Hypnosis

The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis has put together a basic information article on hypnosis designed specifically for the general public. While a bit simplified and biased towards the use of hypnosis, the article provides a good background to this often misunderstood phenomena. The homepage for the ASCH can be found at http://asch.net/ with the article for the general public at http://asch.net/genpubinfo.htm.

Share

UTOPSS Fall Iinstitute!

Kristin Whitlock (Psychology teacher extraordinaire) asked us to post this announcement to the blog. Those of us not lucky enough to be close to Utah at the time of this institute will just ahve to be jealous - I got to attend a few years back and it is a WONDERFUL experience for psych. teachers.

Utah-Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (U-TOPSS) Fall Institute
Friday, November 13 2009
University of Utah
Cost: $40.00 (if registration received by 10/30), $50.00 after deadline
Includes materials, continental breakfast, and lunch

Presentations:

• Thinking Like a Psychologist: Teaching About Research (Dr. Barney Beins ITHACA COLLEGE)

• Stereotype Threat: Sometimes Words (and Beliefs) Can Hurt You (and Your Performance) (Dr. Paul H. White UNIVERSITY OF UTAH)
• Eye See: Teaching the Biology of Vision (Dr. Jessica Habashi UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY)
• Participant Idea Share
  

Break Out Sessions:

• Taking the Mystery Out of AP Psychology Test Development
• Introductory Psychology: Questions and Answers

For registration information contact Kristin Whitlock (kwhitlock@dsdmail.net)

Share

Color Blindness Websites

Today on the College Board AP Psychology Electronic Discussion Group, Jim Frailing of Neenah High School, Neenah, WI posted links to two great websites devoted to color blindness.

As I know many of you are either on this unit or will be soon, I thought I'd post the addresses for everyone on the THSP blog.

Go to http://www.colblindor.com/ and http://www.vischeck.com/ for more information.

Thanks Jim for sharing these fantastic sites.

Share

Sleep Diary

During the States of Consciousness unit, many teachers have their students complete a sleep diary. The diaries give students an opportunity to analyze their sleep habits or should we say lack of sleep habits.

Some teachers have created their own dairies, others use standardized forms found online. Two such forms are:

• National Sleep Foundation at http://www.pcca.net/sleep_diary.pdf
  
• American Academy of Sleep Medicine at http://www.sleepeducation.com/pdf/sleepdiary.pdf

Please leave a comment if you have your students complete a sleep diary especially if you have developed your own diary form.

Share

National Sleep Foundation

Hands down, the National Sleep Foundation website is one of the best resources on sleep and sleep disorders. Whether it be information on sleep topics, sleep related problems, American polls on sleep, video clips. etc., the site seems to have it all. Unfortunately though, over the last few years, less and less can be found within the website itself and more and more is found for sale at the sleep store.

If you have used items from this site in your class, please leave a comment detailing your activity. The home page for the foundation can be found at http://www.sleepfoundation.org/

Share

Lewistown Hospital Sleep Videos

The Sleep Center at Lewistown Hospital in Lewistown, PA has created a number of short videos on sleep and sleep disorders. While the primary purpose of the video clips is to give potential patients a background on the center's services, they could be used within a psychology course. Either click on a specific video below or go to http://www.lewistownhospital.org/body.cfm?id=328#videos

Sleep Study Videos

Introduction to Sleep Study	Multiple Sleep Latency Test	Sleep Stages
Obstructive Sleep Apnea	Sleep Apnea Diagnosis	Treatment of Sleep Apnea
Benefits of Treatment	Testimonial	The Importance of Sleep Study

Share

QuickTime Video Clips

Dr. Mark Mather of the University of Sussex, UK, author of Foundations of Perception, has developed QuickTime video clips demonstrating a number of perceptual concepts such as stereokinetic motion, shown to the right. Each video includes a brief explanation of the concept shown. Below you will find a listing of the concepts with hyperlinks to each video. The listing can be found at http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/George_Mather/Motion/index.html

Introduction
The Motion After-Effect
Four-Stroke Apparent Motion
Random Dot Kinematograms
Second-Order Motion
Plaid Motion
Motion Capture
Direction Repulsion
Kinetic Depth
Stereokinetic Motion
Biological Motion
Implicit Figure Motion
Transformational Motion
Shadow Motion
Two-Stroke Motion

Share

Teaching Modules from APA

The APA's Center for Psychology in Schools and Education is in the process of writing/reviewing several "modules" for classroom teachers. These modules gather current research findings and make recommendations about practice based on the research. So far two modules are finished: Practical Classroom Management and Interventions for Classroom Disruption . Many other modules are currently being reviewed, including building positive student-teacher relationships, using assessment data to diagnose misconceptualizations, student resiliency, and the research behind "brain-based' teaching. Anyone interested in reviewing the modules should contact Rena Subotnik (rsubotnik@apa.org) for more information.

Share

"Executive Function", self-control and kiddos

This recent article in the NYT about "Executive Function" helped me make some connections between topics in intro. psych. The article discusses efforts in classrooms to help students with self-control and links this ability with the development of "executive function" (cognitive psych concept that I'm not sure is in most intro. textbooks yet?)

One of my favorite activities demonstrates executive function very dramatically - "Baddeley's Three Systems of Working Memory" . Next time I do this demo, I'll be able to talk about the connection between executive function and self-control.

A good topic for students might be connecting all this with the famous "Marshmallow Test" about deferred gratification, or even Skinner's proposal to hang lollipop's around children's necks and reward them for NOT eating the candy.

Share

Eye and Ear Review Exercise

Jeff Hargett, a teacher at Rome High School (Rome, GA) has developed some simple review exercises for his biology and anatomy students. His reviews for neurons, the brain, the eye, and the ear are applicable to a psychology course. The neuron and brain reviews were posted on 9/2/2009.

Click any of the links below (note each has a model and diagram version), http://rcs.rome.ga.us/hargett/anatomy/nervous/index.htm includes the main page for the the psychology oriented reviews, or go to http://rcs.rome.ga.us/hargett/ for a complete listing of reviews.


Eye model
Eye model quiz
Eye diagram quiz

Ear model
Ear model quiz
Ear diagram quiz

Share