How the mere presence of a mobile phone harms face-to-face conversations

"You sit down for a chat with a new acquaintance but before you're even started they've placed their phone carefully on the table in front of them. Why? Are they waiting for a call? Do they just enjoy marvelling at its chic plastic beauty? Either way, a new study suggests this familiar habit could be interfering with our attempts to socialise." (Research Digest 9/24/12)

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The Marshmallow Study Revisited

"You've no doubt heard of Walter Mischel's Marshmallow Test and its followup study, which examined the relationship between delayed gratification (the ability to resist the temptation to eat a marshmallow right away with the promise of more if you succeed) and overall life success. Celeste Kidd, a U Rochester doctoral candidate, has published a paper in Cognition challenging Mischel's findings, arguing that children from more unpredicatable circumstances may choose the single marshmallow because they have a rational basis for suspecting that the experimenter is lying to them about the additional marshmallows that await them if they follow instructions." (Doctorow, C 10/11/2012)

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Make Your Own Brain Hat

This was really a fun activity for the class. Something different, more hands-on and enjoyable. In terms of learning the parts of the brain, they know them well. No boring lecture/power-point necessary this time. Sometimes it might be good to just let them figure it out. I found this idea on Pintrest. Click the below link to enter the original site with instructions on how to make these.

Click this link for instructions and more info

Electromagnetic Spectrum of Visible Energy