack fall down?
• Why were they going uphill to collect water?

5. Omitted information (picture)

Here a photograph or picture is used instead of a story. One student examines the picture and describes it to the classroom. Then each of the students draws a simple version of what he thinks the described picture looks like. From the nature of these drawings one can see the information that was omitted in the description of the picture. Another way of doing it is for a student to describe the picture as before and for the rest of the students to ask questions. Questions answerable from the picture reveal details absent from the description. The class can then discuss whether the describer overlooked those details or simply did not think to mention them.

6. Further information

A picture is shown to the whole classroom. Each student writes down the information that he can get from that picture. At the end the results are collected and compared. The comparison between the person who extracts the most information and the person who extracts the least demonstrates how limited an area of attention may be.

7. Checklist

A problem is given and the students are asked to list all the different features through which they would like to rotate attention. This can be done in open class on a volunteer basis or by individual students with comparison of the lists at the end.

Suggested problems might include:

• Alarm clocks that fail to wake one up.
• Design for a bathtub.
• Putting up a washing line.
• Deciding where to build an airport.
• Reducing noise from motorcycles and lorries.

8. Detective stories

With most detective stories there is difficulty in finding the criminal because certain factors are left out of consideration or the wrong entry point is chosen. The writer of a good detective story tries to bring about both these mistakes. The teacher devises a short detective story which contains enough clues to indicate who the criminal might be. The story is then read out to the class who each have to decide for themselves who the criminal is and why. The students should then be asked to write their own detective stories on these lines. These stories in turn are read out to the class. For each story there is an assessment of how many students reach the right conclusion. The author of the story may be called upon to show how he has included enough clues to indicate the criminal.