Interpreting the Data: 10 Ways to Teach Math and More Using Infographics From stock prices and unemployment rates to trends in tuition and quality of life, the ability to understand and interpret quantitative data is more important than ever in understanding the world. Over the years we’ve written many posts about teaching with Times infographics, including a 2010 series about using them across the curriculum, and a 2011 lesson called “Data Visualized: More on Teaching With Infographics.” If you like, you can scroll through our entire collection of posts that highlight Times interactives and graphics here. Below, we offer a math-focused list of 10 ways students can learn from and tell stories with the numbers in some recent charts, tables and interactives found in The Times. 1. Pick a graph from The Times that plots some quantity over time and use it to tell a story. For example, the first graph in “The War on Poverty Turns 50″ shows several different poverty rates in the United States over the past 50 years. 2. 3. Browse The Times with a critical eye. 4. 5.
Eight Habits that Improve Cognitive Function Digital games are incapable of giving the entire brain a full workout. These digital programs can't really exercise the cerebellum (Latin: "Little Brain") and, therefore, are literally only training half your brain. These "brain-training workouts" are the equivalent of only ever doing upper body workouts, without ever working out your lower body. Although the cerebellum is only 10 percent of brain volume, it houses over 50 percent of the brain's total neurons. Neuroscientists are perplexed by this disproportionate ratio of neurons... Whatever the cerebellum is doing to optimize brain function and improve cognition, it recruits a lot of neurons to do it. Brain-Training Games Increase Sedentary Screen Time I believe these programs do have a risk because they add more sedentary screen time to a person's day. I have written dozens of Psychology Today blog posts about lifestyle choices and daily habits that improve brain structure, connectivity, and cognitive function. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Man Diagnosed 'Comatose' For 23 Years Was Actually Conscious All Along In what can only be described as a harrowing instance of misdiagnosis, a Belgian man presumed comatose for 23 years after a near-fatal car crash was actually conscious and paralyzed the entire time. Rom Houben, whose real state was discovered three years ago but only now made public, could be one of many falsely diagnosed coma cases, raising serious questions about those diagnosed as "vegetative" and, even more frighteningly, the process by which vegetative people are removed from life support. Houben, now in a facility in Brussels and communicating via a computer controlled by his minimally functioning right hand, came around after his 1983 car accident. But while he could hear every word his doctors spoke, he could not speak to them, nor could he move his body to communicate with them in any way. For years researchers and doctors tried to coax a response from Houben, who all along was trapped within his own body, living a life of frustration with his inability to interact.
7 Moments That Made 'Frozen' the Most Progressive Disney Movie Ever A Disney princess is graceful, elegant and soft-spoken. Until Mulan, the idea of a clumsy Disney princess was antithetical, and even she found grace and form through her combat training. Until Merida in Brave, the idea of an outspoken princess was unheard of. Image credit: Disney blog Not to mention that in the line of Disney princesses, there haven't been many, if any, with a sexual inkling or romantic forwardness — ever. Image credit: Tumblr She's clumsy, knocks things over all through the castle and runs into horses, which doesn't change over the course of the movie. Image credit: Rotoscopers
Are You A Thoughtless, Inconsiderate Jerk Of A Person? Here's How To Tell. Are you kind of a jerk? Don't worry, this is a safe place, you can be honest. There are a lot of inconsiderate people out there; people who don't think of anyone but themselves; people who walk through everyday life oblivious to the world and the people living in it. It's often the little considerations that keep us from going completely insane at the end of the day. Think about all the times your day was brought to a screeching halt because you just could not get over that person who was so blatantly inconsiderate to you or even someone else around you. It's time to play the part of the surrogate mother holding you painfully by your ear. Well, do you at least look behind you to see if someone needs the door held for them? But you know the consideration doesn't stop at the door-holding end. How dare you not recognize my kindness! If there was a human being handbook given to all of us on the way out of the womb, surely "Eating And You" would be one of the essential chapters. Oh.
189, Stephen King Stephen King began this interview in the summer of 2001, two years after he was struck by a minivan while walking near his home in Center Lovell, Maine. He was lucky to have survived the accident, in which he suffered scalp lacerations, a collapsed right lung, and multiple fractures of his right hip and leg. Six pounds of metal that had been implanted in King’s body during the initial surgery were removed shortly before the author spoke to The Paris Review, and he was still in constant pain. “The orthopedist found all this infected tissue and outraged flesh,” said King. A second interview session with King was conducted early this year at his winter home in Florida, which happens to be within easy driving distance of the Red Sox’s spring training compound in Fort Myers. King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. In person, King has a gracious, funny, sincere manner and speaks with great enthusiasm and candor. How old were you when you started writing? It might.
35 Psychological Tricks To Help You Learn Better - InformED : Trapped in his own body for 23 years - the coma victim who screamed unheard | World news For 23 years Rom Houben was imprisoned in his own body. He saw his doctors and nurses as they visited him during their daily rounds; he listened to the conversations of his carers; he heard his mother deliver the news to him that his father had died. But he could do nothing. He was unable to communicate with his doctors or family. He could not move his head or weep, he could only listen. Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983. Then a neurologist, Steven Laureys, who decided to take a radical look at the state of diagnosed coma patients, released him from his torture. "I had dreamed myself away," said Houben, now 46, whose real "state" was discovered three years ago, according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel this week. Laureys, a neurologist at the University of Liege in Belgium, published a study in BMC Neurology earlier this year saying Houben could be one of many cases of falsely diagnosed comas around the world.
Frowning In Bright Sunlight Can Make You Angry Way back in 1872, Charles Darwin noted that when people look into bright sunshine they often frown, assuming a facial expression similar to that of anger. And indeed, when people look into bright light without sunglasses, they contract many of the same facial muscles as when they are angry. ("I'm not angry, it's just sunny out!" Recent work has shown that emotions can be influenced by facial expressions and body posture. With these two ideas in mind, a team of Italian researchers put forward the hypothesis that people walking into the sun without sunglasses (who were thus involuntarilty squinting/frowning) would be more likely to report feelings of anger and agressiveness, compared to people walking away from the sun. They found that people walking into the sun reported that they were significantly more angry, and more agressive, than those who were headed away from the sun.
A Wonderful Graphic Featuring The Importance of Music in Education Music education is profoundly important to the success of individuals and learners. According to this graphic created by University of Florida, music is an essential element in students overall education and in some cases it is a precursor of good academic achievements. Some of the pluses of listening to music include : developing language skills and creativity, decrease anxiety and pain and speed up healing. It is also reported that music is known to help in some neurological disorders such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, and Autism. Have a look at the visual below to learn more about the importance of music in education. Salman Khan doubles down on building the school of the future When Salman Khan shared his vision for “a free world-class education for anyone anywhere” at TED2011, he turned the education world on its head. As he introduced Khan Academy — a virtual classroom that uses video lessons to create an individualized, self-paced learning experience — his alternative model fueled the nascent dialogue about online education. The conversation only exploded from there. In the three years since his talk, Khan has doubled down on his efforts to cultivate Khan Academy into the education model of the future. Khan himself has been busy reimagining the education experience. Khan recently spoke with the TED Blog about Khan Academy’s incredible growth, and what’s on the horizon for classrooms both physical and virtual. Khan Academy has seen incredible growth since you spoke in 2011. Content coverage is a big thing. The other big thing that’s happening is internationalization. How have you seen the thinking about education shift since you gave your TED Talk?
5 reasons to teach spelling and handwriting in the new year SmartBlogs Here’s a great resolution: Keep spelling and handwriting in the curriculum and use research-based tools to teach these skills explicitly and efficiently without wasting valuable instructional time. Students will be better students if they are equipped with spelling and handwriting skills, which are critical for reading and writing success and act as stepping stones to higher test scores. While the Common Core State Standards focus on higher-level learning, they do not make the case for every foundational skill, leaving schools with the option of choosing whether to teach essential skills, such as handwriting and spelling. Here are five evidence-based reasons for teaching spelling and handwriting explicitly and for carving out about 15 minutes a day during the reading and language arts block for each of these foundational skills: If you overlooked them in the past, consider bringing spelling and handwriting back into every classroom for a rebirth of literacy success. J. Related Posts
Vitamin C mega-dosing continues to unleash healing miracles around the world (NaturalNews) Remember the story of Alan Smith from New Zealand, and his dramatic recovery from a coma with mega-dose vitamin C? That story went viral and was featured in the New Zealand version of "60 Minutes." But some sources didn't have it quite right. The mega-dose vitamin C was not by IV for the last two weeks. Alan pulled out of his coma from white-out pneumonia (lungs whited out in X-rays) and complications with leukemia. The doctors complied at first, and there was enough improvement to convince the hospital staff not to pull the plug on his life support as they had threatened. Alan Smith only began to improve after taking Lypo-Spheric packets.You can view the first segment of the 60 Minutes Alan Smiths story here ( So how did six grams per day of a special vitamin C oral compound manage to do the work of 50 to 100 grams of IV C daily? Dr. Sources for this article include Dr.