Name: ______________________________
Class: ____________ Date: ___________
Frogs in Wells
An extension of “Fact or Fallacy”
INTRODUCTION
There is an old saying: “Don’t be like a frog in a well”. This saying is related to what the
writer of “Fact or Fallacy?” says in What’s Up. Carry out the steps below to discover for
yourself the wisdom in this saying.
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
READ “Fact or Fallacy? University discovers turmeric’s powers” (page 19, What’s Up
January 2015).
2. FORM small groups of three or four students each.
3. MAKE paper tubes for your group members. Roll A4-sized sheets of paper
lengthwise until each has a circumference of about 2 cm. Use tape to keep tubes
from unfurling.
4. SELECT a view at your school: any scene that your group would like to focus on.
Examples: the front entrance, the school seen from outside, a classroom and so on.
5. STAND in a straight line as a group, shoulder to shoulder, facing your chosen scene.
Close one eye and use the other eye to look straight ahead through your tube. You
will see only what is visible within your tube’s outer rim. Remember what you see
and then make a quick sketch of it. If every group member is following Step 5
correctly, then no two members will see the same thing.
6. COMBINE what each of you saw by bringing together your individual sketches and
forming a large one. This would give you a panoramic view of your focus area,
7. DISCUSS the difference between using only one person’s view through a single tube
and using the combined views of all group members. When many views come
together, we call them multiple perspectives: you can get multiple perspectives by
combining several people’s views or when a single person stands in several places
and then combines what that person sees. Then, you would not be like a frog in a
well.
Don’t be like a frog in a well! Imagine what it is like to be a frog living in a deep well.
When it looks upwards, all it can see is a small circle of the sky. If that frog never leaps out
of its well, it will live its whole life thinking that there is nothing else in this world except
that small patch of sky.
IDEAS 2015-01