Sunday, February 27, 2011

New ToPIX Content

Aaron Richmond is the ToPIX go-to person for all things Ed Psych.  This week he’s added three very nifty resources.  Be sure to check out the rest on that page.  You can find them all here.
  • “Motivation Reflection Activities” comes from a 1984 Teaching of Psychology journal article where students engaged in three classroom activities that were designed to increase student motivation while learning about motivation.
  • In “How to Be a Bully” the author of a 2004 Psychology Learning and Teaching article describes using role-playing to help students understand bullying and identify appropriate responses to it.
  • In “The Motivational Toolbox,” an article in the Teaching Educational Psychology journal, the authors “focused on how to motivate students to learn motivation theories.”  It sounds like an activity that would be easily adapted to other courses that cover motivation.
The “In the News” section of ToPIX has some new content this week.
  • Social: “One Man Says No to Harsh Interrogation Techniques” is a 26-min Fresh Air interview with Matthew Alexander (pseudonym), the author of How to Break a Terrorist and Kill or Capture.
  • Neuroscience: “V.S. Ramachandran’s Tales of the ‘Tell-Tale Brain’” is a 19-min Fresh Air interview with V.S. Ramachandran.  He discusses, among other things, phantom limbs.
  • Neuroscience: “Aerobic Exercise May Improve Memory In Seniors” is a 5-min Morning Edition story on a study that found that aerobic exercise increased the volume of the hippocampus in previously sedentary seniors.
  • Development: “Taking a New Approach to ‘How We Age;” is a 31-min Talk of the Nation interview with Marc Agronin, author of How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Growing Old.  He argues that, culturally, we see aging as a disease and that it’s time that we change our way of thinking.
  • Gender/Sexuality: “Virus Passed During Oral Sex Tops Tobacco as Throat Cancer Cause” from the NRP blog.

Monday, February 21, 2011

New ToPIX Content

For the last week participants in the various teaching of psychology listservs have been contributing their favorite examples of positive/negative reinforcement/punishment.  If yours isn’t there, be sure to add it by editing the page or adding a comment at the end of the page.  You can also find some more examples of schedules of reinforcement.  Erin Hardin has contributed a handy document for instructors new to teaching operant conditioning.

This week NPR reported on a study that found that children’s self-control is correlated with their later success.  You can find a link to that study in the In the News: Development section of ToPIX.  This fits in well with the video (now available in the Video: Development area) that shows how different kids react when given a marshmallow that they can either eat now or, if they save it, they can have a second one later.  

There’s been much discussion on the TIPS listserv of how an engineering student created a live replica of Escher’s waterfall.  See the video and the likely building plans at Video: Perception.

This past week reporter Serene Branson, while reporting from the Grammy’s, had a migraine that scrambled her speech.  The interview with her, including footage from her episode, is available from Video: Neuroscience.  (Thanks to Mike Palij of the TIPS listserv for this story.)  Continuing in the area of neuroscience, the NY Times reports that the runner’s high may be due to endocannabinoids.  Access that article through In the News: Neuroscience.  

Other news stories making it to ToPIX this week include an NPR story on how women hesitate to ask for a raise (In the News: Gender/Sexuality) and a NY Times report from a participant in this year’s U.S. Memory Championship (In the News: Memory).

Sunday, February 13, 2011

New ToPIX Content

This week I asked on the teaching of psych listservs for examples of schedules of reinforcement.  Many of you contributed examples, thanks!  I've added them to ToPIX on this page. If you have examples you'd like to add, you can edit that page or visit that page and add them in the comments box.  

Also new this week is a short video from ABC News on distracted driving, a short video from CBS News on belief perseverance, and an edited episode from the TV show the Big Bang Theory that shows just the positive reinforcement scenes.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

New ToPIX Content

While my ToPIX updates have been on hiatus, ToPIX has not been.  ToPIX is averaging over 1,000 page views a week. It looks like you're finding it to be a useful resource.  Great!

I want to thank Aaron Richmond (primarily ed psych resources), Julie Murphy (psych disorders videos), Bill Altman (rubrics), Robin Musselman (books) and Scott Bates (APA assignment) for their contributions to ToPIX over the last few months.  (If I've forgotten someone, my sincerest apologies!)

If you have content that you think should be added to ToPIX, please drop me an email at sfrantz@highline.edu.  I can either help you post it yourself or I can post it for you, whatever your preference.

What's New

The 'video' section is now called 'video/audio.'   Under "Other Teaching of Psych Wikis..." (bottom left on the main page), TeachPsychScience.org (specializing in resources for teaching research methods) has been added as a link.

Here's the most recent new content:

81 Words: This American Life (Audio)
Guys and Dolls  (Video)

 Growing Up Online: Frontline (Video)

Psychology’s Feminist Voices

Bill Altman has provided several of his rubrics.

RadioLab’s Lucy story is now in the Video/Audio area

Does Your Language Shape How You Think (NY Times, 8/26/2010)