Cubing Exercise

Cubing Exercise
1. Generalizing: I learned from the assignment that the animals had personalities like humans. They also seemed preoccupied with food. I noticed that there were lots of plants all over the park, and it seemed like a world within a world. These things suggest that I could reflect upon animal traits, and describe the vibrant scenery. It suggests also that people in general are like animals.
2. Giving examples: The leopard I saw behaved like a junior high student. The monkeys acted like little boys. The camels seemed like greedy football players, just wanting food or to be lying down. The macaws reminded me of a kind and his royal subject, while the goats reminded me of attention-seeking children. I think that narrowing it down to three examples, such as the leopard, monkeys, and macaws would best help the readers understand because they are all quite different. This could help reach out to my audience, to involve them by including different types of personalities.
3. Comparing and contrasting: I think that going to a park or a garden, such as Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, could be like the subject I observed. Instead of comparing animals to people, I could compare plants to people. Each subject has a variety of breeds, and they are on display for people to look at. The differences are that at the zoo, the subject is moving so I could give them personalities. With plants, it would be based more on physical characteristics alone.
4. Extending: I think that my subject could be taken in many directions. It could have been a persuasive observation against having animals in captivity, saying that this was a cruel thing. I could have also focused on one specific animal, and delved so deep into that one animal that I would know more about it than it did.
5. Analyzing: My subject is the Lincoln Children’s Zoo. It can be broken down into different parts such as animals, enclosures, plant life, attractions, buildings, decoration (sculptures, signs, freaky frog boards), and the train. Each part is related to another in that it all serves the purpose to entertain zoo guests and make the experience whole. The animals are probably the most significant part. The plant life is right up there as well, bringing in the enclosures to create the right habitat for the animals. The rest of the parts are like icing on the cake to make the park better.
6. Applying: I can use this observation of animals as a better understanding for my zoology class, which talks about animals and animal behavior. I think that the way I apply it though, to personalities of people, is useful for myself and others as a way to categorize things. It gives a new perspective of looking at people and deciding what their personalities are. Since animals are already categorized and broken into like groups, if we apply that principle to people, they could be broken into groups of the same personalites.