Teaching High School Psychology: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Teaching Tolerance

You've certainly seen their free magazines and perhaps even their emails. The Southern Poverty Law Center's education project is an outstanding site dealing with a variety of prejudice and reduction of prejudice articles, activities, and resources. One could literally teach an entire course utilizing the materials on this site.
The Magazine
Professional Development
Activities Search Page with list below
Mix It Up

If you are a believer in social justice, reducing prejudice, increasing understanding, and increasing an understanding of history, this is a fantastic site.
Enjoy,

Chuck

Optics for Teens

Going back through my bookmarks, I (Chuck) ran across this site, Optics for Teens. The site is very basic, but includes great information:

What is optics?
Celebrities and experts in the fields of light
Optical Illusions
Additional links to light and vision
Gallery Page
Page for Teachers and Parents
The image below is in the site's gallery as an example of the sun seen in three ultraviolet lights

Junk Food and Addictions

I am not a small man. BTW, this is Chuck. You could call me large, big, fluffy (ode to Gabriel Iglesias), husky, bouncer-like, and more. I am 6'3" 310 pounds. Large, but proportional.

I've always had a sweet tooth--I love the junk food and sugar in nearly all its incarnations. This morning, I saw an article on NPR called, "Junk Food Jones Is Wired in Your Brain." This confirmed what I suspected--I am an addict. It was shown in a fascinating bit of research which could even diverge into a discussion of ethics and animal research.
One quote: "Inside their little brains, the junk-food eating rats developed a big problem. Just like drug takers, the rats needed a bigger fix of junk food over time to maintain their pleasure. So they kept on eating, and kept on getting fatter. As the scientists explained in their paper, "extended access to palatable high-fat food can induce addiction-like deficits in brain reward function," which can spur overeating and lead to obesity."

If nothing else, this offers some good insight into the workings of the addicted brain and one factor in the obesity epidemic in the US.

The Illusion Sciences Blog

When I (this is Chuck) began teaching AP Psych, I had difficulty explaining why certain illusions were based in the eye and why others were based in the brain. I had never had an undergraduate course in sensation and perception and my book resources were almost non-existent. There is a proliferation of illusion sites on the web, but few actually explain the illusion. I've discovered the Illusion Sciences blog site that explains the illusions much to my delight.

Gaming and Making a Better World

I was doing some research on intelligence and, of course, went to the TED web site. While researching, I came across a fascinating talk (no surprises there) about gaming as a tool to improve the world.

This idea intrigued me so I began watching a game designer, Jane McGonigal talk about the qualities that gamers possess and how they could possibly turn their enthusiasm, focus, and optimism form the virtual world and somehow translate that into the real world. Fascinating--worth the 15 minutes.

For the record, I am not a gamer, but many of my students are and were also intrigued by her ideas. Additionally, one could argue that it takes a great deal of psychological knowledge to make a satisfying gaming experience. In fact, one could use the video as a point of analysis for psychological concepts (that are mentioned, but not by name). Again, great stuff.

AP Text--Coon and Mitterer

The textbook recommendation below comes with some background. I have taught Psychology since 1987 and A.P. Psychology since 1992 (second year of course). During that time, I have used a variety of texts, including Exploring Psychology, Psychology and You, Exploring Psychology, multiple editions of the Myers Psychology text, Ludy Benjamin's intro text from the mid-90s and the second edition of the Wade and Tavris text. I currently use the Dennis Coon text Psychology: A Journey as my regular psychology text and his college text for my current AP course.

A few weeks ago, I asked the readers of this blog for info on their favorite textbooks, but neglected to share my own views about my favorite and current AP Psychology text, Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior by Coon and Mitterer , 11th Edition. The publisher is Thomson/Wadsworth. The book has 700 pages including an appendix on statistics.

While there are a few concepts that the book omits, it has really cut down on my handouts--so many things that I used to use as supplements, I now have within the text itself--it's almost as though the authors got inside my head and asked me what I wanted within the text. The arrangement of and coverage of the content is pretty similar to most texts with the text finishing with a chapter on applied psychology.

The level of the text is at a semi-difficult level for my students. My kids range from the college-bound top-ten student to the community college student without the grades to get into a four-year university. Some use it with ease, and others have to work pretty hard to understand it-I have a large range of abilities.

The teacher's ancillaries are weak compared to Myers, but everything is on a few CDs and I can edit at will on the handouts, objectives, vocabulary, etc. The test bank has 200-700 multiple choice questions per chapter, which allows me many options-the test generator is ExamView, which I've grown quite fond of over the years.

I would recommend the text as a reference text for a new teacher, but with the lack of extras, such as the "Bold Manual" that comes with the Myers books, I would say that this is a book for veterans rather than newbies to teaching AP Psych. That said though, I really, really like the book.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at http://www.nimh.nih.gov has published an excellent 30 page booklet entitled Mental Health Medications. The booklet, organized by disorders, details many of the psychiatric medications used today. The publication ends with an alphabetical listing of drugs.

The booklet can be viewed online at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/mental-health-medications/index.shtml and/or downloaded as a PDF file at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/mental-health-medications/nimh-mental-health-medications.pdf

Inversion Goggles from PsychKits.com

In the last few months,

Gerry Palmer introduced a new product to the line of PsychKit.com games and activities; a set of inversion goggles. These glasses literally "turn the world upside down" for the viewer, use only one 4" prism. This design makes for a larger field of vision than the older two prism models.

Students can have fun trying to write their name, pick up an object or draw a picture using the goggles. The inversion goggles work perfectly when covering how the lens in the eye inverts the image.

A student in the AP Psychology class at Pinkerton Academy of Derry, NH has posted a short (1:38) YouTube video of someone wearing a set of inversion goggles trying fairly unsuccessfully to write her name on a white board at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpKEHEuJ2oQ It should be noted, the goggles in the video are not from PsychKits, but instead made by Jim Matiya who for many many years was the main supplier of both displacement and inversion goggles for teachers around the country.

For more information on the inversion goggles go to http://www.psychkits.com/inversion_goggles.html

For the PsychKits.com homepage go to http://www.psychkits.com Be sure to check out the displacement goggles as well.

Once again we are back to the 2000 version of Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life (11e) by Robert Carson, James Butcher, and Susan Mineka from Allyn and Bacon. On March 17th we posted information (http://teachinghighschoolpsychology.blogspot.com/2010/03/abnormal-case-studies.html)regarding three cases studies on the book's website.

Today we are writing about an activity found in the Teacher's Toolbox section regarding therapy. After students read through four short paragraphs describing the actions of a therapist, they must determine which type of technique (school) they use.

Please feel free to add examples in the comments section below. The therapy activity can be found at http://www.abacon.com/psychsite/tool_therapy.html

Carl Rogers Website

The Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center has developed a website devoted to the work of Carl Rogers. Below is the "About Us" page from the site.

The Carl Rogers website serves as a gateway to the work of Dr. Carl Rogers and the many disciplines he influenced. Its primary audience is scholars and practitioners. It is a project of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, funded by the proceeds of the 2002 Carl R. Rogers Centennial Symposium.

The site includes a bibliography of books and articles by and about Rogers and the Person-Centered Approach (PCA) with links to those that are available online. It makes available a collection of rich media - selected audio and video archives that are streamed as WindowsMedia, as well as samples from the CD ROM Carl Rogers: A Daughter's Tribute and Howard Kirschenbaum's videotape Carl Rogers and the Person-Centered Approach. The audio collection is selected from the Carl R. Rogers archive at University of California at Santa Barbara. A comprehensive list of (and links to) world-wide organizations and training centers connected with Rogers and the Person-Centered Approach is included.

The Carl Rogers website is located at http://www.carlrogers.info/index.html

American Psychoanalytic Association

We will start our postings on Psychoanalysis with a quick stop at the website for the American Psychoanalytic Association. While the site at http://www.apsa.org/ is primarily designed for therapists, high school teachers can find some useful information.

Pay particular attention to the "About Psychoanalysis" section as well as the "Education Initiative" tab under the "Programs" section.

And the winner is ...

Thanks to everyone who posted a comment in last week's post for Lawrence Rosenblum's new book See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Power of our Five Senses. I loved the comments about your favorite sense and now will have to start having my students do that. Anyhow, I went to my favorite online random number generator, plugged in the numbers 1 through 9, hit "Generate" and got back the answer: 1. (Why was I so surprised by 1 when all numbers are equally likely?)

1 = the first commenter in the thread who was Andrea McKay of Jackson, Michigan. Congratulations Andrea! Your book will be headed your way soon, thanks again to Dr Rosenblum and Norton Publishing. Thanks to everyone for participating!

To begin our Midnight Postings for the Treatment Unit we turn to the University of Illinois' Counseling Center who has published a number of self-help brochures.

The brochures cover many topics of interest to both high school and university students. Below we have included the links to some of the major brochures.

The brochures can be purchased and sent via UPS (click on the link below) or accessed online. The main listing can be found at http://www.counselingcenter.illinois.edu/?page_id=7

Self-Help Brochure Order Form

US Teachers: Please take this survey on violence against teachers

The APA Board of Educational Affairs Task Force is interested in gathering information about the extent of violence directed against teachers and has created a survey that they want teachers in the United States to take by April 5. The survey is not just about physical violence -- this can include things like intimidation, cyber-threats, damage to property, gestures and so on. Even if this hasn't directly happened to you please take the survey so that the Task Force can gather that information as well.

Here is the link for the survey:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/216476/violenceagainstteacherssurvey

Please share this link with as many teachers as you can all over the United States. Again, they are requesting that you take this survey by April 5.

Seven-Year-Old Schizophrenic and Oprah

Back in October of 2009, Oprah devoted a show to childhood schizophrenia. The primary storyline involved a young seven-year-old girl exhibiting a number of schizophrenic symptoms and how her families meets the challenges of this girl's disability.

At http://www.oprah.com/showinfo/Exclusive-The-7-Year-Old-Schizophrenic you will find a number of video clips and articles surrounding this little girl. If anyone has developed handouts and/or discussion questions based on these clips, please leave a comment below.

This is your brain on Donkey Kong (looks pretty good, actually!)

Another great post from the Mind Hacks blog, this time describing a good example of a respectful, scholarly debate between two researchers regarding the impact of video games on learning and the brain. The author of the post, Vaughn Bell, talks about being inspired by another researcher, Susan Greenfield, when he was an undergraduate. He was invited to a conference to co-speak with her about the impact of video games on learning, and he writes about the experience of admiring her AND disagreeing with her scholarly position on the topic (must have been a lively talk!). This topic might be interesting to high school students, and this is a good description of how scientists both work together through disagreeing about important topics.

Link to Vaughn's blog post about all this:
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2010/03/lords_ladies_and_vi.html

Schizophrenia.com at http://www.schizophrenia.com is one of the better websites for information on schizophrenia. Listed below are the the many links from the site.

Schizophrenia Information

Earworms (Can't Get That Song Out of My Head)

In addition to psychology, I also teach US Government. I have a number of students who are learning English and I will utilize my own childhood experience of "School House Rock" on DVD as a subtitled visual tool to help them learn about various aspects of the government. One pernicious song for me is "The Preamble." You can view a copy on YouTube here. The sad and bizarre point I am making is that when I show this, I cannot get that darn song out of my head for days. In fact, as I sit here writing this, it has come back. Grrr.

As it turns out, there is a name for this phenomenon--it is called an "earworm."

In March, 2008, Radiolab did a show examining and explaining why the experts thought they occurred (included Oliver Sacks and Diana Deutsch). In June, 2008, Radiolab did a show on how people reduce these irritations. I am pleased to know why they occur and some strategies for reducing them.

Wikipedia Entry on Earworms
WebMD Entry
SFGate Article
University of Cincinnati article on sources and possible explanations for a business college article, it was awfully full of science

Published back in 2000, Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life (11e) by Robert Carson, James Butcher, and Susan Mineka from Allyn and Bacon, included three cases studies on the book's website. Each case study includes a detailed case history with written and audio interviews.

Unfortunately, the case studies are designed as an assignment for students in an Abnormal Psychology course using the text, so answers are not included. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

The three case studies from Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life can be found at http://www.abacon.com/carson/case/index.html

Radiolab--Morality

Take yourself back to the ending episode of M*A*S*H and you'll recall the moral scenario--there are enemy troops all around us. There are 30 of us on a bus and we need to be absolutely quiet in order to survive. You have your child in your arms and s/he will not be quiet. You have the choice--silence the baby (end its life) or allow everyone on the bus to get killed. What do you do?

This was the premise and beginning of the episode of Radiolab on Morality first broadcast back in 2007. At the time, Jad had one, non-parent view. What would happen after the birth of his first child? Find out in a later episode short called, Killing Babies, Saving the World.

Radiolab consistently has the most curiosity-driven, quality-produced, entertaining and thought-provoking episodes I've ever come across. Add the show to your podcast listening and catch up on previous broadcasts while driving.

In researching sites to include in the Midnight Postings for the Abnormal Psychology Unit, I came across a posting entitled "The Hidden Paintings of Shirley A. Mason - Sybil" at http://www.hiddenpaintings.com/. The site includes 24 paintings from Mason which, according to the website, were done prior to meeting Dr. Wilbur as well as during her therapy years.

As with anything on the Internet, I was a bit skeptical when I first discovered the website and its format didn't help my skepticism. There is previous little explaining the authenticity of the paintings and the address to order prints appears to be a residential house outside of Miami, FL. While I seriously question why someone would go through all the effort to present such a hoax, I still haven't been convinced. If anyone has further knowledge on this website, please leave a comment below.

The Frontal Cortex by Jonah Lehrer

When I read, I usually tend to lean toward non-fiction. I will be reviewing some books in the future, but for this one time, I'd really like to promote Jonah Lehrer's blog, The Frontal Cortex. I enjoy the easy nature of the writing--not too simplified--for the educated reader--seemingly designed to challenge, or at least not to condescend. Lehrer reads and writes for a living, which makes him a much better author than I'd ever dream of being.

He is also a frequent contributor to my favorite podcast, Radiolab. In the recent past, he has examined and opined on marijuana and creativity, the spread of goodness, and a controversial piece on the "benefits" of depression. His columns are always thought-provoking and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend the blog if you can make the time. I find that it helps me make stronger real-world connections with the subjects I teach.

Lehrer is also the author of the two books below, which I will also be reviewing.

MedicineNet.Com has put together over 27 different slide shows on various medical issues. Each show includes pictures and basic dialog surrounding the topic area. Below is a listing of slide shows specific to abnormal psychology.

Phobias
http://www.medicinenet.com/phobias_picture_slideshow/article.htm

Bipolar Disorders
http://www.medicinenet.com/bipolar_disorder_overview_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

ADHD in Adults
http://www.medicinenet.com/adhd_in_adults_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

Depression
http://www.medicinenet.com/depression_overview_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

ADHD in Children
http://www.medicinenet.com/adhd_children_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

For more information on MedicineNet.Com's slide shows go to http://www.medicinenet.com/slideshows/article.htm MedicineNet.com's homepage is located at http://www.medicinenet.com/slideshows/article.htm

New book: See What I'm Saying (giveaway!)

Psychology professor Lawrence Rosenblum of UC-Riverside has a new book out called See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses. Here's an excerpt from the product description at Amazon.com:

[...] Rosenblum examines how our brains use the subtlest information to perceive the world. A blind person, for example, can "see" through batlike echolocation; a Master Sommelier can actually taste the grape variety, region, and vintage of an obscure wine; and pheromones can subliminally signal a lover's compatibility.To illustrate these implicit perceptual skills, Rosenblum takes us from the "beep" baseball fields where blind players swing at beeping balls, to a pitch-black restaurant where diners experience taste without the aid of sight. We accompany him on a visit to an Oscar-winning animator who explains how the public's expertise in perceiving faces has made his job so difficult; and a visit with a supermodel to discuss why beautiful faces are irresistible.

You can also read the first chapter online via Norton Books. Dr. Rosenblum and Norton have been kind enough to give THSP a complimentary copy of the book. I'll select one random person who comments on this post with your name, e-mail address (so I can contact the winner) and a sentence or two about your favorite sense and why. All entries must be in by noon EDT on Thursday, March 18. I'll post the winner's name after I contact him or her.

Peter Tripp and the Sleep Deprivation Experiment

We've all read about it. But the British have made a documentary about it.

Originally in this post, there were two videos linked to view. However, the user had his/her account terminated. As of 1/4/2011, this portion of the video is working.

The Man Who Never Slept (Fatal Familial Insomnia)

The Man Who Never Slept (Fatal Familial Insomnia)

The original posted link was removed due to the user's account being terminated. On 1/4/2011, I have added a few other links with this topic.

Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Motivation Video

Just had a former student ask me about this video. I stumble across it from time to time. It sends a great message about making mistakes and getting back up--perseverance. I love it. Hope you do as well.

Some cynics may argue that these geniuses in their fields just needed the right outlet. Let me get all Maslow on you and say, "How do we know anyone is not a genius about something unless we give them a chance?" :-)

Chuck reminded us in a recent post that next week is Brain Awareness Week. This morning I learned that my local university, Duke, is sponsoring some great activities next week in some rather unique ways. Among the offerings are:

"Would you take a genetic test to predict depression in response to stressful events" -- a talk led by two professors of psychology and neuroscience -- in a bar!
"Murderous chimpanzees and promiscuous bonobos: what does having an ape brain mean for your behavior?" -- a lecture
An Open House with tours, research demonstrations, art projects for your brain and "a visit to Duke's own 3-D virtual brain environment"

Holy cow - this is cool! The full flyer is here. Even if you're not near Duke, check to see if the college or university near you is doing something similar next week. As for me ... unfortunately between my first TOPSS board meeting and finishing my National Board portfolio I'm going to miss just about all of it! Now only if it were in April ...

On 02/15/2010, ABC's Nightline did a short (8:56) segment entitled "The Dirty Work of Keeping Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Check" by John Donvan and Steven Baker.

The video clip and website, which can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/ocd-recovery-program/story?id=9822908, includes various aspects of OCD and its therapy

Narcolepsy & Cataplexy Videos

Here are some particularly good video finds for narcolepsy and cataplexy.

British Man Who Has Difficulty Staying Awake

Rusty the Narcoleptic Dog

Little Girl with Narcolepsy

International OCD Foundation had developed a 24 page brochure entitled "What You Need to Know About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder". The information can be downloaded as a PDF file or viewed online.

The brochure can be found at http://www.ocfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/WhatYouNeed_09.pdf and the homepage for the International OCD Foundation is at http://www.ocfoundation.org/

Narcolepsy & Cataplexy

Within sleep disorders, there are two key ideas, narcolepsy and cataplexy. Some links below cover the informational aspect of narcolepsy.

Cataplexy is often a co-symptom of narcolepsy causing the person/animal to lose all muscle tone during an emotional time. A second examination of cataplexy.

On this Stanford page, there are several videos of animals and one child with cataplexy.

In tomorrow's post, I will share more video finds on narcolepsy and cataplexy.

Sleep and Sleep Disorders

When most of us cover States of Consciousness, we might give passing mention to sleep disorders. As someone who suffers from sleep apnea, I choose to spend a little more time, especially with the condensed time frame teenagers have to sleep--dealing with their enforced insomnia.

Stanley Coren has an excellent book that I've been using for years called, Sleep Thieves. In the book, there is a 17 question "quiz" about symptoms related to too little sleep. We go over the results that the book gives and describing the lack of functioning that we tend to have as a result of too little sleep. A lively discussion follows. I will be sharing some additional sleep-related posts the rest of this week.

More logos as Gestalt examples

Last year I posted a great site that featured corporate logos with hidden messages that work perfectly in perception for discussing various Gestalt principles such as figure-ground, closure and connectedness. This morning I stumbled across another site with even more fascinating examples -- 30 Minimal Logo Designs that Say More With Less -- and if you scroll all the way to the bottom of that list you'll find links with even more logos. I've posted a few to get you started above!

AllPsych Online: The Virtual Psychology Classroom

AllPsych Online website has a large section on Psychiatric Disorders. Over 60 psychiatric disorders are detailed including the etiology, symptoms, treatments options and prognosis for each.

Below you will find links to the major disorders in the DSM within the AllPsych website. The homepage for psychiatric disorders can be found at http://allpsych.com/disorders/index.html with the homepage for AllPsych Online at http://allpsych.com/

Categories
• Psychiatric Disorders Home
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV)
• Disorder Index / DSM-IV Codes
• Adjustment Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Dissociative Disorders
• Eating Disorders
• Impulse-Control Disorders
• Mood Disorders
• Sexual Disorders
• Sleep Disorders
• Psychotic Disorders
• Sexual Dysfunctions
• Somatoform Disorders
• Substance Disorders
• Personality Disorders

APA Monitor article - High School Psychology

If you are a member of TOPSS (and if you're not, why not? :) you may have seen this already: a nice summary article in the APA's Monitor about high school psychology. 1 million high school Psychology students! Woot!

The Department of Veteran Affairs established the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the late 1980's. For the past twenty years the center for PTSD has provided assistance to both veterans, the public and researchers.

While their website is designed primarily for veterans and their families, much can be of use in studying anxiety disorders. The whole website has a wealth of information, but be sure to check out the section entitled, "Veterans and the General Public". A few of the fact sheets come in a PDF format for easy printing.

The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is located at
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/index.asp

Brain Awareness Week March 15-21, 2010

Just to make sure that we all are prepared with our proper planning, proper gear, and some really cool ideas, I thought I'd let you know ahead of time. OK, well, I just read about it--the Dana Foundation let me know about it. Here are three sites to get you started.

The Dana Brain Foundation Website on Brain Week
As their website says,

Welcome to the Official Web Site of the Global Brain Awareness Week (BAW) Campaign.
Celebrating 15 Years of Education and Outreach about the Brain
Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Every March BAW unites the efforts of universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, and professional associations worldwide in a week-long celebration of the brain. Founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and European Dana Alliance for the Brain, BAW is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary campaign in 2010.

The Society for Neuroscience page on BAW

Neuroscience for Kids CafePress site for shopping.

As for ideas, I am planning to include factoids in our daily bulletin (for which I also happen to record an audio version and post to our website). The first two sites include ideas for promoting the event.

For ideas that you've planned and/or successfully used in the past, please leave us your comments.

Dr Grohol's PsychCentral includes a twenty question online Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder quiz. After answering the questions, participants are given a score of the likelihood of them having OCD.

While the quiz is not meant to be a diagnostic tool, it can give students a good perspective of OCD. The OCD online quiz can be found at http://psychcentral.com/ocdquiz.htm

The homepage for PsychCentral is at http://psychcentral.com/

Barron's AP Psychology Review Book

Please be aware, we have the twenty-five winners for this give-away. Thanks to Barrons for their help and everyone who sent a note. The free sample copies should arrive in the next few weeks.

In conjunction with the first year anniversary of the Teaching High School Psychology Blog, Barron's is giving away twenty five (25) sample copies of their AP Psychology review book authored by Allyson J. Weseley and our own THSP Blog moderator, Robert (Rob) McEntarffer.

The books includes a basic summary for each of the fourteen AP Psychology Units as defined by the College Board's Acorn Book, a number of full-length practice tests, a chapter on essay writing and much more.

Examination copies will be sent free of charge to the first twenty-five psychology teachers who send an email request to Kent Korek at kkorek@germantown.k12.wi.us. In the email please include the following information:

- Full Name
- School Name (samples will be sent to school addresses only)
- School Address (please include street, city, state and zip code)
- School Phone Number

Please limit the samples to one request per school address. For more information on the Barron's AP Psychology Review Book go to http://barronseduc.com/0764140531.html

All of us at the THSP Blog would like to thank Barron's for their generousity.

This might be a reach, but it feels to me that the contrast between Google and Facebook that relates to the Algorithm/Heuristic stuff we get to talk about in the Thinking and Language (or Cognition) chapter.

In this article, WIRED magazine writer Fred Vogelstein writes about what he sees as the on-going battle between Facebook and Google for "the future of the internet". Briefly, the Facebook idea is that we would search for answers from increasingly sophisticated networks of "friends" instead of doing a google search. I think students could recognize this as a Heuristic - asking your friends for an answer is similar to a rule of thumb problem solving strategy - it doesn't guarantee the right answer, but it sure can be fast!

In this article. another WIRED writer (Steven Levy) writes about his inside look at Google's famous search algorithm, listing many of the complex variables they include in their search engine.

Students might be interested in looking at this example in order to do some analysis about when different kinds of problem solving strategies are effective/successful? And it might be an opportunity for them to examine their own on-line serearch behaviors: in what situations do they use algorithms? heurisitcs? why?

The website for the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) includes basic information about the various anxiety disorders. Make it a point to check out the "Understanding Anxiety" section which includes information on the symptoms, treatment and research for each disorder. Also, make it a point to read through the personal stories in the "Living with Anxiety" area.

The home page for the ADAA can be found at http://www.adaa.org/

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Welcome to the Official Web Site of the Global Brain Awareness Week (BAW) Campaign.

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