May 2008

Synthesia

May 23, 2008

I’ve always been sort of fascinated by synthesia. A brain with a predilection to mix colors and letters and days and feelings and smells sounds kinda trippy. I’ve always thought (and I think I may have read somewhere) that it seems like a very rich way to experience life. I mean, confusion is orange? I [...]

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Scaling up Barbie!

May 16, 2008

I’ve posted a new episode of my Science Teaching Tips podcast featuring one of our all-time favorite activities at the Exploratorium. Our math enthusiast Lori Lambertson helps us answer the question — what would Barbie look like if she were my height? Some of the answers may surprise you! Click this link to check it [...]

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Myth 6: Your tongue has a "taste map"

May 15, 2008

This myth appears in a bunch of textbooks, so it’s not surprising that it’s persisted. The myth is that we mostly taste sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and sourness at different areas of the tongue. While it’s true that we do have different taste sensations on different areas of the tongue, the exact distribution of sensitivity depends [...]

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Principles of Learning

May 2, 2008

OK, sure, that’s a boring title for a post. But this list represents THE most accepted principles of how people learn. We all learn, even if we’re not in school, and knowing how you can learn better is very useful. And for teachers, this represents the distilled knowledge of how you can help your students. [...]

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