What's Your Learning Style?

    Learning styles refer to the ways you prefer to approach new information. Each of us learns and processes information in our own special ways, though we share some learning patterns, preferences, and approaches. Knowing your own style also can help you to realize that other people may approach the same situation in a different way from your own.

Take a few minutes to complete the following questionnaire to assess your preferred learning style. Begin by reading the words in the left-hand column. Of the three responses to the right, circle the one that best characterizes you, answering as honestly as possible with the description that applies to you right now. Count the number of circled items and write your total at the bottom of each column. The questions you prefer will offer insight into how you learn.

1. When I try to concentrate...	I grow distracted by clutter or movement, and I notice things around me other people don’t notice.	I get distracted by sounds, and I attempt to control the amount and type of noise around me.	I become distracted by commotion, and I tend to retreat inside myself.
2. When I visualize...	I see vivid, detailed pictures in my thoughts.	I think in voices and sounds.	I see images in my thoughts that involve movement.
3. When I talk with others...	I find it difficult to listen for very long.	I enjoy listening, or I get impatient to talk myself.	I gesture and communicate with my hands.
4. When I contact people...	I prefer face-to-face meetings.	I prefer speaking by telephone for serious conversations.	I prefer to interact while walking or participating in some activity.
5. When I see an acquaintance...	I forget names but remember faces, and I tend to replay where we met for the first time.	I know people’s names and I can usually quote what we discussed.	I remember what we did together and I may almost “feel” our time together.
6. When I relax...	I watch TV, see a play, visit an exhibit, or go to a movie.	I listen to the radio, play music, read, or talk with a friend.	I play sports, make crafts, or build something with my hands.
7. When I read...	I like descriptive examples and I may pause to imagine the scene.	I enjoy the narrative most and I can almost “hear” the characters talk.	I prefer action-oriented stories, but I do not often read for pleasure.
8. When I spell...	I envision the word in my mind or imagine what the word looks like when written.	I sound out the word, sometimes aloud, and tend to recall rules about letter order.	I get a feel for the word by writing it out or pretending to type it.
9. When I do something new...	I seek out demonstrations, pictures, or diagrams.	I want verbal and written instructions, and to talk it over with someone else.	I jump right in to try it, keep trying, and try different approaches.
10. When I assemble an object...	I look at the picture first and then, maybe, read the directions.	I read the directions, or I talk aloud as I work.	I usually ignore the directions and figure it out as I go along.
11. When I interpret someone's mood...	I examine facial expressions.	I rely on listening to tone of voice.	I focus on body language.
12. When I teach other people...	I show them.	I tell them, write it out, or I ask them a series of questions.	I demonstrate how it is done and then ask them to try.
Total	Visual:	Auditory:	Tactile/Kinesthetic:

The column with the highest total represents your primary processing style. The column with the second-most choices is your secondary style.
Your primary learning style:                                                         
Your secondary learning style:                                                     
Now that you know which learning style you rely on, you can boost your learning potential when working to learn more. For instance, the following suggestions can help you get more from reading a book.
If your primary learning style is visual, draw pictures in the margins, look at the graphics, and read the text that explains the graphics. Envision the topic or play a movie in your thoughts of how you’ll act out the subject matter.
If your primary learning style is auditory, listen to the words you read. Try to develop an internal conversation between you and the text. Don’t be embarrassed to read aloud or talk through the information.
If your primary learning style is tactile/kinesthetic, use a pencil or highlighter pen to mark passages that are meaningful to you. Take notes, transferring the information you learn to the margins of the book, into your journal, or onto a computer. Doodle whatever comes to mind as you read. Hold the book in your hands instead of placing it on a table. Walk around as you read. Feel the words and ideas. Get busy—both mentally and physically.
More information on each style, along with suggestions on how to maximize your learning potential, is available in the book Learn More Now (Hoboken, NJ; John Wiley & Sons, 2004).

  Learn More... 

    Learning techniques   http://research.cs.queensu.ca/~skill/learning.html 
    Learning how to learn http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gkelly68/LearnToLearn/LearningIndex.htm
    Learning toolbox            http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/studentstart.htm 
    Multiplication: Learning Times Tables for 8s and 2s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SawsAyyrFkQ

Have you Ever Wondered How Alcoholic Drinks Look Like Under The Microscope?

    A company called Bevshots has produced a series of shots of booze under the microscope at the Florida State University's chemistry labs.(1000x magnification).

The process consist of letting a droplet of liquor dry out completely on a slide in an airtight container, and photographing the result with a 35mm camera. The entire process can take up to three months and as many as 200 attempts to properly capture the drink's constituent parts.

         Cocktails can have fruit and soft drinks in them which contain citric acids and complex sugars which dry out well and look great photographed.  The incredible shapes and colours of the boozy artwork are highlighted by shining natural light on top and through the bottom of the slide. Just like images of snowflakes, each drink is different.
These images are available for sale at Bevshots. Open for business since August 2009, Bevshots estimate that they have sold over 20,000 examples of their alcoholic. 

Sources:
http://twistedsifter.com/2010/06/alcoholic-art-liquor-under-a-microscope/
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1999889_2157950,00.html

Killing Us Softly 3 : Advertising's Image of Women

"As timely and important as ever. . .A must for everyone who cares about media literacy and gender equity." -- Susan Douglas | author, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up With the Mass Media

    Jean Kilbourne continues her groundbreaking analysis of advertising's depiction of women in this most recent update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series. In fascinating detail, Kilbourne decodes an array of print and television advertisements to reveal a pattern of disturbing and destructive gender stereotypes. Her analysis challenges us to consider the relationship between advertising and broader issues of culture, identity, sexism, and gender violence.

Includes a bonus 25-minute interview with Jean Kilbourne.

Sections:
Does the beauty ideal still tyrannize women? |
Does advertising still objectify women's bodies? |
Are the twin themes of liberation and weight control still linked? |
Is sexuality still presented as women's main concern? |
Are young girls still sexualized? |
Are grown women infantilized? |
Are images of male violence against women still used to sell products?

Jean Kilbourne

Jean Kilbourne is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising. Her films, slide lectures and television appearances have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. She was named by The New York Times Magazine as one of the three most popular speakers on college campuses today.

Care of Transsexual Persons [Gender Identity Disorder ]

"A small but significant number of transsexual patients are seen every year in our service and in this journal we reported one such patient. We felt somewhat inadequately informed about the anatomy and postoperative care of our patient. We have thus reviewed the literature which we hope will help others in managing such patients." via  @wiki.ubc.ca

International classification of diseases (ICD) ICD 101 gives five diagnoses of gender identity disorders (GID) .
(1) Transsexualism .
This has three criteria: A desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by a sense of discomfort with, or inappropriateness of, one’s anatomic sex, and a wish to have surgery and hormonal treatment to make one’s body as congruent as possible with one’s preferred sex.The transsexual identity is present persistently for two years.
 The disorder is not a symptom of another mental disorder or a chromosomal abnormality.
(2) Dual role transvestism
(3) GID of childhood
(4) Other GIDs
(5) GID,  unspecified

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM IV), a person must show strong persistant cross-gender identification (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantage of being the other sex) and a persistent discomfort with their sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, to be diagnosed with GID. The term transsexualism has been replaced with GID by DSM IV.

What is Rett Syndrome

What is Rett syndrome?

Rett syndrome is a disorder of brain development that occurs almost exclusively in girls. After 6 to 18 months of apparently normal development, girls with the classic form of Rett syndrome develop severe problems with language and communication, learning, coordination, and other brain functions. 
Early in childhood, affected girls lose purposeful use of their hands and begin making repeated hand wringing, washing, or clapping motions. They tend to grow more slowly than other children and have a small head size (microcephaly). 
Other signs and symptoms can include breathing abnormalities, seizures, an abnormal curvature of the spine (scoliosis), and sleep disturbances.
Researchers have described several variants of Rett syndrome with overlapping signs and symptoms. The atypical forms of this disorder range from a mild type, in which speech is preserved, to a very severe type that has no period of normal development. A form of Rett syndrome called the early-onset seizure variant has most of the characteristic features of classic Rett syndrome, but also causes seizures that begin in infancy.