Want to start your day with more motivation? Here’s some tricks I’m trying based on neuroscience. They seem to be working so far. Every morning I wake up sometime between 3:30am and 6am (I don’t use an alarm to avoid sleep deprivation). I go straight to my computer and start writing while the family sleeps. But lately that changed. I …
The Importance of Routine5 benefits of good habits in the time of online learning
One of the biggest challenges we’re facing right now is the disruption to our normal routines. With schools closing and moving to online learning, it’s very easy to get into bad habits. My goal as an online teacher at the moment is to offer meaningful work and help my students maintain good routines. The biggest challenge for students is to …
Feeling stressed? Here’s how you can cope.
It’s a stressful time for everyone. The latest news that the IB has cancelled exams will be causing massive amounts of stress for many students (and teachers). Here are some ways you can cope. Stress is caused by things happening to us (stressors) and how we think about those things (appraisals). In psychology jargon, we call this top-down or bottom-up …
Can perceptual illusions teach us tolerance?
Warning: This post is me rambling and thinking out-loud. “I don’t know how on Earth you can see a black and blue dress, when that’s clearly white and gold.” “Are you mad. What? What? You’re messing with me, right? They’re definitely grey and blue sneakers. Where the heck are you seeing pink and white?” These were some of the things …
To prove or not to prove, that is the question.
This is a follow-up to the popular post, “why we rarely use the word ‘prove’ in psychology.” In their first months of studying psychology students love to use the word “prove” when explaining studies. This drives teachers and examiners nuts! But instead of making a blanket rule in class like “you’re never to use the word prove!” I like to …
Why teach themantically?
Why teach thematically? If you think about it, teaching by the core approaches (or levels of analysis) in a linear way IS a thematic approach – the themes are biology, cognition and socio-culture, and then the themes are abnormal psych, health, etc. These themes tie together topics so by the end of the unit students have a broad conceptual understanding. …
The Story of Phineas Gage
Important Note: Phineas Gage is an interesting way to learn about the relationship between the frontal lobe and our behaviour. However, there are many other studies that we use in this course to demonstrate important concepts like localization of brain function. Therefore, Gage should not be used in exam answers. The story… Phineas Gage was a railroad worker who was …
So you want to assess ecological validity?
If you’re reading this it’s probably because your teacher has sent you here after reading something in your essay along the lines of, “this experiment was a laboratory experiment and so it lacks ecological validity.” This throwaway sentence makes teachers and examiners groan (and not award you any marks, just so you know). So I’m here to help show you how to …
Tip for Cutting Content #3: Identities, Attitudes and Behaviours
Seeing as my last post about dealing with the cognitive extensions seemed to help, I thought I’d share this one. For some reason that I’m not too sure of, the new guide has got a trifecta of effects of cultural influences in the third topic: identities, attitudes and behaviours. On the surface this appears to be somewhat of a problem. …
Maintaining Perspective: My 5% Rule
This post is adapted from an earlier post. At the start of the school year I like to remind myself about My 5% Rule: I should expect IB Psychology to make up less than 5% of my students’ lives. About 98% of the time that I see my kids is when they’re in my classroom. I’d love to reduce that % …
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