Are 19% of the redheads living in Scotland?Someone made up the fact that 19% of the world's redheaded population lives in Scotland and it showed up in a BBC News report. It turns out that only 1% of the world's redheaded population live in Scotland. There is an evolutionary advantage to having light skin/red hair for people living outside of the tropics; pale skin is much more efficient at using limited amounts of sunlight to produce vitamin D.
Also, Left-handed people do not die 9 years later. Also surprisingly, left-handed are on average younger than right-handed people.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Game on Wayne (ED504)
It's good to be back to blogging.
One of the takeaways from Peter Pasque Prezi presentations was a sort discussion he had about the difference between games and puzzles. Puzzles are something that we only solve once. Having worked on quite a few jigsaw puzzles in my life, I could not agree more. Those 1000 piece puzzles are essentially disposable items. I have never met anyone who solves a puzzles, then mixes up all the pieces and immediately tries again. On the other hand, I have spent hours playing the same game only to go to sleep thinking about the next time I will get to play. In fact, I am forbidden myself from playing any Sid Meier game until I have completed the MAC program. I do not have the self-control to stop playing.
Games and puzzles are different in what they give us and what they asks of us. A puzzle asks one questions, "How does this fit together?" A game gives us a couple of answers and then asks us to find our own questions. The rules for "Axis and Allies" are extensive, but they offer no insight into whether invading Australia is a good idea or not. As paradoxical as they sound, the rules to games tell us "how to play", but they do not tell us "how to play" a game. They set up boundaries, but we are free to explore anywhere inside those boundaries. It gives us infinitely more options to try and to evaluate than a puzzle.
In terms of evaluation, I am not entirely sure how badging would work. On the one hand, the older I get, the less value I see in grading courses. As a high school student, I was always excited to get my report card. I can contrast that with the MAC Program, where I have yet to check on my final grades from the summer term. Looking over returned assignments gives me an idea of what I know and where I could improve. Reading through my notes from last semester will give me an idea of what I know and what I still have questions about. Looking at a letter A through F is such an inaccurate measure of knowledge. If I get an A, assuming accurate measurements, it tells me I have displayed knowledge and skill of all the required material. If I get a B or a C, the grade tells me that I am missing something. At this point, the advantage of badging becomes apparent. Instead of getting a grade in Geometry at the end of the semester, my students would collect a badge for Trig-o-Mastery, a badge for Constructions, and a badge for Proofiness. Students and I would both have a better idea of what skills they had demonstrated.
The problems start to creep up when comparing students. Both Usain Bolt and I could run 40 meters without falling over, but one of us is clearly better at it than the other. The problem with badges becomes one of setting standards. If we want to create a meaningful badge for running 40 meters, what becomes the dividing line between an acceptable performance and unacceptable performance? If a student just barely meets the requirements for Trig-o-Mastery badge, then they might struggle when they start in a trigonometry class the following year. Two students could earn the same badge but still have huge differences in their current ability level. Another problem with a badging system is that the binary nature of the system makes it difficult for students to see progress. A student who improves might still not improve enough to earn a badge and feel an undeserved feeling of failure. Finally, there is the permanent nature of badges. Badges should operate like CPR certification or driver's license, they should expire at some point. Just because one of my students can consistently solve a quadratic equation in grade nine does not mean that the knowledge will be retained.
Well, there we are. This is blog posts #50. I should get a Blogger badge.
 |
| Master of Blogging |
Saturday, September 14, 2013
My Desk #hashtag
I took a picture of a few items around my desk at my school. I know it is illegal to post pictures of students. It might be of questionable legality to post pictures of my classroom. I feel pretty safe showing pictures of these closeups.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Come up with a great idea, then go home and get things done #hashtag
Read WIRED: Balance Creativity and Productivity
Is letting employees telecommute a good idea? It turns out that the answer is maybe. Studies show that employees are more creative when they have opportunities to serendipitously interact with one another. On the other hand, they tend to be more productive when they are allowed to work from home. Why does this matter?
If the same is true for office workers and students, then it gives us an idea about what type of work should be done in class and at home. If students are more creative when they are with a group, then students should be assigned problems (new tasks) during class time. Homework should focus on exercise (repeated tasks designed to develop mastery) or other assignments that the student needs to get done.
The article also gives us ideas about how to study. When it comes to writing a paper, we should work with others long enough get a set of good ideas. Then we should go home and write the paper.
Is letting employees telecommute a good idea? It turns out that the answer is maybe. Studies show that employees are more creative when they have opportunities to serendipitously interact with one another. On the other hand, they tend to be more productive when they are allowed to work from home. Why does this matter?
If the same is true for office workers and students, then it gives us an idea about what type of work should be done in class and at home. If students are more creative when they are with a group, then students should be assigned problems (new tasks) during class time. Homework should focus on exercise (repeated tasks designed to develop mastery) or other assignments that the student needs to get done.
The article also gives us ideas about how to study. When it comes to writing a paper, we should work with others long enough get a set of good ideas. Then we should go home and write the paper.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Read/Write and Math (ED402) & #hashtag
Our discussion in ED402/Literacy got me thinking about the differences between reading and writing. Originally, I thought of reading and writing as two distinct activities. Reading was inputting information and writing was outputting information. Then I thought more about the topic. Reading is much more complex than that. When we read, we are taking some sort of external stimulus and thinking about it. However, the information is not all new. What we often do is read something and relate it to something that we already know. At no point while reading this paragraph has the reader encountered a new word. Instead, a series of words in this text is being rearranged to communicate ideas. So, reading is less about input and more about arranging ideas and making connections.
What is writing? Well, writing is arranging ideas and making connections. In that way, reading and writing are the same cognitive task. The biggest difference is medium. When we read, it is a cognitive task. Physical manifestations like the movement of the eyes along the text or the mouthing of words might occur, but what is really going on is in the brain. Similarly, when we write, we are still arranging ideas and searching for the right word. It is the same activity as reading, it is just that there is a different, more overt, set of physical manifestations. Whether I am thinking about what sentence I am going to write next or evaluating the sentence I just wrote, I am doing the same thing.
Related to literacy, I gained a new idea of the components of literacy. Being literate means knowing how to navigate, understand context and extract meaning. I think that the part about being able to extract meaning is the part that most people understand as being literate. If I can take this jumble of stick figures and curves and turn into sounds or ideas, that is the basic aspect of literacy. The idea of navigating was something completely new for me. It is about knowing where to look for information. Part of that concept is related to syntactic literacy, the ability to understand grammar and sentence structure. If I write that "Alruk is welderl", then English speakers will be slightly confused. They will have no idea what "Alruk" is, but they will still know that it is a person, place, thing or idea. More specifically, they will know that "Alruk" is not just any noun but also the subject of the sentence. Furthermore, they might not know what "welderl" means, but they will have a good idea that is is an adjective.
Literacy has the potential to be a rather complex topic. We'll see how the semester goes.
What is writing? Well, writing is arranging ideas and making connections. In that way, reading and writing are the same cognitive task. The biggest difference is medium. When we read, it is a cognitive task. Physical manifestations like the movement of the eyes along the text or the mouthing of words might occur, but what is really going on is in the brain. Similarly, when we write, we are still arranging ideas and searching for the right word. It is the same activity as reading, it is just that there is a different, more overt, set of physical manifestations. Whether I am thinking about what sentence I am going to write next or evaluating the sentence I just wrote, I am doing the same thing.
Related to literacy, I gained a new idea of the components of literacy. Being literate means knowing how to navigate, understand context and extract meaning. I think that the part about being able to extract meaning is the part that most people understand as being literate. If I can take this jumble of stick figures and curves and turn into sounds or ideas, that is the basic aspect of literacy. The idea of navigating was something completely new for me. It is about knowing where to look for information. Part of that concept is related to syntactic literacy, the ability to understand grammar and sentence structure. If I write that "Alruk is welderl", then English speakers will be slightly confused. They will have no idea what "Alruk" is, but they will still know that it is a person, place, thing or idea. More specifically, they will know that "Alruk" is not just any noun but also the subject of the sentence. Furthermore, they might not know what "welderl" means, but they will have a good idea that is is an adjective.
Literacy has the potential to be a rather complex topic. We'll see how the semester goes.
Education in the News #hashtag
Greetings Mr. Ross. Last time it rained really hard, it started raining inside the second floor hallway in the School of Education. I'm not sure if they fixed the roof or if next time it rains really hard, we're going to have a similar leak. I am just saying... in case you hadn't noticed.
In unrelated news, I like Arne Duncan. He's talking about how high schools should start later in the day because the science indicates that students learn better when they have been able to sleep a full night. What Arne is talking about matches up with what I read in Brain Rules. In Chapter 7, Medina writes "When sleep was restricted to six hours or less per night for just five nights, for example, cognitive performance matched that of a person suffering from 48 hours of continual sleep deprivation." So, that means that means that by the time Friday rolls around, students are hardly functioning.
It makes me wonder if giving a test on a Friday is a good idea. How accurate would the results be? If I give students a test on Monday, then I might see lower scores because students would forget things in between the previous class's review session and the exam. However, the lower scores might be a more accurate gauge of their long term retention. If I give a test to a sleep-deprived adolescent on Friday afternoon, then the lower score might be the results of the environmental stresses from a lack of sleep rather measuring diminished cognitive functioning.
Starting school an hour later seems like a great idea. The only problem is that it would mean that school ends an hour later. That means football practice runs an hour later. The practice for the musical runs later. Students work an hour less at their part-time job. In the end students might just end up sleeping in an hour later but staying up an hour later, too. There is a simple fix. Make the school day shorter. Now, a new problem has arises. How do you fit in the necessary number of instructional hours? Simple. Make the school year longer. Summer vacation suddenly becomes a month shorter. It sounds inconvenient for teachers, but it is important to remember the purpose of schooling. A school system should be focused on educating children, not making life easier for it's employees.
I wonder how much more expensive it would be to have a longer school year.
Moving on to the next topic, one Arkansas school district is arming teachers. This just seems like an awful idea. I can imagine why large schools might want to have an armed security guard. I can even fathom rural school districts, where police response time might be slow, arming certain administrators. I cannot begin to understand how a school with dozens of guns is going to create a safe environment for schools.
In unrelated news, I like Arne Duncan. He's talking about how high schools should start later in the day because the science indicates that students learn better when they have been able to sleep a full night. What Arne is talking about matches up with what I read in Brain Rules. In Chapter 7, Medina writes "When sleep was restricted to six hours or less per night for just five nights, for example, cognitive performance matched that of a person suffering from 48 hours of continual sleep deprivation." So, that means that means that by the time Friday rolls around, students are hardly functioning.
It makes me wonder if giving a test on a Friday is a good idea. How accurate would the results be? If I give students a test on Monday, then I might see lower scores because students would forget things in between the previous class's review session and the exam. However, the lower scores might be a more accurate gauge of their long term retention. If I give a test to a sleep-deprived adolescent on Friday afternoon, then the lower score might be the results of the environmental stresses from a lack of sleep rather measuring diminished cognitive functioning.
Starting school an hour later seems like a great idea. The only problem is that it would mean that school ends an hour later. That means football practice runs an hour later. The practice for the musical runs later. Students work an hour less at their part-time job. In the end students might just end up sleeping in an hour later but staying up an hour later, too. There is a simple fix. Make the school day shorter. Now, a new problem has arises. How do you fit in the necessary number of instructional hours? Simple. Make the school year longer. Summer vacation suddenly becomes a month shorter. It sounds inconvenient for teachers, but it is important to remember the purpose of schooling. A school system should be focused on educating children, not making life easier for it's employees.
I wonder how much more expensive it would be to have a longer school year.
Moving on to the next topic, one Arkansas school district is arming teachers. This just seems like an awful idea. I can imagine why large schools might want to have an armed security guard. I can even fathom rural school districts, where police response time might be slow, arming certain administrators. I cannot begin to understand how a school with dozens of guns is going to create a safe environment for schools.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Bawitdaba with Economics #hashtag
I was listening to Kid Rock on NPR the other day when I realized that I was listening to Kid Rock on NPR. In my head, I'm picturing a Venn diagram with one circle labeled "People who listen to NPR" and the second circle labeled "People who Listen to Kid Rock." I am trying to figure out how small the overlap between those two circles is. In the podcast, Kid Rock and the hosts talk about the market failures related to concert tickets. Musicians sell their tickets for X. Scalpers swoop in and buy a bunch of tickets and then resell them for X+Y. In this market, fans are more than willing to pay X+Y, but only part of their money is going to the artist (the actual product they are buying). There is a substantial sum going to people who add no value to the product.
When I purchase a TV at the electronics store, there is an obvious margin for the store. They make a profit. However, I also benefit from buying from the store. I get the TV at the moment that I want it, without having to wait for shipping. I can buy accessories with the set easily. I can ask questions of the (sometimes) knowledgeable sales associates. If I am undecided about which product, I have the opportunity to get advice on which item would be a better choice. I can try the product before I buy it. If I have problems I can usually, easily return the item. When I buy a TV from a store, there are all sort of ways in which the product is improved. When I buy a ticket from a scalper, there is no value added. Instead, the scalper is just taking advantage of arbitrage. He was able to buy the ticket at a low price and sell it at a high price. He is like a hedge fund manager, but he doesn't even provide the benefit of risk aggregation.
You can read further or listen to the podcast. If you are interested in the topic. You can listen for my favorite moment in the podcast near the 13:16 mark when Kid Rock says, "...whatever the market dictates..." It's funny to hear him talking like an economist.
The article brought an interesting idea into my head. In the place of offering scholarships to students, U-M should just give away football and basketball tickets to students in need. It would probably be cheaper for the University and offer more benefits to the students.
When I purchase a TV at the electronics store, there is an obvious margin for the store. They make a profit. However, I also benefit from buying from the store. I get the TV at the moment that I want it, without having to wait for shipping. I can buy accessories with the set easily. I can ask questions of the (sometimes) knowledgeable sales associates. If I am undecided about which product, I have the opportunity to get advice on which item would be a better choice. I can try the product before I buy it. If I have problems I can usually, easily return the item. When I buy a TV from a store, there are all sort of ways in which the product is improved. When I buy a ticket from a scalper, there is no value added. Instead, the scalper is just taking advantage of arbitrage. He was able to buy the ticket at a low price and sell it at a high price. He is like a hedge fund manager, but he doesn't even provide the benefit of risk aggregation.
You can read further or listen to the podcast. If you are interested in the topic. You can listen for my favorite moment in the podcast near the 13:16 mark when Kid Rock says, "...whatever the market dictates..." It's funny to hear him talking like an economist.
The article brought an interesting idea into my head. In the place of offering scholarships to students, U-M should just give away football and basketball tickets to students in need. It would probably be cheaper for the University and offer more benefits to the students.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Kick off #hashtag
This time when I go back to high school, I'm going to be one of the cool kids. Ok, probably not.
Student teaching has officially begun. Through a quirk in the placement process, I ended up being placed as a teaching intern at the high school from which I graduated. Back in high school, I kept a blog. It just wasn't called a blog yet. The first recorded use of the word blog was in 1999. According to the people at Merriam and Webster, the word existed, but from my experience, the word blog had not reached the place of universality that it now occupies. I was blogging way before it was cool to blog.
My blog was mostly a journal about my life mixed in with my expert coverage of the NHL. Originally, I started copying over the old posts. Eventually, someone talked me into saving them. I have a complete record of my ramblings for three years, including the second half of my senior year of high school. In the August after I graduated, I went back to visit my high school. I wrote about it on August 22:
Student teaching has officially begun. Through a quirk in the placement process, I ended up being placed as a teaching intern at the high school from which I graduated. Back in high school, I kept a blog. It just wasn't called a blog yet. The first recorded use of the word blog was in 1999. According to the people at Merriam and Webster, the word existed, but from my experience, the word blog had not reached the place of universality that it now occupies. I was blogging way before it was cool to blog.
My blog was mostly a journal about my life mixed in with my expert coverage of the NHL. Originally, I started copying over the old posts. Eventually, someone talked me into saving them. I have a complete record of my ramblings for three years, including the second half of my senior year of high school. In the August after I graduated, I went back to visit my high school. I wrote about it on August 22:
...Walking around the halls felt a little funny. Everyone seems so small, so young. I'm a couple of months older than a lot of the people there, but it feels like there is a big difference. They fixed the main entrance of the school [part of the school was renovated my senior year]. I sneaked in via a side door to avoid the authorities, so I only saw it as I looked down the hall. The rest of the school remains its ugly self. Although I enjoyed high school, I don't think that I'm going to miss the brown (formerly orange) lockers or the heating system that only worked during the summer...
I was going to write about how I feel awkward walking around the halls of the high school I attended so many years ago. Then I realized, wait a second, I feel awkward walking around [insert the name of any location here]. When I left high school, I wrote about starting the next paragraph in my life. While the idea of my life as a manuscript might work, I think a math analogy might now be more appropriate. The circle is now complete. When I left high school I was but the learner, but now I'm working on a master's.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
More Scattered #hashtag
Memes are still a bit of a mystery to me. So, sometimes I have to search the internet to figure out what they mean. This Star Trek one I get; it's the same with the "One does not simply..." [Reason 10]. In the process of doing my search I came across Socially Awkward Penguin. He's awesome.
Here are some other quotes about Language/Communication:
"An immense number of thoughts seemed to have been impossible from the lack of fitting words. When these words were found - the buried treasure of bygone ancestors - the thoughts sprang to them as rider to the saddle; and with new ideas, life was regenerated." -M. Putnam Jacobi (talking about the Renaissance)
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a [KEEPING IT PG]. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -James D. Nicoll
Friday, August 30, 2013
The Immortal Conversation, Part three of ∞ #hashtag
This is part three of an ongoing series. To see the beginning, you can visit Part One: Intro/God or Part Two: Love.
Veritas?
What is truth? I thought I might begin by talking a little bit about Stormtroopers. Now, some of the readers might think that, like Nodding herself, I have violated Godwin's Law. No, history fans, we are not talking about the SA. We are talking about Stormtroopers, the faceless, countless enemies from Star Wars. What do Star Wars characters have to do with the truth? In Adam Savage's WIRED article he writes about dressing up in costumes at Comic-Con. He writes, "One of my main jobs as a communicator is to be honest about who I am. I must wear the costume, because that enjoyment is a distinct part of me. Wearing that costume and jumping off a roof let me be the action-movie hero I always wanted to be - if only for an afternoon" (Footnote). I admit that writing about truth had stumped me, but Adam's article got me thinking about one aspect of truth. Who are we, really?
In "Brain Rules" John Medina writes, "The surface of your skin, for example - all 9 pounds of it - literally is deceased... It is accurate to say that nearly every inch of your outer physical presentation to the world is dead" (p. 52). So, our skin is gone. It just lingers. It is the same way about the past. Every action we have taken, every memory of us, is in the past. It is dead, but not gone, just like the flakes of skin that cover us. That brings us back to the costumes that Adam wrote about. Our past represents who we were. The costumes that we choose to wear tell us who we want to be. In that way, the costume is a better indicator of who we really are. The costume represents our aspirations and our goals and ignores the failures and weaknesses that mar our past.
So if you want to really know who someone is you have a couple options. Don't look her in the face, look her in eyes. The skin is dead; the eyes are one of the few parts that are still alive. The second is to ignore the past. Treat everyday like a new day. People have the opportunity to learn from past, so there is no need to freeze people into the past version of themselves. Finally, remember the costumes. We ought to remember who we want to be and help others lead the lives they want to live. Next week, I am going to dress-up like a teacher. When I put it on next week, it will just be a costume. However, I hope to turn it into a uniform.
(Footnote) The quotation is from Adam Savage's article "Clothes make the fan: costumes turn Comic-Con into a performance" in July's WIRED (21,7) pages 45-49. I have been unable to find a digital copy of the article, otherwise I would link it.
Veritas?
What is truth? I thought I might begin by talking a little bit about Stormtroopers. Now, some of the readers might think that, like Nodding herself, I have violated Godwin's Law. No, history fans, we are not talking about the SA. We are talking about Stormtroopers, the faceless, countless enemies from Star Wars. What do Star Wars characters have to do with the truth? In Adam Savage's WIRED article he writes about dressing up in costumes at Comic-Con. He writes, "One of my main jobs as a communicator is to be honest about who I am. I must wear the costume, because that enjoyment is a distinct part of me. Wearing that costume and jumping off a roof let me be the action-movie hero I always wanted to be - if only for an afternoon" (Footnote). I admit that writing about truth had stumped me, but Adam's article got me thinking about one aspect of truth. Who are we, really?
In "Brain Rules" John Medina writes, "The surface of your skin, for example - all 9 pounds of it - literally is deceased... It is accurate to say that nearly every inch of your outer physical presentation to the world is dead" (p. 52). So, our skin is gone. It just lingers. It is the same way about the past. Every action we have taken, every memory of us, is in the past. It is dead, but not gone, just like the flakes of skin that cover us. That brings us back to the costumes that Adam wrote about. Our past represents who we were. The costumes that we choose to wear tell us who we want to be. In that way, the costume is a better indicator of who we really are. The costume represents our aspirations and our goals and ignores the failures and weaknesses that mar our past.
So if you want to really know who someone is you have a couple options. Don't look her in the face, look her in eyes. The skin is dead; the eyes are one of the few parts that are still alive. The second is to ignore the past. Treat everyday like a new day. People have the opportunity to learn from past, so there is no need to freeze people into the past version of themselves. Finally, remember the costumes. We ought to remember who we want to be and help others lead the lives they want to live. Next week, I am going to dress-up like a teacher. When I put it on next week, it will just be a costume. However, I hope to turn it into a uniform.
(Footnote) The quotation is from Adam Savage's article "Clothes make the fan: costumes turn Comic-Con into a performance" in July's WIRED (21,7) pages 45-49. I have been unable to find a digital copy of the article, otherwise I would link it.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Seja a Bola and the Wolfpack #hashtag
Today's guest speaker said, “The strength of the wolf is in the pack and the strength of
the pack is in the wolf.”
 |
| Zach Galifinasasdadasdfaewaregagasdakas |
Sam Glenn was the keynote speaker at today’s
district wide kick-off meeting. His focus was on our attitude. There were two
main items on his checklist for how to keep up a good attitude. The first was
humor. Earlier he had used the wolf quotation. Naturally, when someone mentions
wolves and humor in the same hour, I think back to the wolfpack from “The Hangover.”
I wonder what challenges I will face in regards to age-appropriate humor. Later
during the performance Sam joked about ‘becoming a motivational speaker’ and ‘living in a van down by the river.’ My mentor teacher thought aloud
about how many other people in the room would get that joke. So, age-appropriate
humor means, not just keeping away from the vulgar or the EtOH references, but also being able to relate to people two decades younger than
me.
The second point was about enthusiasm and drive. Enthusiasm
is the difference between good and great. There was a talk about never giving
up. I love Churchill and the never surrender attitude. I just
worry about never giving up. This is something that I have been torn by all
summer long. I've been conflicted by a desire to chase after a dream and a
second completely rational argument do no more harm. It reminds me of a student
named Larry (Not his real name). I met Larry at the middle school this summer.
When he talked about growing he, mentioned his dream of playing in the NBA. The
things is, Larry isn't very tall. In fact he was the shortest kid in his grade. Too be honest, Larry isn't even that good at basketball. I got to watch
Larry play a couple of times over the summer and he didn't stand out. How do we
balance enthusiasm with the real world? Larry isn't going to play in
the NBA and there are there are things in my life that I will never achieve. The question is, how do we separate the improbable from the impossible?
How do we separate something that will always be out of reach with something that
is just a few steps down the road?
Seriously, these aren't rhetorical questions. Does anybody
have any ideas?
In case you were wondering, today’s meeting started off with
us watching a scene from “Caddyshack” which, for reasons unbeknownst to me the
film included French subtitles. So, I learned a little bit of French (Hence the title to this blog post)
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Brain Rules #hashtag
Hidden in this picture is a device that will make you smarter.
It's not the telescope in the back corner. It is not the alarm clock in the box waiting for the next garage sale. It's not the board games on the dresser. It's the exercise bike.
People who exercise regularly outscore people who don't in tests of long-term memory, reasoning, attention and problem solving. Now, you might be thinking that there is only a correlation between these two variables. Perhaps people who are physically active tend to be more mentally active and those two outcomes are caused by some third genetic characteristic. The thing is, it turns out that when people who lead sedentary lifestyles start exercising regularly, their cognitive skills improve over time.
There is actually a biological explanation. We only have one heart. So, when people exercise, blood flow is increased to the every part of the body, not just the specific muscles being worked on. So, exercise makes the body more efficient at moving muscles and getting oxygen to the brain.
For a more in depth look at the topic, read chapter one of John Medina's book "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School." He writes more about the biology behind exercise. I will write more about the book when I get to the next chapter. So far, it has been a fascinating read.
It's not the telescope in the back corner. It is not the alarm clock in the box waiting for the next garage sale. It's not the board games on the dresser. It's the exercise bike.
People who exercise regularly outscore people who don't in tests of long-term memory, reasoning, attention and problem solving. Now, you might be thinking that there is only a correlation between these two variables. Perhaps people who are physically active tend to be more mentally active and those two outcomes are caused by some third genetic characteristic. The thing is, it turns out that when people who lead sedentary lifestyles start exercising regularly, their cognitive skills improve over time.
There is actually a biological explanation. We only have one heart. So, when people exercise, blood flow is increased to the every part of the body, not just the specific muscles being worked on. So, exercise makes the body more efficient at moving muscles and getting oxygen to the brain.
For a more in depth look at the topic, read chapter one of John Medina's book "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School." He writes more about the biology behind exercise. I will write more about the book when I get to the next chapter. So far, it has been a fascinating read.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Why Aspiring [blank] Need Math #hashtag
Why Aspiring Economists Need Math
As much as it hurts me to repost a Mankiw post, this one was too good not to repost. I know that by doing so, I will only fall further behind in my quest to jump ahead of Mankiw in the list of Google search results. However, there comes a time when we must put aside our petty individual goals and, in the words of Grindelwald, we must do something for the greater good.
While some of the points apply only to economists, there are two points that are applicable to all people:
Beginning with the second point, when people see that I have taken all sorts of math classes, they automatically assume that I am very smart; it is only much later, after they have gotten to know me, that they come to realize what an idiot I really am. People tend to avoid voluntarily taking math classes. While liberal arts students may pick up an extra literature class to study Shakespeare or a history of video games class because they find the topics interesting, rarely does a sane person think to himself: "I ought to sign up for a Modern Algebra class as an elective." One could think of math classes like a form of advertising. It like the pick-up truck commercial that show ridiculous feats of strength. It shows people what you are capable of difficult, abstract tasks.
The first point that Mankiw makes about math being more rigorous is somewhat debatable. Math can be rigorous. It is hard for higher level math classes to not be rigorous. However, from the perspective of a prospective secondary educator, math class has the potential to be about rote memorization of math facts or a rigorous examination of how things work. We just have to focus on making it more of the latter and less of the former. In that way, math class can be less about the fancy course name on the transcript and more about helping students development the necessary quantitative reasoning skills for when they move beyond the classroom.
Mankiw closes with his best line, "The fact is, if you are thinking about a PhD program in economics, you are advised to take math courses until it hurts." Taking more math is classes is good for employment prospects, not just PhD applications. According to BLS.gov: Fastest growing jobs, the jobs that are growing most quickly tend to be either in medicine (most of which will require passing algebra classes as part of the program) or construction (which requires an understanding of geometry to be successful). So, it might just be easier to say that aspiring [your profession] need math, too.
As much as it hurts me to repost a Mankiw post, this one was too good not to repost. I know that by doing so, I will only fall further behind in my quest to jump ahead of Mankiw in the list of Google search results. However, there comes a time when we must put aside our petty individual goals and, in the words of Grindelwald, we must do something for the greater good.
While some of the points apply only to economists, there are two points that are applicable to all people:
"3. Math is good training for the mind. It makes you a more rigorous thinker."
and
"4. Your math courses are one long IQ test. We use math courses to figure out who is really smart."
Beginning with the second point, when people see that I have taken all sorts of math classes, they automatically assume that I am very smart; it is only much later, after they have gotten to know me, that they come to realize what an idiot I really am. People tend to avoid voluntarily taking math classes. While liberal arts students may pick up an extra literature class to study Shakespeare or a history of video games class because they find the topics interesting, rarely does a sane person think to himself: "I ought to sign up for a Modern Algebra class as an elective." One could think of math classes like a form of advertising. It like the pick-up truck commercial that show ridiculous feats of strength. It shows people what you are capable of difficult, abstract tasks.
The first point that Mankiw makes about math being more rigorous is somewhat debatable. Math can be rigorous. It is hard for higher level math classes to not be rigorous. However, from the perspective of a prospective secondary educator, math class has the potential to be about rote memorization of math facts or a rigorous examination of how things work. We just have to focus on making it more of the latter and less of the former. In that way, math class can be less about the fancy course name on the transcript and more about helping students development the necessary quantitative reasoning skills for when they move beyond the classroom.
Mankiw closes with his best line, "The fact is, if you are thinking about a PhD program in economics, you are advised to take math courses until it hurts." Taking more math is classes is good for employment prospects, not just PhD applications. According to BLS.gov: Fastest growing jobs, the jobs that are growing most quickly tend to be either in medicine (most of which will require passing algebra classes as part of the program) or construction (which requires an understanding of geometry to be successful). So, it might just be easier to say that aspiring [your profession] need math, too.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Poor Choice of Words #hashtag
This afternoon, I came across a full-page newspaper advertisement for "Bing for Schools". It was an advertisement for an advertisement-free search engine for schools. The irony does not stop there. The URL listed in the advertisement was http://scroogled.com/schools. As first, I thought it was a bit vulgar. To me, it seemed liked they were mashing "SCREW GOOGLE" into one neologism. Perhaps that is just my faulty mind, but I could not think of another explanation of how they crafted the URL.
Vaguely remembering the name from the newspaper, I typed in something that was very similar to http://scroogled.com to see what the website was like. Now, if I type www.gooogle.com or a dozen other misspellings, I will still end up at the standard Google search page. However, when I tried to visit the URL for Bing for Schools, it turned out that I forgot one important letter in the address. I arrived at a totally different website. Let's just say that I ended up at a website for searching for things that would not be appropriate for school.
I enjoy my PC. Windows works great for me. Office is really useful. I still have fond memories of Windows XP (best OS ever). I almost bought a Zune instead of an iPod. Still, everyone once in a while, Microsoft just messes things up. People can debate whether having a search engine without advertisements is a good idea. In fact, teaching students how to distinguish paid advertisements from less-biased publication is a useful skill. However, using the www.scroogled.com URL is probably a bad decision all around.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Recycling: Income Distribution #hashtag
This is me recycling from my previous post.
I was reading through my rival's blog post and came across a link to this article about income distribution. According to the data from the Census Bureau, the shrinking middle class is not the result of a descent into poverty but a growing upper class. Now, the source should be considered. While the author does come from the Flint campus of the world's most prestigious public university, he is also writing for the AEI. Some of the people involved with the AEI include Paul Wolfowitz, who has a BA in mathematics from Cornell along with a certain political bias, and former UN Ambassador John Bolton. Without going back into the Census data used to create the table, we will have to take what the author writes with a grain of salt.
Contrasting the aforementioned article is this piece from USA Today: "4 in 5 in USA face near-poverty, no work". The title is misleading. If I were to walk down the Mainstreet USA, 80% of the people I met would not be struggling to make ends meet. Something closer to the opposite is true; eighty percent of people are doing fine. However, at some point in their working lives (20-60 years old), four out of five Americans will struggle with some combination of prolonged unemployment, living on government assistance or living below the poverty line. That sort of economic volatility is something that has grown. It presents a different problem. The challenge we face is not one where the majority of people are locked into permanent poverty, but a world where uncertainty is around every corner. It is a world where every family we work with could end up facing economic disaster. The world is a little bit scary.
I was reading through my rival's blog post and came across a link to this article about income distribution. According to the data from the Census Bureau, the shrinking middle class is not the result of a descent into poverty but a growing upper class. Now, the source should be considered. While the author does come from the Flint campus of the world's most prestigious public university, he is also writing for the AEI. Some of the people involved with the AEI include Paul Wolfowitz, who has a BA in mathematics from Cornell along with a certain political bias, and former UN Ambassador John Bolton. Without going back into the Census data used to create the table, we will have to take what the author writes with a grain of salt.
Contrasting the aforementioned article is this piece from USA Today: "4 in 5 in USA face near-poverty, no work". The title is misleading. If I were to walk down the Mainstreet USA, 80% of the people I met would not be struggling to make ends meet. Something closer to the opposite is true; eighty percent of people are doing fine. However, at some point in their working lives (20-60 years old), four out of five Americans will struggle with some combination of prolonged unemployment, living on government assistance or living below the poverty line. That sort of economic volatility is something that has grown. It presents a different problem. The challenge we face is not one where the majority of people are locked into permanent poverty, but a world where uncertainty is around every corner. It is a world where every family we work with could end up facing economic disaster. The world is a little bit scary.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)