Entry # 2 - Being a wise consumer of information.

January 12, 2012

 5 steps to being a wise consumer of information about Educational Psychology

These are my version of the notes from class today. There were the 5 areas to observe. They are in dark blue and what I gathered about the points are in light blue.

1. Be cautious of what is reported in the popular media. The media often over speculates in many of the cases they cover. There are always alternate viewpoints. The information may be poorly portrayed.

2. Avoid drawing conclusions about individual needs based on group research. The content of the report is not necessarily about a specific individual. Ex) Males that play violent video games have increased violent tendencies afterwords.

3. Recognize how easy it is to over generalize about a small or clinical sample. This is the opposite of number 2 (induction)

4. Be aware that a single study is usually not the defining word. No one study is the final word. It is simply a start of research and should not be considered to be exact or necessarily true. 

5. Always consider the source of information and evaluate its' credibility. Who is the researcher? Are they specialized in the subject? The person may not be knowledgeable of the topic.  

                                                                                                            

 

 The following information is just some notes I took down while watching the video. They are not in complete sentences, just jotted thoughts.

Treadmills in the classroom.

Get fit, Get smart? School especially for kids where cannot make it anywhere else is good. Smoking and drinking at a young age, ADHD, and children with other diagnosed illnesses. Problems with authority. (Spark - book) - Growing new brain cells is a result of exercise and effects behavior. Students not as fidgety and have a longer attention span. Increased ability to sort through information and take it in. Lowest obesity rate. Fitness for everyone for 45 minutes. Interactive lessons. Higher heart rate, better focus. (possibly more oxygen intake for the muscles?) Turning on the front part of the brain involved with controlling impulses. Neurotic brain impulses. Sustained aerobic movement. 65-75% percent of maximum for 20 minutes being in constant motion.  Students are paying better attention and turning their lives around. They are wanting to go in a different direction then when they were first admitted to this school. Reading increased over 20%, comprehension over 400%. The students say they feel more energized and "happy-ish." Our brains are geared to move.

Next we have the notes from discussing the video with a friend in class.


Activity in the body also equals activity in the mind. A kind of jump start to the day, getting everyone moving and thinking. Also with the increased percentag4es we don't know what they were before and if they were testing with the exact same method and material. They are only giving us facts based on the small group of delinquent kids, no statistics to compare anything to. It's great that they have the school for kids who don't fit in anywhere else and for kids with diagnosed illnesses. Better marks maybe because the machines are getting the students up moving and participating, warming up both body and mind. Perhaps they could find a less costly and space consuming way to create the same effect. Instead of the treadmills maybe run and down stairs, do crunches, push-ups, etc to get the energized, ready-to-go feeling expressed in the video by the students. This gives a basis for if you wanted to conduct a study of your own or simply research the topic better to get more answers, not just from a small group of pupils. I think it's great this teacher has found a way to get more participation out of her students and have them both behave and preform better. Innovation in the classroom is a great thing.