Visual Awareness: Enabling Iterative Thinking through Photography

This paper presents research results that aid in understanding how photography can become a tool for iterative thinking as a mode of reflection. The research was conducted in three phases. The first consisted of a specific task: after reading assigned materials from different sources, PhD students had to take a photograph as a visual reading-report. In the second phase, all the created images were presented and discussed during class. In the last stage, the students talked about their experience through in-depth interviews. The findings showed that visual awareness linked observation and reflection at the same time, since the students were continually looking for ordinary objects to carry new meanings that were relatable to specific arguments and ideas expressed in the reading materials. Hence, visual awareness is understood in this paper as a mode of visual perception that enables a process of thinking iteratively about a particular topic. The photographic camera was identified as a thinking tool that could be a valuable device to incorporate into educational activities. Finally, in addition to practicing iterative thinking, students expressed feeling engaged and motivated, enjoying this activity, and embracing the challenge

Visual Awareness: Enabling Iterative Thinking through Photography

This paper presents research results that aid in understanding how photography can become a tool for iterative thinking as a mode of reflection. The research was conducted in three phases. The first consisted of a specific task: after reading assigned materials from different sources, PhD students had to take a photograph as a visual reading-report. In the second phase, all the created images were presented and discussed during class. In the last stage, the students talked about their experience through in-depth interviews. The findings showed that visual awareness linked observation and reflection at the same time, since the students were continually looking for ordinary objects to carry new meanings that were relatable to specific arguments and ideas expressed in the reading materials. Hence, visual awareness is understood in this paper as a mode of visual perception that enables a process of thinking iteratively about a particular topic. The photographic camera was identified as a thinking tool that could be a valuable device to incorporate into educational activities. Finally, in addition to practicing iterative thinking, students expressed feeling engaged and motivated, enjoying this activity, and embracing the challenge

Spherical nematics with a threefold valence

We present a theoretical study of the energetics of thin nematic shells with two charge one-half defects and one charge-one defect. We determine the optimal arrangement: the defects are located on a great circle at the vertices of an isosceles triangle with angles of 66 degrees at the charge one-half defects and a distinct angle of 48 degrees, consistent with experimental findings. We also analyse thermal fluctuations around this ground state and estimate the energy as a function of thickness. We find that the energy of the three-defect shell is close to the energy of other known configurations having two charge-one and four charge one-half defects. This finding, together with the large energy barriers separating one configuration from the others, explains their observation in experiments as well as their long-time stability.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Threading the spindle: a geometric study of chiral liquid crystal polymer microparticles

Polymeric particles are strong candidates for designing artificial materials capable of emulating the complex twisting-based functionality observed in biological systems. In this letter, we provide the first detailed investigation of the swelling behavior of bipolar polymer liquid crystalline microparticles. Deswelling from the spherical bipolar configuration causes the microparticle to contract anisotropically and twist in the process, resulting in a twisted spindle shaped structure. We propose a model to describe the observed spiral patterns and twisting behavior