Nick is a 6-year-old boy who doesn???t lie. At least according to his father, Steve. So imagine Steve???s chagrin when he witnessed what a hidden camera had documented in the McGill University laboratory of psychologist Victoria Talwar. In order to win a prize, Nick readily cheated in a game, then lied to cover up his cheating. When pressed, he elaborated on his lie, and he showed not a glimmer of remorse. Indeed, he was gleeful.
Is Nick a ???young sociopath in the making???? Probably not. In fact, he???s fairly typical of 6-year-olds, who lie about once an hour, usually to cover up a transgression of some kind. That???s about twice as much lying as 4-year-olds do, which suggests that kids are learning to lie. Looking at kids of all ages, fully 96 percent are liars. Indeed, Talwar views lying as an important developmental milestone, linked to intelligence.
That doesn???t mean lying is okay, and both father and son know this. It???s uncomfortable to watch Nick squirm through his lies as he digs himself in deeper. And Steve is a fairly typical parent too, in the sense that all parents are very bad at lie detection...
Nick???s story comes from science writers Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, who include it in NurtureShock, their delightful new collection of essays on the ???science of kids.??? Though not exactly a parenting manual, the book does offer a lot of useful information on why kids do what they do... Bronson and Merryman???s essay on lying is representative of this engaging volume, in its mix of pitch-perfect science writing and soft-pedaled guidance for parents. Many of their essays???on sleep, racial attitudes, self-control, sibling relations, and more???are animated by actual flesh-and-blood kids, who we meet on an excursion through many of the nation???s top child psychology laboratories. It???s a rewarding and entertaining excursion. NurtureShock is published by Twelve Books, and is in bookstores now.
Friday, 28 August 2009
The Science of Kids
Smiling Faces
you can keep it in a library or something, and when you want to see some particular town???s people???s smiling faces you can go and check that section of the film. We can also arrange it with a television network so that whenever you want to see faces of a particular location in the world, all you have to do is to press a button and there it is.This way, if Johnson wants to see what sort of people he killed in Vietnam that day, he only has to turn the channel.
see also the detailed instructions How to ... SMILE -- you can also participate in the Smiling Face Film Project at their flickr group page
Monday, 24 August 2009
Quincy Jones: Arts Education in America
make no mistake, every artistic vocation whether it is music, dance, painting, literature, the moving image or architecture is vitally important to the fabric of our country's history and deserves to be protected, promoted and nurtured
In other news, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Quincy Jones Foundation will present this year???s Q prize to the leaders of El Sistema:
Quincy Jones commented, "I am honored to join with Harvard in presenting this year's Q Prize to Maestro Dudamel and his mentor Dr. Abreu for their dedicated work on behalf of the children of Venezuela through El Sistema. Throughout my life I have been able to witness firsthand the power of music to bring forth change in the lives of those less fortunate, and the work of El Sistema is a glowing example of the magnitude of that power around the world. I eagerly anticipate furthering the message of music as a tool for bringing young people together in a common cause for mankind when we convene the National Music Summit next year in New York. Music is the only thing that engages the left and right brain simultaneously - it's soul and science.
"It tore my heart apart that on this day that my alma mater was naming a building after me, that this young man had no idea who the men were that put me on their shoulders and helped shaped who I was as a young musician. Men who will forever stand at the foundation of popular music, and who I believe in years to come will be regarded as America's Chopins, Griegs and Tchaikovskys."
NFB Digital Storytelling Workshops
super cool and an incredible opportunity for those who wish to participate.
The goal of the program is for participants to contribute to Canada CODE and learn about the NFB collection at the same time. We???ll have bilingual facilitators traveling across Canada to deliver 3 types of workshops:
- Student/participant workshops ??? a full day, hands-on program designed for delivery in-class.
- Educator workshops ??? a 3 hour hands-on program to provide educators with the tools to deliver a digital storytelling workshop to their students.
- Conference workshops ??? a 1 ??? 2 hour lecture-style program with hands-on activities designed to build awareness and encourage educators, community leaders and librarians to deliver digital storytelling workshops to various people.
If you want to host or organize a workshop in your community, just call Melissa Wheeler at m.wheeler@nfb.ca or at (416) 973.0896.
Canada CODE gives people who live in Canada a collaborative way to share who we are with each other and the world. Show the world what we're made of - upload short stories and photos about your daily life and neighbourhood now.
/EDU, the online education portal for the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and 2010 Legacies Now, are developing an educator???s guide to help Canadian teachers connect Canada CODE activities to their curriculum through art-infused education.