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Want more kids to take calculus? Convince mom first
CNN: Math and science educators across the country spend their summers learning how to make calculus more engaging and biology more relevant, but there's a problem: What if high schoolers never even signed up for those classes? What if a tough ninth grade algebra class meant they hopped off the high-tech train, and couldn't find a way back on later? What if nobody answered when kids asked, "But I'm not going to be a chemist - why do I need this?" For all the reasons teens find to stop taking math, science and technology classes, a study published online in the journal "Psychological Science" found a relatively simple way to make them continue: Convince their parents first.
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Not All Meditation Types Are One-Size-Fits-All, Study Suggests
The Huffington Post: If you aren't enjoying your meditation practice, a small new study suggests a possible reason why: You aren't doing the method that's right for you. Researchers from the San Francisco State University Institute for Holistic Health Studies found that not all people prefer the same kind of meditation practices. The study suggests that the best way for someone to actually stick with a meditation practice might be to pick the kind that he or she feels most comfortable with, compared with the trendiest type of the moment.
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The Cost Of Free Doughnuts
NPR: If you think about every other price in the world — a dollar, $12.99 — free stands out. Free has the power to make us do completely irrational things. It can drive us to break rules, and take risks we never thought possible. It can make us feel savvy and smug and exhilarated. Take Benjamin Joffe-Walt, brother of our own Chana Joffe-Walt. In 1995, he was 15 years old when British Airlines started offering international flights from his hometown of Philadelphia. The airline gave away free tickets to the first 100 people who showed up at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday. Read the whole story: NPR
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Memories of a Child Refugee
The Huffington Post: For many, Sharbat Gula was the face of refugee children everywhere, although her identity was unknown for almost two decades. Captured by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry in 1984, in a refugee camp in Pakistan, the penetrating eyes of the 12-year-old "Afghan girl" grabbed the world's imagination -- and became a symbol of the plight of war-damaged children. Not until 2002 was she finally located and identified, by that time repatriated and living with children of her own, in a country again at war. Sharbat Gula is one of millions of Afghan children who have fled Afghanistan's seemingly endless war, seeking safety in foreign places.
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Compassion Made Easy
The New York Times: ALL the major religions place great importance on compassion. Whether it’s the parable of the good Samaritan in Christianity, Judaism’s “13 attributes of compassion” or the Buddha’s statement that “loving kindness and compassion is all of our practice,” empathy with the suffering of others is seen as a special virtue that has the power to change the world. This idea is often articulated by the Dalai Lama, who argues that individual experiences of compassion radiate outward and increase harmony for all. As a social psychologist interested in the emotions, I long wondered whether this spiritual understanding of compassion was also scientifically accurate.
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Il riconoscimento, non i soldi, fanno la felicità (Recognition, not money, is a delight)
La Stampa: La questione se i soldi facciano o meno la felicità è antica quanto l’uomo – o per lo meno fin da quando è stato inventato il denaro – e, ancora oggi, è oggetto di discussione… e molti studi. Uno di questi ha voluto indagare se fosse più importante per la felicità di una persona l’avere appunto molti soldi o invece avere un senso di gratificazione derivante dall’essere riconosciuto, rispettato e ammirato da amici, parenti e la società in genere. Dei due chi vince? Secondo quanto appurato dalla dottoressa Cameron Anderson e colleghi della Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, vincerebbe la seconda opzione. Read the whole story: La Stampa
