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Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see

Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see
Related:  whalsayTheory of KnowledgeUnusual Science & activities

Movie Reviews and Ratings by Film Critic Roger Ebert | Roger Ebert Why can't we trust what we see? Witnesses to a "murder" were tested on their powers of recollection The human memory can be impressive, but it is equally prone to letting us down. Now groundbreaking research has revealed the extent of just how fragile it can be - and how to use it better. You're in the pub and trouble starts. There is shouting, someone is stabbed, they die. It happened right in front of your eyes and the police want to speak to you. It's long been accepted that eyewitness testimony may not always be as reliable as it seems. But however fallible human memory is, it's often the only thing police have to go on and eyewitnesses have been responsible for sending people to prison ever since the justice system began - both rightly and wrongly. Now research has gone further than ever before to understand the fragile nature of our powers of recall. The project - involving the Open University, the BBC and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) - is groundbreaking in several ways. 'Appalling' 'Lifeblood' 'Empty the head'

What is Mantle of the Expert? » Mantle of the Expert By Viv Aitken (a version of this article originally appeared in the NZ Education Review, July 3 2009) Mantle of the expert … an active, urgent, purposeful view of learning, in which knowledge is to be operated on, not merely taken in (Dorothy Heathcote) Mantle of the Expert has been described as ‘a dramatic inquiry-learning based approach to teaching and learning’ [mantleoftheexpert.com]. First developed by Prof. Dorothy Heathcote at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK during the 1980s, Mantle of the Expert is a fully ‘incorporated’ approach in which children learn across all curriculum areas by taking on the roles of experts engaged in a high status project for a fictional client. For example, they might be charged with designing a world-class sanctuary for injured dolphins. As experts the children encounter authentic tasks and solve realistic problems related to the project. The fictional nature of Mantle of the Expert is critical to its potency as a learning tool.

Optical illusion: The blue and the green. Via my evil twin Richard Wiseman comes one of the best color optical illusions I have ever seen. The original was apparently posted on Buzzhunt Akiyoshi Kitaoka's incredible optical illusion website: You see embedded spirals, right, of green, pinkish-orange, and blue? Incredibly, the green and the blue spirals are the same color. At first I thought Richard was pulling our collective legs, being a trickster of high magnitude. So I loaded the image in Photoshop and examined the two spirals. Like I said, incredible! The reason they look different colors is because our brain judges the color of an object by comparing it to surrounding colors. See? The overall pattern is a spiral shape because our brain likes to fill in missing bits to a pattern. This is why I tell people over and over again: you cannot trust what you see even with your own eyes. So the next time someone swears they saw Jesus, or a UFO, or a ghost, show them this picture.

South Australian Public Library Network - Welcome England riots: Timeline and map of violence Riots in London and around the country saw widespread looting and buildings set alight. Dozens were left homeless after a night of riots on the streets of Tottenham after a peaceful demonstration on 6 August over the death of a man who was shot by police turned violent. Here is a timeline of what happened, starting with most recent events. 00:22 BST - The Metropolitan Police say 1,103 people have now been arrested in connection with the riots and 654 people have been charged. Greater Manchester Police said they had so far made 147 arrests and more than 70 people had already gone through the courts. The night passes off peacefully - with officers still on the streets in large numbers. 21:50 BST - Metropolitan Police now say 1,009 people have been arrested in connection with the riots - and 464 have been charged so far. 20:04 BST - The debate concludes and the Commons adjourns. 10:57 BST - Housing minister Grant Shapps says 100 families have been made homeless following the disturbances.

Pot-in-pot refrigerator A pot-in-pot refrigerator, clay pot cooler[1] or zeer (Arabic: زير‎) is an evaporative cooling refrigeration device which does not use electricity. It uses a porous outer earthenware pot, lined with wet sand, contains an inner pot (which can be glazed to prevent penetration by the liquid) within which the food is placed - the evaporation of the outer liquid draws heat from the inner pot. The device can be used to cool any substance. History[edit] There is some evidence that evaporative cooling was used as early as the Old Kingdom of Egypt, around 2500 B.C. Despite being developed in Northern Africa, the technology appears to have been forgotten with the advent of modern electrical refrigerators. In rural northern Nigeria in the 1990s Mohamed Bah Abba developed the Pot-in-Pot Preservation Cooling System, consisting of a small earthenware pot placed inside a larger one, and the space between the two filled with moist sand. Construction[edit] Functioning of a clay pot cooler Impact[edit]

Spinning Dancer If the foot touching the ground is perceived to be the left foot, the dancer appears to be spinning clockwise (if seen from above); if it is taken to be the right foot, then she appears to be spinning anti-clockwise. The Spinning Dancer, also known as the silhouette illusion, is a kinetic, bistable optical illusion resembling a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created in 2003 by web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara,[1][2] involves the apparent direction of motion of the figure. The illusion derives from the lack of visual cues for depth. When she is facing to the left or to the right, her breasts and ponytail clearly define the direction she is facing, although there is ambiguity in which leg is which. There are other optical illusions that depend on the same or a similar kind of visual ambiguity known as multistable, in that case bistable, perception. Psychology of visual perception[edit] Bistable perception[edit] Further analysis[edit] References[edit]

Teaching | YouthLearn Regardless of what topic you're teaching or the age of the kids you're working with, you'll want to make certain teaching techniques a standard part of your routine. By internalizing these fundamentals until you don't even have to think about them, you'll become a better coach, leader and teacher. Perhaps most important is that you understand and master sound modeling techniques. Kids learn much more by watching you than from anything you say. Some other techniques described in this section include activities to do every day to reinforce learning objectives and create continuity; pointers for reading aloud and sharing ideas; and advice on using journals, a tool we find extremely helpful for kids of all ages. Entire books have been written about classroom management, but a few simple steps can make a big difference in maintaining an energetic environment and keeping kids focused.

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