Most of us have a preferred learning style, though you may not have tapped into yours yet. Take the VARK questionnaire to discover your learning style, then leave a comment here telling me what style is best for you. In your comment, share the learning style where you scored highest and two strategies from the Helpsheet that you plan to use this trimester.
Take a moment to consider how you like to learn. Do you prefer to write everything down on paper? Do you learn best by listening to someone tell a story? Or do you find that hands-on learning makes material memorable?
Most of us have a preferred learning style, though you may not have tapped into yours yet. Take the VARK questionnaire to discover your learning style, then leave a comment here telling me what style is best for you. In your comment, share the learning style where you scored highest and two strategies from the Helpsheet that you plan to use this trimester.
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Stress can be an overwhelming factor in life that we all experience in different ways. Recent research shows stress can actually change your brain, causing it to shrink.
Read this article to see what kind of stress leads to brain shrinkage and how to keep your brain healthy. How is stress related to overall health? What are possible ways to handle or reduce stress in your life? In the following video, Dr. Zimbardo discusses the social awkwardness becoming increasingly common among young men. Watch the Ted-Ed flipped lesson by Dr. Zimbardo and leave your responses for the "Think" segment as a comment on this blog post.
http://ed.ted.com/on/aYRnuiNo Facebook and other social media tools have made their way into most people's daily lives. Whether you love Facebook, hate it, or only use it occasionally, you probably find yourself checking the status updates of your "friends" on Facebook. Have you ever stopped to consider how Facebook affects people's mental health? Psychologists certainly have.
Read the article, Facebook Takes A Toll On Your Mental Health, and leave a comment on your thoughts on Facebook. What are the benefits to regularly checking Facebook? Are there drawbacks? How was the research conducted, and what does the research say? How does music affect your brain and body?
Music lovers will enjoy the research findings presented in this Real Age article. Read the article to see how listening to music can make you smarter and healthier. Now go plug in your tunes and rock on. If I had a nickel for every time a student cussed in the hallway, I could probably retire at this (ahem) young age. But a study completed by British psychologists suggests swearing may have a purpose -- it can help ease pain. Though I doubt that people in the hallway are relieving pain when they swear, the thought is intriguing from a psychological standpoint. Does swearing have an adaptive function?
Read the article from Time Magazine and see if you can pick out the experimental elements. Did the researchers have a control group? What was the independent variable and the dependent variable? How conclusive are the results? Assignment: In the comments section for this post, briefly describe an experiment you would like to conduct. In your comment, answer the following: 1. State your hypothesis. 2. How will you collect data? 3. What is your experimental group and your control group? 4. What is the independent variable in your experiment? 5. What is the dependent variable? 6. What other factors might confound your results? 7. Comment on at least two other students' ideas. Do you think their experiment could be replicated? This assignment is NOT optional and will meet online requirements. Take a look at a video you may find interesting,"Why Do We Kiss?" The video examines many psychology-related explanations of kissing, heavily emphasizing the evolutionary approach to studying behavior.
Extra credit opportunity: Write a 2 page paper (double spaced, 12 pt font, standard margin size) disucssing how the video reflects four of the following approaches to studying psychology: evolutionary, biological/neuroscience, social-cultural, behavioral, cognitive. Remember -- no practicing the content. That's gross. Have you ever visited a Whole Foods Market? Entering the upscale grocery store (upscale compared to where where I shop -- Aldi) is a delight for the senses. Fresh, plump fruits and vegetables of every color are stacked high and glisten with dew drops. Wheels of fresh cheeses are displayed, waiting to be sampled. The variety of goods is overwhelming at first, but you will certainly leave the store with many items, whether or not they were on your grocery list.
But have you ever wondered how much of what you see at Whole Foods is reality, and how much is our perception? Read this article to discover how Whole Foods primes us to buy their foods -- which may not actually be as fresh as they seem. Can we really be manipulated into making purchases? As you learn more about psychology, you'll begin to see the principles of psychology everywhere. Of all the subjects you study, psychology may be one of the most applicable to every day life (ok, so I'm biased).
This page will be devoted to following psych stories in the media so that we may continue searching for psychology beyond the walls of our classroom. |