AP Info Night Approacheth!

Mark your calendars! Our first-annual AP Info Night is scheduled for Monday, February 1st at 7:00 PM. For all of my current AP students, this will be a chance for you to learn about testing scheduling and procedures for the spring AND to register and pay for your AP exams.

For students returning next year (i.e. juniors and younger), you can also learn about what other AP classes are offered at Chi-Hi and meet with teachers to determine if any of them are right for you.

I will probably be looking for assistants for various duties during that evening, so at our next Psych Club meeting (Friday, Jan 29) I will be doing a bit of recruiting. Also, if you are attending be sure to wear your Psych Club attire & REPRESENT!

If none of the above reasons is enticement enough, consider the fact that yours truly will be there to extoll the virtues of AP...and who would want to miss that?

Upcoming Exam Review Sessions

With finals quickly approaching, it's time to get together to review all the fabulous wisdom that has been imparted to you over the past semester. There are TWO dates I will be offering evening review sessions for interested students:

• This Sunday, January 17th at 5:00 PM (in my classroom) and
• Tuesday, January 19th at 5:00 PM (though, we can talk about adjusting the start time for that one, depending on who will be coming).

On Sunday, we will be doing a general review of all topics by dividing into teams and summarizing particular textbook chapters.

On Tuesday, I'm leaving the schedule open to whatever attendees want/need. We can review specific topics or just meet to help each other go over flashcards. Whatever you feel you need at this point is what we will do.

Chat with A.L.I.C.E.

A couple of days ago, our classes chatted online with A.L.I.C.E. (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity), a "chatbot" the simulates chatting with another person. Several students have requested the link to try out on their own, so here it is! You can also read up on the history of A.L.I.C.E., as well as find general info about machines and their "thinking" capacities.

Remember, it may seem as though you're talking to a person, but "A.L.I.C.E." is really a machine! And...she's learning from your conversation, so don't be mean and try to confuse her.

And, for (albeit confusing) entertainment: A.L.I.C.E. and Fake Captain Kirk (two chatbots) attempting to have a conversation.

Functional Fixedness & MacGyver

Today in AP Psych, we practiced overcoming functional fixedness...by using a seemingly random assortment of classroom/household supplies to build (or attempt to build) record players. In doing so, I urged students to "be MacGyver."

MacGyver was, of course, the beloved titled character in the popular 1980s television show: a guy who was constantly getting himself into dangerous situations and then emerging victorious by utilizing random things in the surrounding environment. For example, he could diffuse bombs and pick locks with paper clips and chewing gum wrappers. Here's the original show intro for those who are interested.

MacGyver has been spoofed many times over for the predictable (yet unbelievable) plot lines and antics in the show. Below are some great examples.



My recent favorites have been SNL skits featuring Will Forte as "MacGruber", a similar but less successful and more distracted version of MacGyver.

Learning Videos: Rat Pellets...For People

You can expect this to be my last post for a little while, what with the holidays approaching and all. I hope my students (and their teachers and parents) have a relaxing break. We'll return to class renewed and ready to go in January.

In the meantime, I'll be posting some of your classmates' videos for viewing here. When the learning projects came in on Monday there were definitely some gems. Here's Rat Pellets...For People from several gentlemen in my 2nd hour class:

Last Minute Practice

Today I was asked by several students for practice items that might be used to study for tomorrow's test on Learning & Memory. I've done some searching around and found some possible choices:

1. Identification of UCS, UCR, CS, CR - try this worksheet or this vocab review
2. Operant Conditioning (Reinforcement Schedules & Terminology): vocab review
3. General review of learning principles: Try these practice questions

Hope this helps! I'll also be available before school and during lunch if you have questions or just would like help reviewing. Good luck, everyone!

The Bunny Effect - Elizabeth Loftus

Here's another great demonstration of the misinformation effect from Elizabeth Loftus. On this CBS 60 Minutes clip, she is interviewed about "the Bunny effect". She and colleagues were able to get subjects to "remember" seeing Bugs Bunny at Disneyland...even though that's not possible.