October 29: Spooky Day -- Cow Eyes, Perceptual Set, and Pop Quiz

1)Neuron Notes. You wrote a new question on perception and read the answers from last time.

2) Returned Work. It is the end of the quarter and grades are set. I returned all your classwork and homework. Thank you for your patience.

3) Pop Quiz on Chapter 6. This was easy for those of you with notes. Those of you without notes are going to have a very hard time on Friday's test. Get caught up!!

4) Cow Eye Dissection. http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/cow_eye/ In groups of 4-5, we dissected a cow eye!!! It was awesome! You did a great job! Once the fat and muscle was removed, you were able to investigate the iris, pupil, lens, aqueous humor, tapetum, etc. It was a great experiment.

5) Perceptual Set. I restated the definition -- a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. This is an important concept for life that I would like you to remember. We get stuck in how we perceive the world...try to shake your perception up! I read a great letter from a college student to her parents. :)


Assignments:

1) STUDY!!!! The test on chapters 5 and 6 is on Friday!

2) Sensation/Perception Activity. Finish up one of the five activities. Due on Friday.

October 27: Perception Organization with Escher

1) Neuron Notes. You wrote a new question on perception and read the answers related to perception.

2) Perception Video. It was a cheesy, educational video but it had some good illusions and concepts to discuss.

3) Perceptual Organization with M.C. Escher drawings. First, we went over different cues and ways to organize sensory information. I gave you a chart you can use to study. Then you worked with a partner and examine one of Escher's drawing (www.worldofescher .com) using the chart of perceptual cues. You did a great job noting if it was you saw relative size or texture gradient.

4) Prosopagnosia article. I gave you an interesting article on people with face blindness.

Assignments:

1) Finish chapter 6.

2) Sensation/Percetion Activity. Choose one of the five activities to really enjoy the concepts from these chapters. It is due on Halloween.

3) Test on Chapter 5 and 6 on Friday! STUDY! This stuff is hard!

October 23: Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell, and Body Position

1) Neuron Notes. You wrote a new question on sensation and read the answers related to sensation.

2) Pop Quiz on Chapter 5. You could use your notes.

3) Hearing, Touching, Tasting, Smelling, and More. We took notes and did a bunch of activities to better understand each sense. We drew the ear, talked about hearing loss, and a volunteer located sounds. We talked about our touch system (cutaneous receptors) as a few students were blindfolded and got to know a lemon and was able to find it again. We talked about how our taste interacts with our other senses as we ate jelly bellies with our noses plugged and then we opened our noses and WOW! We smelled a bunch of odors and tried to identify them without much luck. Our smell is an old, old sense and has an important purpose.

Assignments:

1) Read chapter 6. Start!

2) Sensation/Percetion Activity. Choose one of the five activities to really enjoy the concepts from these chapters. It is due on Halloween.

October 21: Sensation Thresholds and Vision

1) Neuron Notes. You wrote a new question on sensation and read the answers related to sensory thresholds.

2) Sensation/Perception Video. I love Philip Zimbardo. He summarized sensation and perception in 25 minutes for you.

3) Sensory Thresholds. We took notes on absolute threshold and difference threshold. We did a two demonstrations to help you understand these concepts.

4) Vision Notes. We drew the eye, analyzed the color spectrum and wavelength, talked about the two theories of color vision, and explained depth and distance perception. We did all sorts of demonstrations related to vision.

Assignments:

1) Read chapter 5 pages 211-228. Finish!

2) Make notecards on chapters 5 and 6! I will not check these, but you will do better if you memorize the vocabulary.

October 17: Review Test and Socratic Seminar

In-Class Activities:

1) Neuron Notes. You wrote a new question on sensation.

2) Developmental Activities. Some of you presented your Freudian fairy tale or your video of testing a child's conservation. Fun!

3) Review Test on Development. We went over the tricky questions from the test on chapters 3 & 4.

4) Socratic Seminar on the issue: "Does Divorce of Parents Harm Their Children?" After reading the two sides of this argument, we sat in a circle and had a very intelligent discussion to btter understand the text. WAY TO GO! You guys are really good at this!

Assignments:

1) Read chapter 5 pages .199-211

2) Make notecards on chapters 5 and 6. This unit is one of the hardest so please make sure you review and review and review!

October 14: Development Test on Ch.3 and Ch. 4

In-Class Activities:

1) Neuron Notes. You didn't need to write a new question, but I gave you the responses about aging.

2) Review. We went through the chapters and highlighted each point.

3) Collect Development Activity. You shared your experience testing and analyzing Piaget's stages, Kohlberg's moral ladder, or Freud's personality development. Great job!

4) Chapters 3 and 4 Test. 100 multiple choice questions on the development. If you were absent, you will take the test at the beginning of class on Friday while we go over the correct answers. Please come early so you can get settled and get it completed without missing too much of the rest of class.

5) Sensation/Perception Outline. You received the new outline for this next unit. Please get organized. We'll have some great conversations about all of your senses and how you perceive the world. The next test will cover both chapter 5 and chapter 6. Start making those notecards this week!

6) Taking Sides Articles. Please read both sides to the question "Does the Divorce of Parents Harm Their Parents?" and complete the handout so you can participate in our Socratic Seminar next class.

Assignments:

1) Read chapter 5 up to page 199.

2) Taking Sides articles and handout

October 9: Finish Adolescence and then OLD people

In-Class Activities:

1) Neuron Note. You wrote me one more question about development and you read the answers to your last questions.

2) Frontline "Inside the Teenage Brain." We finished watching this.

3) Sing-A-Long. We looked at songs that talk about moving to adulthood and we listened to the perfect song called "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens. Adolescence is the final severing of the umbilical cord for parents and you. It usually isn't easy, but you all can do it! :)

4) Notes on OLD. We talked briefly about what happens as you age and how our culture sees aging as a negative event.

5) "Never Say Die" Video Clip. Alan Alda and Scientific American Frontiers has some great programs and this one is fascinating. What if we "cure" aging!? We watched the segment on Roy Walford M.D.'s calorie restriction diet for longevity. For more information, read: http://www.walford.com/ and http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/17572/

Assignments:

1) Finish chapter 4.

2) Developmental Activity. Due on Tuesday. You can try to test object permanence or conservation and better understand Piaget. Or you can ask people the Heinz dilemma and analyze their responses using Kohlberg's moral ladder. Or you can analyze a fairytale using Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development.

3) Test over chapters 3 and 4 is on Tuesday, October 14.