English 102 - Fall 2008

The British tackled their own education gender gap by letting boys be boys -- with mixed results.

A film on OhioLINK. Implications of such de facto linguistic hegemony in a world of high-tech haves and have-nots.

A film on OhioLINK. From the beginning of time, women have had the same thirst for knowledge as men, but were denied access to education. This program looks at the religious attitudes that support these age-old convictions, and examines what the world has lost by excluding women from the intellectual loop. Scriptural scholar Elaine Pagels tells about newly discovered documents suggesting that women were equal to men in early Christianity. Historian Ginette Paris looks at the powerful goddesses of the past who were shunted aside in favor of the submissive image of the Virgin Mary. A Bangladeshi writer faces a death decree for writing about Islam's oppression of women. At Wellesley College and the University of Norway, we visit programs devoted exclusively to women's studies. (47 minutes, color) (cc)

A film on OhioLINK. "The world is a mosaic of visions, and each vision is encapsulated by a language." Yet every two weeks, one of the world's approximately 6,500 languages dies out. What is the significance of this loss to those who speak the language as well as for the rest of humankind? Why do some languages become global while others disappear? And how are language and identity connected? In this program, linguists David Crystal, Peter Austin, and Jørgen Rischel search for the answers to those and other pressing questions as they investigate the state-and fate-of Livonian, in Latvia; Dogon, in Mali; Mlabri, in Thailand; Changsha Hua and Naqxi, in China; Pitjantjatjara and Pintupi, in Australia; and Tutunaku, in Mexico. Portions are in other languages with English subtitles. (60 minutes)

A film on OhioLINK. This program uncovers what happens in our minds when we learn, remember, and imagine. It reveals how neurons and synapses lay down knowledge in the brain; ways to improve our ability to acquire knowledge, including increased intake of omega-3 fatty acids; how to manipulate memory to recall information more easily; the powerful influence of subliminal messages; and what actually happens during a "eureka moment" and how to have more of them. Stories of a midwife cramming for exams and a firefighter who used intuition to save lives are featured. Original BBCW broadcast title: Get Smart. (60 minutes, color)

Slow reading counterbalances web skimming.

The article addresses the idea of "religious illiteracy" in the United States as of early 2007. The author relates the lack of general religious knowledge among his students at Boston University. He believes that religious illiteracy is more dangerous than cultural illiteracy because religion is the "most volatile" constituent of culture. He notes that some knowledge of the world's religions is essential in processing messages from politicians, the media, and education. He believes that, in the interest of civics, all U.S. undergraduate students should be required to take an academic religious studies course. He also acknowledges that religious literacy in the U.S. requires compromise between the secular left and the religious right. (Abstract from EBSCO.)

The author reports on the study "To Read or Not to Read," which was released by the United States National Endowment for the Arts. The study found that Americans read less in 2007 compared with previous years. The study found that reading abilities for teenagers and adults have declined, whereas reading abilities for younger children have increased. The impact which the decline in reading abilities has had on American workers is discussed. The author states that the amount of time which people read on a daily basis has declined. (Abstract from EBSCO.)

The article discusses financial-literacy programs at universities and colleges in the United States. Programs like Texas Tech University's help its students master the basics of budgeting, saving, and not buying what they can't afford. These programs are especially important as colleges grapple with rising costs and an economic downturn in the country. The author states that financial literacy affects student retention, productivity, and mental health, and may also generate good will in a time when colleges are being criticized for repeatedly raising tuition, fees, and housing costs. (From the EBSCO abstract.)

A useful wiki that allows you to find resources to do research online.

Nothing, actually. Aside from our panic that the Internet is melting their brains.

A film on OhioLINK. How could a child be a top math student yet not be able to read? Why can another child read well but not be able to write a paragraph that makes sense? While watching children being taught new ways to learn, this program offers expert insight into the nature of learning disabilities, why learning disabilities may also be accompanied by ADHD or social disorders, and what can be done to help children learn to compensate and succeed. A Meridian Production. (16 minutes, color)

A film on OhioLINK. Eager for knowledge, a child is by nature curious about everything. Why, then, is school such an unpleasant place for some children? In this program, teachers, researchers, a psychoanalyst, a neurologist, a neurobiologist, a psychomotor specialist, and others examine the process of learning and the classroom as a learning center. Mastery of reading and writing, the key to unlocking all forms of communication and the entry point to many other exciting domains, is emphasized. In addition, the concept of multiple intelligences is explored. (52 minutes, color)

A film on OhioLINK. Helping children to grow and bloom properly also means taking into account their biological rhythms. This program seeks out holistic approaches to education that more scientifically organize the school day and strike a better balance between intellectual and physical development. Educators, psychologists, a geneticist, a philosopher, and others consider topics such as the times of day when students are most ready to learn and the role of play in the developing child. They also question the effectiveness of lectures and take a penetrating look at the video game phenomenon. (53 minutes, color)

A film on OhioLINK. The development of language in babies and young children.

Could help students develop their methods for observing children. This program asserts that the testing of a causal hypothesis involving cognitive development is best done through a combination of observational and experimentational methods. Kathy Sylva and Peter Bryant, both of the University of Oxford, and other researchers share their insights into categorizing and codifying patterns of play through observation, avoiding common experiment-related pitfalls such as covariation and unintentional bias, and mitigating artificiality, a challenge to practitioners of both approaches. (25 minutes)

An OhioLINK film from the series "Childhood Development: A Cognitive Approach to Developmental Psychology." Starting right from infancy, this program charts the development of language during childhood. Basic language acquisition, learned from rudimentary and higher-level child/caregiver interactions, is described. Aspects of competence that go beyond the purpose of simple communication are also considered, including the skill of using conversation for establishing and furthering social relationships, the ability to employ language as a part of games, the capacity to understand jokes, and the awareness of what other people know and understand at various stages of maturation. (25 minutes)

A film on OhioLINK. Why do girls demonstrate greater reading and writing ability than boys? Is the female brain hardwired for faster verbal development? Should men let women do the talking? This program studies language differences between the sexes and explores the possibility that many communication skills are gender-specific. Following two teams of well-educated adults as they undergo a crash course in broadcast journalism, the program documents wide variations between male and female abilities to verbally multitask, and examines distinctions in physical interaction, eye contact, and other behavioral factors. Clinical evidence regarding the significance of testosterone levels is also explored. (45 minutes)

A film on OhioLINK. For decades, IQ tests have been the gold standard for measuring intelligence. But is one standardized test really adequate for every taker? This program advocates a different approach, creating an array of unusual challenges to assess brainpower and positing an argument for the interplay of multiple intelligences. Assisted by the insights of Harvard's Howard Gardner and experts using brain scanning technology at UC Davis' M.I.N.D. Institute, the program brings together a group of obviously bright and talented people and presents them with trials of all shapes and sizes. The results establish the validity of measuring not just what people know but also the equally important ways in which they exercise their practical, creative, emotional, and kinesthetic IQs. A BBCW Production. (50 minutes)

A film on OhioLINK. Communication is at the core of the human experience, even though effective communication takes a lifetime to learn. This program explores how we develop the arts of speech and physical expression to make ourselves understood and to understand others. Visiting a group of 25 three-year-olds, the film observes them learning as many as ten new words a day-some already grasping the first 1,500 components of the 20,000-word vocabulary collected in the average life span. The "nonverbal leakage" or body language that supplements verbal skills is also explored, demonstrating that children with verbal disadvantages can compensate through other techniques. Original BBCW broadcast title: Read My Lips. Part of the BBC series Child of Our Time 2004. (60 minutes)