WORKING TOGETHER   5

THINK AND DISCUSS

Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. In my case, I work in teams at work to solve issues or problems that our clients are having. I think families are teams, too. Families always have to work together to make decisions and work through tensions if they want to live happily together.

2. Large groups will have a diverse range of ideas and opinions, most likely, so this is good for considering different sides of a situation. However, it’s hard to come to an agreement in a large group, so that’s

one disadvantage.

EXPLORE THE THEME

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. The people in the photo are all working together to build a tower made of humans.

2. Early humans collaborated when finding food and raising children. They did this to survive.

3. Modern examples of collaboration are common in the business world. People in organizations collaborate to be productive.

B accomplish, collectively, complex

Reading

PREPARING TO READ

A 1. defense

2. manipulate

3. simulation

5. unpredictable

6. emergent

7. precisely

4. capabilities

B 1. declare

2. relevant

3. coordinate

4. realistically

5. Complementary

C Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. A group can carry out a complex task by breaking it down into smaller tasks performed by individuals. Physically, a group is also stronger

than the individual and can accomplish feats like the one in the picture on page 95.

2. I belong to a volleyball club team. The skills of the individuals on my team are complementary. We have to work together, using each other’s strengths and supporting each other’s weaknesses, to win a game.

3. Actually, I prefer to work by myself. I like to work efficiently, and I find that working with others makes a project take longer. When I work in teams, we often get behind and miss important deadlines.

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. Bees work together in their hive. Also, elephants live together in herds. They travel this way and share the responsibility of taking care of younger elephants.

2. Teamwork is important in a lot of jobs. For example, collaboration is very important for firefighters. If they don’t work well together to put out a fire and rescue people, lives could be lost. But collaboration is also very important in office jobs. For example, consultants have to work in teams to solve problems.

E Answers will vary. Actual answers:

1. insects (bees and ants), birds (pigeons), fish

2. smart swarm / hive mind, collaboration

3. robots, Internet search engines, online encyclopedias

4. to inform / to explain a specific animal behavior that has relevance in the human world

UNDERSTANDING THE READING

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. The “smart swarm” is a group of living things that move and react in a manner that protects its members and makes them able to

coordinate a successful response to unexpected circumstances. (Paragraph B)

2. Being part of a large group aids the survival of the animal group, as well as the species. Animals that travel in groups are more likely to warn each other when predators are nearby, find mates in the group, find food, and locate a migration route. (Paragraph O)

3. The key aspects of swarm intelligence are responding simply to others, responding to the local environment, and having no leader. (Paragraphs B, C, R)

4. Search engines are an example of collaboration because they survey billions of websites at once to find the most relevant information, then rank each according to popularity. (Paragraph T) An online

encyclopedia is an example of collaboration because it uses the collective intelligence of its many contributors. (Paragraph U)

B 1. T–U

2. R

3. V

4. O–Q

5. B–C

6. D–N

C 1. d; How do the simple actions of individuals add up to the complex behavior of a group?

2. c; The result, when set in motion on a computer screen, …

3. f; … Reynolds was also blazing the trail for robotics engineers.

4. g; … —just as ants are able to come up with various options by trial and error.

5. a; If they could, teams of robots might someday be sent into a hostile village to flush out terrorists or locate prisoners.

6. e; For these animals, coordinating their movements with one another can be a matter of life or death.

7. b; … the bottom line is that our actions matter, even if we don’t see how.

D 1. birds/pigeons (Paragraph B)

2. leader (Paragraph C)

3. the bird next to them (Paragraph C)

4. fly in the same direction as others (Paragraph D)

5. stay close to others (Paragraph D)

6. take its place (Paragraph F)

7. local information (Paragraph G)

8. foot-bots (Paragraph I)

9. hand-bots (Paragraph I)

10. eye-bots (Paragraph I)

11. information (Paragraph I)

12. prisoners (Paragraph M)

13. earthquakes (Paragraph M)

14. waste (Paragraph M)

E 1. G

2. P

3. U

1. Vijay Kumar is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania; Daniel Grunbaum, a biologist at the University of Washington; Thomas Malone of MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence; they all appear to be experts in their field and are currently researching

and developing ideas relating to smart swarms.

2. a. 2; b. 3; c. 1

F 1. For crowd intelligence to work, the author says that members need to act responsibly and make their own decisions.

2. recycling

3. Answers will vary. Possible answers:

crowdfunding, recycling, a company/business

DEVELOPING READING SKILLS

A 1. Taking this idea one step further (dependent clause), computer scientist Marco Dorigo’s group in Brussels is leading a European effort to

create a “swarmanoid” (main clause), a group of cooperating robots with complementary abilities (dependent clause).

subject: computer scientist Marco Dorigo’s group in Brussels

verb: is leading

object: a European effort to create a “swarmanoid”

a. building a swarmanoid

b. a group of collaborative robots

2. The result (main clause), when set in motion on a computer screen (dependent clause), was a convincing simulation of flocking (main clause), including lifelike and unpredictable movements. (dependent clause)

subject: the result

verb: was

object: convincing simulation of flocking

a. a convincing simulation of flocking

b. lifelike and unpredictable movements

3. Zipping down the main hallway (dependent clause), the foot-long (30 cm) red robots pivoted this way and that on their three wheels (main

clause), resembling a group of large insects (dependent clause).

subject: red robots

verb: pivoted

a. red robots

b. a large group of insects

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Paragraph K: As they spread out, entering one room after another, each robot searched for objects of interest with a small camera. When

one robot encountered another, it used wireless network gear to exchange information.

Paragraph M: The demonstration was part of the Centibots project, an investigation to see if as many as a hundred robots could collaborate on a mission.

Paragraph U: Wikipedia, a free collaborative encyclopedia, has also proved to be a big success, with millions of articles in more than 200

languages about everything under the sun, each of which can be contributed by anyone or edited by anyone.

Paragraph V: When a group is being intelligent, whether it’s made up of ants or attorneys, it relies on its members to do their own part. For those

of us who sometimes wonder if it’s really worth recycling that extra bottle to lighten our impact on the planet, the bottom line is that our actions matter, even if we don’t see how.

Video

BEFORE VIEWING

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

I’ve seen ants carry food back to their nest. They work together to do it.

B 1. They create rafts to survive when their homes are flooded. They do it by joining themselves together to create a pizza-like shape.

2. They work together by coordinating their movements, staying close but also not causing problems in each other’s space.

C 1. recruitment

2. consensus

3. inspect

WHILE VIEWING

A a. find out how ants make decisions

b. choose a new home

c. one hour

B 1. to record their movements, to see who collects information, how they communicate, and how a consensus is reached

2. They brush antennae and release chemicals called “pheromones.”

3. when one ant leads another to the new nest

AFTER VIEWING

A Answers will vary. Possible answer:

I guess that if an animal is just copying the actions of another animal, this probably doesn’t qualify as teaching. To qualify as teaching, I suppose there has to be some intent on behalf of one animal to

make the other animal learn something.

B Answers will vary. Possible answer:

Like the ants, the company would probably check out a couple of different places before deciding on one to move to. Unlike the ants, it might be harder to make decisions together. A few employees might be asked for their opinions, but ultimately, I think the head of the company would decide where to move.

Writing

EXPLORING WRITTEN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE FOR WRITING

A 1. b; 2. a; 3. c

B Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. If one group member stopped functioning properly, it could be replaced by others.

2. The robot stopped and sent out a message to the human in charge of it.

3. The trial was declared successful by the researchers who carried it out.

WRITING SKILL

C Students should conclude that summary A is more successful.

1. A

2. A

3. A, B

4. A, B

5. A

WRITING TASK

A Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Author’s main idea; one example: Swarm intelligence can be useful in robotics; pigeons

Technology: Robots can be programmed to behave in similar ways.

Animals: Animals are able to protect themselves when being attacked.

Humans: Humans use it in search engines and online encyclopedias.

Individuals in human smart swarms?: act responsibly and make their own decisions

C 1. urges

2. discusses

3. disputes

4. questions

5. provides

D Answers will vary. Possible answers:

Introduction

Thesis Statement: In the “Smart Swarm,” author Peter Miller explains how this behavior in the animal world is affecting technology in the human world.

Body Paragraph 1: What is a smart swarm?

Topic Sentence: A smart swarm is a group with no leader in which members react and coordinate movements together to deal with changing environments.

Details: pigeons, synchronized flying; follow easy rules to stay coordinated; watch nearby pigeons

Body Paragraph 2: How can smart swarm be

used in technology?

Topic Sentence: Swarm intelligence is being used to design smart robots.

Details: programmed to follow basic smart swarm

ideas: stay close but don’t crowd or collide with others while flying nearby; success with robots reacting to the unexpected, acting on local

information; possibly used in future in military operations and rescue efforts by first responders

Body Paragraph 3: How are human “smart swarms” being used now and going forward?

Topic Sentence: While not as common in human society yet, the online environment is providing some opportunities for people to be part of a

smart swarm.

Details: online encyclopedias, results from search engines; instant crowdfunding

Notes for conclusion: for smart swarms to work well, individuals have to be responsible in their motivations and choices; use recycling as an example

REVISING PRACTICE

1. C and D should be switched

2. For example, the Save the Tiger Fund gave more than $17 million in grants for tiger protection between 1995 and 2009.

3. b

EDITING PRACTICE

Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. in a flash = suddenly

2. in the field = to practical use

3. scattering = running away

UNIT REVIEW

Answers will vary. Possible answers:

1. for crowdsourcing projects, to create advanced robots, in computer simulations

2. to create rafts, to carry food, to make decisions

3. to avoid plagiarism

4. Answers will vary.