Welcome to WJMP 100.8, your local technology information station. Join Julie (aka Summer), Megan (aka Professor Megan) and Pat (as himself?) as they discuss Facebook, one of the largest social networking sites on the internet. If you are a user of Facebook or MySpace, this podcast could be of particular interest to you as it explores issues of privacy and identity theft and shares some safe ways to "clean up" your profile. With approximately 132 million users worldwide, it is likely that the use of this relatively new utility will continue to increase. However, it is in everyone's best interest to make sure that the use of this vast network does not become a tangled web. So, join Julie, Megan, and Pat as they explore Facebook: A New Kind of Social Network.

The typical person spends an average of six years of his/her life dreaming. This is just one of the interesting facts about dreaming explored in the podcast created by Emily and Jules. After sharing some common characteristics of dreams, they also explore some classic theories about dreams by Jung and Freud, consider sleep disorders, and analyze some interesting dreams of their own. Dreams are so important, it turns out, that some researchers suggest that without dreaming, people can become psychotic. So, don't lose anymore sleep wondering about dreams! Instead, join Emily and Jules for a fascinating discussion of Dreams.

McDonald's may be one of the most well-known fast food restaurants of modern times. However, it is also one of the most controversial restaurant chains. In their podcast, Zach and Laith discuss the positive and negative aspects of McDonald's. Specifically, the concerns over obesity, the changes to cultural traditions, and the targeting of children are some negative consequences explored. On the other hand, McDonald's is also a convenient option that can help communities grow. In the end, Zach and Laith consider whether the fundamental question is one of freedom of choice. Consider your perspective on this issue after listening to McDonald's: Friend or Foe?.

Hello all and welcome to this week's episode of the View of Allegheny Freshmen on WVAF 90.8. Join hosts Kerri and Julianna as they explore the potential problems with alcohol use on college campuses. Some issues tackled in this week's episode include amnesty for underage college students, alcohol free alternatives at Allegheny, and the pros and cons of lowering the drinking age to 18. Some insightful caller questions make this week's segment a must-tune-in event. So, join us as we discuss the importance of Making Safe Choices.

Join Natalie, Liz, and Henry as they discuss student responses to the new food service on campus. Has Parkhurst been successful in achieving it's mission at Allegheny? Listen in as the podcast crew shares positive and negative feedback from student interviews and considers some of the challenges facing Parkhurst in today's economy. Whether you are a vegetarian looking for options, a foodie looking for world fare, or just hoping to find something that reminds you of home, you are sure to have something to say about Mission Accomplished?

Well, it has been several weeks now since I last asked you all to take a moment to reflect on your goals and aspirations. This week's episode of Sunday Morning (from 9.21) provides a somewhat light-hearted opportunity for us to pause and consider makes us tick.

In her interview with Graydon Carter (editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair), Tracy Smith asks him a few of the questions from the Proust Questionnaire, a questionnaire that is used in Carter's own magazine (and by James Lipton of the Actor's Studio). Some of the questions could be quite useful in thinking about the reality of who you are and the ideal of where you would like to be. Take a moment to reflect on some of these questions. While not all of them are serious, they do all require a bit of thought, and that's the point!

When you are done with the questionnaire, take a moment to see how some of the people interviewed by Vanity Fair responded.

At Cognitive Group last Friday, we watched the TED Talk of Sir Ken Robinson. In that talk, Robinson raises concerns about whether our educational system is designed in a way that kills creativity. The group discussed several of Robinson's ideas including different ways of learning, how assessment testing figures into the issue, specific experiences that "teach" students to avoid risking mistakes, and the tendency for us to think about our education in terms of "how to get an A" or "how to stand out for grad school." Our conversation ended with a consideration of what we can do as students and educators to return the focus back to the intrinsic value of education...learning for learning's sake. How do we recapture our childhood passion and curiosity?

Silvia (2008) shares some ideas regarding Interest: The curious emotion that might help shed some light on our discussion. Specifically, he would argue that interest plays a major role in how we acquire knowledge. For example, we engage more with material when we are interested and with this increased attention comes the potential for long-term learning. However, Silvia also points out that interest is a tricky emotion to define. He classifies interest as a knowledge emotion which also includes confusion, surprise, and awe (p. 57). What distinguishes interest is its function which is directly related to supporting the learning process. Silvia suggests that, "when interested, students persist longer at learning tasks, spend more time studying, read more deeply, remember more of what they read, and get better grades in their classes" (p. 58).

So how, specifically, does interest occur? Silvia describes what seems like a two-stage process. Initially, students should be given some general background knowledge regarding a topic. This general background then prepares them for the second step in the process in which the opportunity for novel and challenging experiences with the concept are offered. Silvia highlights the importance of the first step by offering an example--if two sets of students are taken on a field trip to a museum, one group with some background knowledge of art history and the other without, the group who has been "prepared" is more likely to engage with the experience and to take more from it (p. 58). In other words, curiosity is ignited by a challenge when the tools to "take on" that challenge are in place. Silvia also suggests that "curiosity is a way of managing arousal" in that we will look for new experiences when we are bored and that as we become more interested in a subject, we will begin to identify its complexities which, in turn, will re-energize our exploratory efforts (p. 59). The implied "feedback mechanism" of interest seems to argue that the main goal for educators should be to initiate student engagement and then to let that process unfold.

Still, I wonder how much of this process varies according to individual differences. I know that I am often confounded by the lack of enthusiasm some people display for topics that I find fascinating. And, I'm sure, this disconnect happens a lot between students just beginning in an area and professors who are passionate about it. How do we create a sense of "group interest"? How can we generate interest in students before they have the background of information necessary to be curious about a field? Is it possible to initiate interest in an unknown area before students become bored or frustrated by the field?

Identifying ways to generate interest in the classroom is not an easy task and researchers seem eager to revisit this challenge. Hmm...how does that work? Feel free to offer your ideas and suggestions!

Paul J. Silvia (2008). Interest—The Curious Emotion Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17 (1), 57-60 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00548.x

On this week's episode of Sunday Morning (9.7), we learned about the town of Trinidad, CO where sex-change surgery was first performed. During our discussion, the idea of "choice" came through...that we could respect the choice people make to undergo the surgery. I wonder about the word choice in this context because it implies that the disruptions in gender identity that occur in transgenders is something that one can choose to address. This leaves open the idea that some people, if they tried hard enough, could "get over" the struggle they are facing. It occurred to me that maybe we don't recognize that these disruptions occur more often than we think and that they occur from a very early age. So, I wanted to share with you a segment that originally aired on 20/20 last year that examines transgender children and the struggles their families face to ensure the health and happiness of their loved ones.

For links to the continuing parts of the segment, continue reading...

Pull out your thinking caps, stretch your creativity muscles, and put your heads together because the annual FS101 Blog Awards are on the line!

The coveted Best FS Blog 2008 Award is for the group blog that has it all...deep thoughts, great visuals, connections, debates. This is the blog that would be used in the cover story for our FS101...the blog that has made us all proud! The students on the winning blog will each receive 6 extra credit points for the semester.

Individual Awards...
We will also give out a few awards recognizing significant individual efforts.

The Haven't I Heard That Somewhere? Award is for the student that does the best job linking to other websites, podcasts, articles, or follow-up sources for topics that we've discussed or read about for class. The winner of this award receives 4 extra credit points.

The Let's Talk! Award is for the student that generates the most discussion and debate. This is student who creates the blog entries we love engage. The winner of this award receives 4 extra credit points.

The That's Deep! Award is for the student that presents the most reflective, critical analysis of issues from class in the debriefings and musings. These are the "thinking person's" blog entries (and where the professor loves to browse!). The winner of this award receives 4 extra credit points.

The How Cool Is That? Award is for the student that demonstrates the most creativity, broadly defined. These are the blog entries that are visually interesting, that use humor wisely, and that deal with a wide variety of issues....are these the blog entries of a frustrated artist? The winner of this award receives 4 extra credit points.

So...revise your old entries, work hard on the new ones, and get those creative juices flowing. Judging begins now and will end on Dec. 4th. The award recepients will be announced on the last day of class. Only one individual award per student, and I reserve the right to withhold awards for which the requirements have not been met.

...I think that Google employees are happy because they are given the freedom to work in ways that are most productive and effective for them. As one analyst shared, Google is successful because they understand that if you, "Hire intelligent people, let them actually use their intelligence." Don't get me wrong, free food and amenities would be wonderful, but what would get me to turn in my application would be the opportunity to work without boundaries, to collaborate with my colleagues in environments conducive to innovative thought. I would choose to become a part of the "social engineering perspective" at Google because my passion and creativity would be encouraged in tangible ways.

I wonder whether Google employees are as happy as the piece presents and whether there aren't any skeletons in those sleep pods. BUT, even if life isn't a paradise at Google, they sure have presented some wonderful ideas about how to create that paradise! And, isn't that refreshing?

So, I want to know...how could we apply this "social engineering perspective" to our classroom this semester? Please offer your suggestions through the Comments link below.

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For example, Redwood Tree, one of my favorite Morrison songs, tells the story of a boy, his dog, and the relationship the boy develops with his father. The song goes, "Boy and his dog, Went out looking for the rainbow, You know what did they learn, Since that very day. Walking by the river, And running like a blue streak, Through the fields of, streams and meadows, Laughing all the way. Oh redwood tree, Please let us under, When we were young we used to go, Under the redwood tree. And it smells like rain, Maybe even thunder, Won't you keep us from all harm, Wonderful redwood tree. And a boy and his father, Went out, went out, looking for the lost dog,You know what oh haven't they learned, Since they did that together, They did not bring him back, He already had departed, But look at everything, they have learned, Since that, since that very day, Oh redwood tree, Please let us under., When we were young we used to go, Under the redwood tree. And it smells like rain, Maybe even thunder, Won't you keep us from all harm, Wonderful redwood tree."

Everytime I hear this song, I think about my childhood, the hard times and the good times I had with my dad. I think about how I have grown as a person, and where I am today. If that isn't a good example of storytelling, I don't know what is.

Work with the eyetracker is continuing this year and John will be training several more students interested in learning about the equipment. Our first goal is to design a simple visual attention experiment for the year so that we can get more practice tracking, recording data, and analyzing the results. We are interested in any ideas that you have for a study. Please feel free to share your ideas through the Comments link of this entry or to contact any of us in the lab.

Thanks everyone for a cool first meeting...our next meeting will be Friday, September 12th in Carnegie 101. If you'd like to receive information about the meetings, please email Professor Knupsky or visit the Cognitive Group website.

For more information about the iPod study and the presentation this week, continue reading...

Our Blogging Molly's will be holding a Requiem for a Dying Song (my favorite!)...

An historical review of conventions....

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For on-line videos of some of the other stories we saw, continue reading...