Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Final Thoughts
The thing I liked most about this class was the discussion questions. I enjoyed voicing my opinion and listening to what others had to say. I'm not a big fan of writing papers, but the writing assignment did help me learn. I found the Alcoholism and AIDS assignments to be especially interesting and enlightening. Being a designer, I'm not really sure what I'll use psychology for in the future; maybe it'll come in handy when I have kids someday. I did learn some good points about parenting during this course. All in all it wasn't a bad class.
Sleep Disorders
I believe the largest contributing factor to the lack of sleep that our society gets is due to our busy lifestyles. If you look back 20 years ago, people where not as rushed as they are now. Many people these days work long hours while trying to juggle a family. More people are working multiple jobs or are working full time and going to school. Mothers do all these things while raising their children. Caring for a family is a full time job in itself. Many women these days are the sole breadwinner in their household, which adds even more pressure. Money problems are another big issue which robs people of sleep. All in all, it's our go go go lifestyle that keeps us from getting the proper amount of sleep.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Human Development
-18 months-
Aside from eating and sleeping, there's not much for this group, that I know of. They seem to like swings and any type of toy that makes noise or moves. Also, they like to fidget with hand held objects such as blocks.
-5 years-
At this age the children are pretty self absorbed. They would be fine just playing alone. First give them an individual activity such as painting. Second, try to nurture relationships with other children by playing a game like duck duck goose.
-8 years-
Now that they're able to reason a little more, play an educational game such as math quizzing. A game of kickball would be good to develop teamwork.
-12 years-
Support the kids new found creativity by having them develop a theatrical play and act it out. Another good project would be to build something such as a soap box racer.
-18 years-
At this point in life, you're a young adult. Most people I know that are this age prefer to just hang out with friends or play video games. I would suggest an outdoor activity such as hiking, biking, or white water rafting.
-What I learned-
The majority of the material covered in this unit dealt with human growth. Everything from conception all the way to adulthood was touched on. I never really gave much thought about the different stages of child development; it was interesting.
Aside from eating and sleeping, there's not much for this group, that I know of. They seem to like swings and any type of toy that makes noise or moves. Also, they like to fidget with hand held objects such as blocks.
-5 years-
At this age the children are pretty self absorbed. They would be fine just playing alone. First give them an individual activity such as painting. Second, try to nurture relationships with other children by playing a game like duck duck goose.
-8 years-
Now that they're able to reason a little more, play an educational game such as math quizzing. A game of kickball would be good to develop teamwork.
-12 years-
Support the kids new found creativity by having them develop a theatrical play and act it out. Another good project would be to build something such as a soap box racer.
-18 years-
At this point in life, you're a young adult. Most people I know that are this age prefer to just hang out with friends or play video games. I would suggest an outdoor activity such as hiking, biking, or white water rafting.
-What I learned-
The majority of the material covered in this unit dealt with human growth. Everything from conception all the way to adulthood was touched on. I never really gave much thought about the different stages of child development; it was interesting.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Unit 2
-Genetics-
As far as the choices in this scenario are concerned, I decided fairly easily. If the cancer gene was part of my family history I would definitely want to know and get tested. If it turned out that I had the defective gene I would still want to have children of my own. Cancer research has made huge strides in the past decade and I think we may see a cure within the decade to come. I would advise my children to eat healthy and exercise whether they have the gene or not.
-Biology-
The myth that humans only use ten percent of our brains is probably derived from the misinterpretation of Einstein or some other scientist and then spread through media. This myth however, is completely untrue. According to current research damage or removal of small parts of the brain have massive effects on a person.
After Einstein died his brain was removed during an autopsy and studied by Dr. Thomas Harvey. Dr. Harvey, among others, has done some extensive research to try and figure out what made Einstein's brain so magnificent. While most of the studies are unreliable Dr. Thomas related Einstein's brainpower to a greater number of glial cells per neuron than average.
Today the brain is compared to a computer. Some of the similarities are the need for energy, the use of electrical signals to transmit information, and the ability to store memory. Differences include awareness, emotion, dreams and thoughts; all of which computers are not capable of at this time.
-Unit Wrap Up-
Before this assignment I was unaware of a lot of the information involving the Human Genome Project. I found it very interesting that more than 35,000 genes exist and they all represent something unique. Not only that, I think its pretty impressive that scientists have actually decoded most of them. I believe this project will be a milestone in the future of medical research.
As far as the choices in this scenario are concerned, I decided fairly easily. If the cancer gene was part of my family history I would definitely want to know and get tested. If it turned out that I had the defective gene I would still want to have children of my own. Cancer research has made huge strides in the past decade and I think we may see a cure within the decade to come. I would advise my children to eat healthy and exercise whether they have the gene or not.
-Biology-
The myth that humans only use ten percent of our brains is probably derived from the misinterpretation of Einstein or some other scientist and then spread through media. This myth however, is completely untrue. According to current research damage or removal of small parts of the brain have massive effects on a person.
After Einstein died his brain was removed during an autopsy and studied by Dr. Thomas Harvey. Dr. Harvey, among others, has done some extensive research to try and figure out what made Einstein's brain so magnificent. While most of the studies are unreliable Dr. Thomas related Einstein's brainpower to a greater number of glial cells per neuron than average.
Today the brain is compared to a computer. Some of the similarities are the need for energy, the use of electrical signals to transmit information, and the ability to store memory. Differences include awareness, emotion, dreams and thoughts; all of which computers are not capable of at this time.
-Unit Wrap Up-
Before this assignment I was unaware of a lot of the information involving the Human Genome Project. I found it very interesting that more than 35,000 genes exist and they all represent something unique. Not only that, I think its pretty impressive that scientists have actually decoded most of them. I believe this project will be a milestone in the future of medical research.
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