Sunday, September 23, 2012

Agenda: Sept. 24 - Sept. 28, 2012

Unit 2 - Biological Bases of Behavior
-and-
Unit 3 - Consciousness & Learning
Quick Agenda:
MON: Take Home Test Unit 2 is Due, Present Brain Unit Projects
TUE: Finish Brain Unit Projects, Work on Article - Dreams
WED: Intro Unit 3 - Consciousness & Learning
FRI: Discuss Dreams Article, Consciousness notes.

Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Quote: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius


Learning Targets:

The Brain and Behavior
3 Major regions: hindbrainmidbrain, and forebrain. Hindbrain develops first and both hindbrain and midbrain handle essential functions. 
Thalamus is a relay station.
Hypothalamus regulates basic biological drives (hunger/sex).
Lymbic System is involved in emotion, motivation and memory.
Cortex is cerebrum's convoluted outer layer, which is subdivided into occipitalparietaltemporal, and frontal lobes.
Right Brain/Left Brain: Cerebral Laterality
Cerebrum is divided into right and left hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum. Studies of split-brained patients and perceptual asymmetries have revealed that the right and left halves of the brain each have unique talents.

Essential Questions:
- How does your brain and the biology of your central nervous system function and what impact does those functions have on your behavior?

Agenda:

1. Bubble scantron for Take Home Test Unit 2 - Biological Bases of Behavior
2. Present Brain Unit Projects.
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012
Quote: "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." - William James, American psychologist and philosopher (1842 - 1910)


Learning Targets:
The Brain and Behavior
3 Major regions: hindbrainmidbrain, and forebrain. Hindbrain develops first and both hindbrain and midbrain handle essential functions. 
Thalamus is a relay station.
Hypothalamus regulates basic biological drives (hunger/sex).
Lymbic System is involved in emotion, motivation and memory.
Cortex is cerebrum's convoluted outer layer, which is subdivided into occipitalparietaltemporal, and frontal lobes.
Right Brain/Left Brain: Cerebral Laterality
Cerebrum is divided into right and left hemispheres connected by the corpus callosum. Studies of split-brained patients and perceptual asymmetries have revealed that the right and left halves of the brain each have unique talents.

Essential Questions:

- How does your brain and the biology of your central nervous system function and what impact does those functions have on your behavior?

Agenda:
-Finish any Brain Unit Project Presentations-
1. DO NOW: Pick up and begin reading the article for Unit 3 - "What Dreams are Made Of" We will discuss in class on Friday.
2. Notes, Video, & Discussion: Consciousness Link to the Notes
Video: The Mind - Awake and Asleep from Annenberg Media.
The Mind Awake and Asleep is the thirteenth program in the DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY series. Drawing on the theories of early modern psychologists Wilhelm Wundt and William James, this program looks at conscious and unconscious awareness, how the mind functions awake and asleep, and the biological rhythms of activity, rest, and dreaming. 

Wednesday, Sept. 26 and Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012
Quote: "To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge." - Socrates

Learning Targets:

Learning Targets - Chapter 5 - Consciousness
1. People dream during REM sleep.

2. Sleep isn't easy for everyone. There are a variety of sleep disorders that are important to understand.
3. The Stages of Sleep.

Essential Questions:

- How do the stages of sleep occur (Sleep Stages 1-4 and REM sleep)
- Identify and examine sleep disorders & how they can cause disruption in a person's life? (Narcolepsy, Catalepsy, Insomnia, Somnambulism, Night Terrors)


Agenda:
1. DO NOW QUESTION: What is the most interesting dream you have ever had? Why do humans dream? Can we learn from what we remember in those dreams?
2. Notes, Video, & Discussion: Consciousness Link to the Notes
Video: Program 14: The Mind, Hidden and Divided from Annenberg.
The Mind Hidden and Divided is the fourteenth program in the DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY series. Based on the pioneering research of Sigmund Freud, this program explores how the events and experiences that take place in the subconscious manifest themselves in our conscious lives. You'll learn about repression, the distinction between discovered and false memory syndrome, hypnosis, and split-brain cases.
Friday, Sept. 28, 2012
Quote: "Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything." - Mary Hemingway

Learning Targets:

- Determine what 'consciousness' is and how psychologists study the various phases of consciousness. (Selective attention, cocktail party phenomena, divided attention)

Essential Questions:

- How do psychoactive drugs alter consciousness?

Agenda:

1. Prepare article for Unit 3 - "What Dreams are Made Of" for Socratic discussion in class.
2. Notes, Video, & Discussion - "Consciousness"
3. Introduce "Learning" - Video from Annenberg's Discovering Psychology Series Program 8: Learning. Learning is the eighth program in the DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY series. This program discusses the basic principles of how we learn; classical, instrumental, and operant conditioning; and the role that stimuli and consequences play in learned behavior and habits. You'll explore how renowned researchers Ivan Pavlov, B. F. Skinner, Edward Thorndike, and John B. Watson contributed to what we know about human and animal learning.