connections between Locke and Sherlock Holmes

In the Phillips article it states “The mind (or "the understanding") is described in Locke's writings in very passive terms--the mind is a receptacle (an empty cabinet, a wax tablet, a piece of blotting paper) for storing whatever ideas come from experience.” This caught my eye having recently read the Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which the detective Sherlock Holmes states "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones." The connection was pretty immediate do the time periods line up for Doyle to have been influenced by Locke?

(CR) actor vs. spectator

The following quotes from the article on constructivism by D.C. Phillips were interestingt ome for reasons i'll explain later:

"When one applies constructivism to the issue of teaching, one must reject the assumption that one can simply pass on information to a set of learners and expect that understanding will result. Communication is a far more complex process than this. When teaching concepts, as a form of communication, the teacher must form an adequate model of the student's ways of viewing an idea and s/he then must assist the student in restructuring those views to be more adequate from the student's and from the teacher's perspective. Constructivism not only emphasizes the essential role of the constructive process, it also allows one to emphasize that we are at least partially able to be aware of those constructions and then to modify them through our conscious reflection on that constructive process."(Confrey, 1990, p. 109)

"Starting from the constructivist position that the knower is an "actor" rather than a "spectator," Dewey staunchly advocated the use of activity methods in the
schoolroom--for students are potential knowers, yet traditional schooling forces students into the mold of passive receptacles waiting to have information instilled, instead of allowing them to move about, discuss, experiment, work on communal projects, pursue research outdoors in the
fields and indoors in the library and laboratory, and so forth."

These quotes interested me because they seem to relate to my experience going to a charter school from 7th-12th grade. The quotes, specifically the second one, remind me strongly of how the classrooms at Parker functioned. At Parker we more often than not were 'actors' engaging in activities and discussions instead of sitting and listening to the teacher lecture on any given subject. I always enjoyed this way of learning. I'm a hands-on learner so i always enjoyed doing activities and discussions and being the 'actor' rather than a 'spectator'. It was always more engaging an I alwayas thought i learned more and remembered better when we worked actively instead of passively.