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Defining mulit--tasking as continuous partial attention

"ducators and students are carrying in much more than backpacks, car keys, conversations, partially-completed homework, and outward laughter. Buried deep in the brain's limbic system is an emotional switching station called the amygdala, and it is here that our human survival and emotional messages are subconsciously prioritized and learned. We continually scan environments for feelings of connectedness and safety. I am learning that the students who look oppositional, defiant, or aloof may be exhibiting negative behavior because they are in pain and presenting their stress response. Over 29 percent of young people in the U.S., ages 9-17, are affected by anxiety and depression disorders (PDF). The thinking lobes in the prefrontal cortex shut down when a brain is in pain."

"When electrical engineering professor Dr. Karen Shoop of Queen Mary University in London took her first knitting workshop, she noticed immediately that knitting is very similar to writing computer code. "I noticed that knitting instructions are largely binary (like computers) - in other words, knit or purl," she said. "More interesting were the knitting instructions, which read just like regular expressions [of code], used for string matching and manipulation when coding." Shoop also recognizes that the earliest stages of computing were inspired by handwork: "Of course, computers ultimately started off partially inspired by weaving and the Jacquard loom, or earlier Bouchon's loom. Arguably some of the earliest programmers were the people making the card/paper punch hole patterns for weaving patterns.""

"The suggestion that global warming has stopped is "nonsense," climatologist Richard Alley of Penn State University said last fall. The fact that the year 2012 was no warmer than 2002, he said, ignores the long-term trend of warming. But scientists say that trend has been partially obscured by the ocean, which is likely absorbing the excess heat."

"It took me a while to wrap my head around how I was going to incorporate Minecraft into my Core French Classroom.  I have read about and seen many people use it for other core subjects, but had some trouble figuring out at first where it applied in my room.  I think this is partially due to the fact that I don't know that much about it.  I understand the main idea to Minecraft, but what one is truly capable of doing with it is beyond me because I don't play it. This is the first project I have attempted with Minecraft and I am really excited about the results for a variety of different reasons.  I would love to include it into my program in other ways and will look to the students for inspiration."

"What motivates people to work? Most people would say money, and those people would only be partially correct. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, author Daniel Pink writes about radical practices implemented by Australian software company Atlassian and search engine giant Google that have taught us a lot about what really motivates human beings to work. Hint: it is not the proverbial carrot on a stick."

"As an element of my technology sessions at Lakeland Elementary School's teacher inservice yesterday, I took a different approach. I did this partially to better model what I have preaching (teacher as facilitator rather than all-knowing bestower of knowledge) and also to give my teacher first hand experience in how a student feels in that environment. Additionally, it made the session more interactive (less boring) and by finding answers on their own, the teachers should better remember what they learned to do. In hindsight, I also believe a major benefit is the realization of many of my teachers that they know more, and can do more, than they thought they could. Being under the pressure of a time clock and motivated to beat the other teams, they had very little wiggle room to have their creative problem solving skills hijacked by self-doubt. Instinct kicked in. From the standpoint of the facilitator, it was fascinating (and addictive) to watch that happening. Very, very cool."

Stock market is a market where each and every person want to try his/her own luck and want to become rich easily and faster. But this is partially true in stock market, here no one becomes rich easier, but yes they can become rich faster by good Stock Tips. http://beststocktipsindia.blogspot.com/2011/05/stock-tips-for-today.html

"Over the last few years I've seen more schools opening up access to YouTube, at least to teachers, than I had in the past. YouTube for Schools has partially contributed to that trend. Tools like ViewPure and Watchkin have made using YouTube videos in schools a little less scary too. All that said, there are still lots of schools that block access to YouTube. That's why a few years ago I started to maintain a list of alternatives to YouTube."

"I work part-time with elementary learners - with gifted learners during the school year and teaching maker education camps during the summer. The one thing almost all of them have in common is yelling out, "I can't do this" when the tasks aren't completed upon first attempts or get a little too difficult for them. I partially blame this on the way most school curriculum is structured. Too much school curriculum is based on paper for quick and one shot learning experiences (or the comparable online worksheets). Students are asked to do worksheets on paper, answer end-of-chapter questions on paper, write essays on paper, do math problems on paper, fill in the blanks on paper, and pick the correct answer out of a multiple choice set of answers on paper. These tasks are then graded as to the percentage correct and then the teacher moves onto the next task. So it is no wonder that when learners are given hands-on tasks such as those common to maker education, STEM, and STEAM, they sometimes struggle with their completion. Struggles are good. Struggles with authentic tasks mimics real life so much more than completing those types of tasks and assessments done at most schools. Problems like yelling out, "I can't do this" arise when the tasks get a little too difficult, but ultimately are manageable. I used to work with delinquent kids within Outward Bound-type programs. Most at-risk kids have some self-defeating behaviors including those that result in personal failure. The model for these types of programs is that helping participants push past their self-perceived limitations results in the beginnings of a success rather than a failure orientation. This leads into a success building upon success behavioral cycle."

"Now that we finally have the Oculus Rift's Touch controllers, VR gaming on the platform is about to get a lot more interactive. However, based on a video released by Oculus on Monday, the best use of the Touch controller may turn out be Medium, a software tool from Oculus that allows you to sculpt with digital clay in virtual reality."