Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Eastchester Clapping Sign


One of the best parts of being involved in the still young science of psychology is that its very possible for even beginning researchers to make significant contributions to the field, even (especially?) high school psychology students.
This article describes a familiar situation: a high school psych teacher from Eastchester High School is discussing hemispheric neglect and a student asks a great question: How would a person with hemispheric neglect clap her or his hands? The teacher didn't know, but contacted researchers to find out. The researchers replied that they didn't know either, but they wanted to! The subsequent research led to an important diagnostic tool they named the Eastchester Clapping Sign (ECS). Great example of how inquiry from high school psychology students can lead to not onely good research, but applied findings that benefit other folks. The school web site lists Doug Weisman as the psychology teacher - Doug, if you are the teacher responsible for this innovation, we salute you!

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