gorilla video
If you have seen one of our presentations, you may have seen the gorilla video. As presenters, we have a lot of fun using the gorilla video because we know what the reaction is going to be. Some of you will see it, but most of you will not. Then the real fun begins. People accuse us of "cheating" by using two different videos. Other people tease their friends because they didn't see it. Basically the whole place turns upside down with name calling, denial and frustration.
After one presentation, a lady approached and said, "I'm really concerned. I consider myself a detail person and I didn't see the gorilla! What's wrong with me?" This is indicative of our education system. So much of what is taught has a right and a wrong; and can be evaluated and judged (or so we are supposed to believe).
People who see the video and are not only able to count the right number of passes, but also see the gorilla, have the ability to focus on many things simultaneously. People who count the right number of passes and don't see the gorilla have the ability to intensely focus on a specific task, blocking out all other distractions. Is one skill better? Is one skill right and one wrong? No, they are just different skills. Just as today's digital generation has different skills.
The point we try to make when we use this video is not to make you feel right or wrong, but to demonstrate that although we think we know everything that is happening around us, there are things going on in our classrooms, with our students, in their lives and in our own that we miss. Not because we aren't paying attention, but more likely because our attention is focused elsewhere. With respect to education, it's focused on standards, on high stakes testing and the overwhelming burden of trying to keep up. And while our attention is focused elsewhere, our students are the losers.
Many of you email us asking for a copy of the video to use in your own school or board meeting. We would love to provide this as a free resource to you, and one day we may video one ourselves and make it available.
Right now however, the one we use is copyright Daniel J. Simons at the University of Illinois. You can buy it for use here, or if you want to view it online for free, you can do so here.
