Digital Binder Entry # 10

Briefly describe each research project presentation presented today. What were your favorites and why did you like them? Were there any concepts or ideas presented you could use in your educational/professional practice and if so what were they?

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Jason, Jennifer and Gabrielle are my favorite presenters.

(1) Jason was speaking really slowly when he was teaching the physics term torque and the formula. He was not happy with the way Khan Academy was teaching the concept, so he designed his own video as to how to teach it more easily and clearly. One thing really nice about his presentation today was that he used the example of a door and door hinges by drawing them on the Cartesian plane (a plane with x axis and y axis). He took a lot of care to explain the distance of F (force) and the angle (sine theta) of F (force). He also asked Jennifer to come forward, stand against the wall, stand on two feet and then stand on one feet. He showed the shift in the balance of weight by marking the body posture with two feet against the one with one foot. Then he explained another physics concept (balance of weight, I guess) with ease. After the presentation, I told everybody that I would have done really well in my Physics 11 in Korea if he had been my physics teacher. I agree that technology integration such as showing a Youtube video to students is not meant to be beneficial for every student and not even for certain teachers. In such a case, the teacher should modify the technology to fit into his or her own lesson and make it more attuned to his or her special teaching style. Jason showed a good example of how to do it. Thank you Jason!!

(2) Mindfulness and breathing are effective ways to control our body when we get stressed or when we go through traumatic or post traumatic experiences. Jennifer and her team gave their presentation on how to cope with such a situation. They argue that we should practice mindfulness and deep breathing. With a video that has a time sequence of 20 seconds each, Jennifer demonstrated how to do five (5) cycles of inhale and hold and exhale and hold. She also explained how our body uses the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to respond to daily stress. I can quite easily relate to this discussion because Benoit had talked about the chest pain he had on his trip to Japan, and, as for myself, I also have a similar breathing problem when I get stressed. I think many of us need a mindfulness training and a breathing technique in order to cope with daily stress. I am thankful that this presentation has shown how to take advantage of technology (a video with a time sequence of 20 seconds) and how we can adapt it to different age groups, because children, for example, have different breathing patterns and need a lesson with a video adapted to those patterns.

(3) I liked the special care Gabrielle has shown for ADHD people. She discusses a more humane society in her presentation. Gabriel, one of ADHD people, talked about the pain she had experienced as she went through her school years. She says that technology should be more carefully designed and adjusted to people like her. For example, she says that text for course outlines should be reduced to the bare minimum so that ADHD people can see the text more clearly and digest the meaning more quickly. By doing such a favor to ADHD people, course instructors and classmates can reduce the psychological toll on ADHD people because these people have a harder time when it comes to reading text. She talks about technology integration into the classroom but she is especially emphasizing the special care that technology users (course instructors and classmates) should have so that everybody including ADHD people can benefit from the use of technology. She says that such an effort will lead to a more equitable and humane society.