Asymmetrical updating - Tues 16th January 2018, 16:30-18:00

Stockholm School of Economics (Handelshögskola)

Optimistic bias, brains and climate change

The human brain finds good news more credible than bad news, so that we are more willing to believe that we are healthier, smarter and more beautiful than we thought before.

Asymmetrical updating plays a large role in politics; it bears on people's beliefs about climate change, immigration, and political candidates. It also tells us a great deal about consumption patterns – and about how to influence people.

Come and listen to Cass R. Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School, who was an advisor to US President Barack Obama. He is one of the most-cited legal scholars worldwide, a prolific writer and the author, most recently, of: #Republic: divided democracy in the age of social media, Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide and The economics of nudge.

Register for a free ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/harvard-prof-cass-sunstein-on-optimistic-bias-brains-and-climate-change-registration-41037746003?aff=es2

Directions and other useful info here: Optimistic bias, brains and climate change

Here's a short video featuring Cass Sunstein to give you an idea of what he's like:

Self-assessment tool

Make your own copy of this document and share it with your teacher (me!!!):

CEFR checklist (sv)

While we have individual appraisal meetings, there's some crime work going on. Here's one of the reading exercises:

Shoplifter fake baby scam

Public speaking

Right now we're preparing to give "lightning talks" related to space.

Most students are nervous about public speaking, and here's a test to see what might be causing that:
https://hbr.org/2016/11/assessment-whats-feeding-your-fear-of-public-speaking

I'm encouraging the use of Edward de Bono's 6 Thinking Hats as a way to improve the quality and appeal of talks:

White hat: Give information - "The facts, just the facts."

Yellow hat: A bright and optimistic attitude, exploring the positives, demonstrating value and benefit.

Black Hat: Exercise judgement - spot the difficulties and dangers; where things might go wrong. Probably the most powerful and useful of the Hats but a problem if overused.

Red Hat: When using this hat you can express emotions and feelings and share fears, likes, dislikes, loves, and hates.

Green Hat: Focus on creativity; the possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas. It's an opportunity to express new concepts and new perceptions.

Blue Hat: Manage the thinking process and bring everything in your presentation together.

When it comes to creating slides, why not try the Takahashi method? Masayoshi Takahashi came up with this method as a way to reduce his own nervousness and help him focus when speaking in public. It's very simple: you can have as many slides as you like, but each one can only contain up to 2 words - preferably simple and short words.

The lightning talk requires great discipline. Every bit of the talk must pass the "so what?" test. Here's an example:

Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957.

So what?

It was the first human made object to be put into space.

So what?

It was the start of the "space age" in which countries raced to explore space,
the USA created NASA and scientists gained access to new ways to study the earth.

Ok...

So now you can create a single sentence, summing up that "so what" conversation:

In 1957, as Sputnik 1 circled the earth, the space age was born,
opening up new ways to learn about the universe and our own planet.

Cassini probe

What did the Cassini mission tell us about Saturn and its moons?

Monday 2 October 16:00-18:00 - interesting lecture!

Back to Nature 

Lectures and discussion of Biomimicry
Karolinska Institute, Flemingsberg

A TED-inspired salon event, free admission for students & others organized by the Doctoral Programme for Development and Regeneration (DEVREG).

At this TED-inspired two-hours event, we gain a better understanding of how studying and mimicking nature as part of medical research could lead to important breakthroughs and innovations. The theme will be explored by listening to talks on the subject followed by an open-minded campfire session with the speakers and where you are welcome to share your thoughts and questions.

Snacks & refreshments will be served. To get one of the complimentary tickets and join this event, please register here before September 26:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/back-to-nature-ki-devreg-salon-event-tickets-37906046004?aff=es2

A TED-inspired salon event, free admission for student & others

The core idea of biomimicry is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. At this salon event you will learn what biomimicry is about and get some examples of how it is used in research and innovations.

At this TED-inspired two-hour event, we gain a better understanding of how studying and mimicking nature as part of medical research could lead to important breakthroughs and innovations. The theme will be explored by listening to talks on the subject followed by an open-minded campfire session with the speakers and where you are welcome to share your thoughts and questions.

Speakers

Johanna Painer, PhD, DVM, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

Johanna is a researcher and wildlife veterinarian with special interest in Ultrasonography and Reproduction in Wildlife, Wildlife Anaesthesia and Wildlife Crime. She is also a consultant veterinarian for the Orsa Predator Park in Sweden. She is part of a team investigating how mammals rely upon scent for intraspecific communication. She will present parts of her research and share her thoughts about what and how we could learn from nature and wildlife.

Janne Johansson, Professor, Karolinska Institutet

Janne is head of a research group working on mechanisms of protein aggregation in disease, development of protein drugs, and protein assembly in spider silk formation. This broad approach has so far generated for example synthetic proteins for treatment of lung disease. Janne will talk about how they succeed in finding a method to make artificial spider silk and how it could be used in biomedical applications.

Monday 2 October 16:00-18:00
Hörsalen, Novum, plan 4, Blickagången 6, Karolinska Institute Campus Huddinge, Flemingsberg

15:10  Hagabergs folkhögskola Buss 753 mot Östertälje station

15:23  Östertälje Pendeltåg 36 mot Märsta

15:40  Flemingsberg Gå 339 meter 15:48  Blickagången 6, Huddinge

Problem solving 2

This week, we're continuing to learn more about problem solving - this time with the help of business journalist and author, Anne Kreamer. Here's the handout and questions:

Creativity Lessons from Charles Dickens and Steve Jobs

In one of the classes, we tested our ability to discern whether a person was a member of the Democrat or Republican party. It's not easy - try it here: AI can tell Republicans from Democrats – but can you? Take our quiz

But getting back to the whole problem solving and creativity thing, Anne Kreamer mentions the Remote Associates Test (RAT) If you fancy giving your brain a workout, try this: A collection of tasks from the Remote Associates Test of Creativity

We also looked at this interesting short video where Kreamer gives good, practical advice about how to handle a person crying at work:


And finally, here's the entertaining clip that that my colleague Anne G. shared to help you translate Swedish swear words to English:

2 interesting events in English

Develop your English language and scientific and technical knowledge by coming along to these 2 mind expanding events in the coming weeks...

1) Climate change lecture

As I write, there are just 14 places left for what promises to be a very interesting lecture and scientific discussion about climate change and how to reduce carbon emissions in the future.

It's on Thursday 21st September in Stockholm University and starts at 13:30. That means setting off from Hagaberg at 12:10. The event goes on till 17:00 but obviously you don't have to stay that long.

If you're interested, read the full program and register a.s.a.p. here:

Gordon Goodman memorial lecture: Climate change and creating a low carbon future

See Kevin Anderson, the keynote speaker here:

2) Google Cloud Summit

This is a whole day event in central Stockholm which Marcus Nyberg and I are attending on Tuesday 3rd October.

It's going to be pretty technical, but could be of interest to any of you who are considering a future career in IT. Things are changing fast and taking part in the Google Cloud Summit will put you at the frontier of digital developments. Check out the program and register here: Google Cloud Summit - Stockholm 2017

Obviously for both events, you need to get approval from your teachers so as not to be reported absent from lessons. SL cards are available and we can talk about compensation for long hours...

Problem solving 1

Welcome to the new academic year!

I have 4 English groups in Hagabergs folkhögskola and we're using this Google Classroom:
English for B1-B2 users 2017-8 (@hagaberg.org account required)

Hopefully there'll be lots of problems and mistakes that lead to learning which for us equals success.

Many factors prevent us from solving problems and perhaps the biggest is that we fail to actually see what the problem really is - hence the Einstein quote.

Instead of rushing to offer solutions, our first English exercise is to describe some problems and then look at them to see if we can redefine them or get to the root of them.

We are collecting problems to work on: Problems. There's an assignment linked to it in our Google classroom: Redefining and solving problems where everyone chooses someone else's problem and tries to redefine it and offer possible solutions.

A reading exercise is included in this topic based on an article by Sabina Nawaz in Harvard Business Review: The Problem with Saying “Don’t Bring Me Problems, Bring Me Solutions”

Psychological testing week

Inspired by a student presentation last month on introvert and extrovert personality types, this week we're trying out some psychological tests.

Online tests in English are a language challenge and introduce new vocabulary and concepts.

It will be interesting to see if our personalities change when using a second language.

We need to evaluate the tests themselves - do they reveal anything about ourselves? Is there any scientific basis to them?

Finally, there are issues around privacy - some tests want your email address. We will use services like nada or TempMail to avoid giving away personal information to third parties.

Here are some tests to try out:

Jung Typology Test based on Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ personality type theory.

IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers based on the best accepted and most commonly used model of personality in academic psychology.

Open Extended Jungian Type Scales 1.2 - a highly accurate alternative to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

When you've done a test, learn more about the different types of personality being described by these indicators:

16Personalities.com - personality types - an accessible way to learn about the different 4 letter combinations you get from a Briggs Myers test.

The Five Factor Model - the easiest introduction to the IPIP big 5 markers I could find.

Tuesday 4th April - interesting lecture at Södertörn

If you're interested in privacy, data and surveillance, why not come along to this lecture?

Lina Dencik: From Surveillance Realism to Data Justice

I'm catching the 12:10 bus from school - you're welcome to join me and you can borrow an SL card too.

Here's a different lecture by Lina Dencik to give you a feel for way she teaches and the subject matter:

Good hydrations

As the weather gets warmer, we need to drink more in order to keep ourselves properly hydrated.

But how much do we need to drink and what should we drink?

The results of our research will be published here soon...

International Women's Day 2017

On Wednesday 8th March, we celebrated International Women's Day by composing a shared document containing portraits of great women who inspire us in different ways.

You can see the students' work in sal 15, hanging on the wall or here:

Great Women

Omnitasking

This week we're working with the following interesting news story:

How much pee is in our swimming pools?

As we have access to computers for the first time this term, it's presentation time!!!

Create a presentation using Google Slides. Share it with your teacher. Use the presentation to present something you think we all should know. Really good if you can link it to your profile classwork (e.g. leadership, higher studies, art and culture or global questions).

A short presentation - it's that simple!

Comfort zone outbreak

Consider the following infographic from whoischick.com:

This week we consider the importance of breaking out of our "comfort zones" with the help of professor of organisational behaviour and psychology and blogger extraordinaire, Andy Molinsky.

Here is the article and questions we're working on: Step outside your comfort zone (Google Doc)

The difference between this exercise and most of our other reading work is the text itself is very short - what's more interesting is how to apply Andy Molinsky's analysis to one's own life.

By way of introduction to this activity, take a look at videos like the following:

How an engineer from Russia has to break out of her comfort zone to get a job in the USA:



And if you have the time, why not listen to Andy Molinsky's lecture on the subject:



In addition, we also had a visit from Lina & Moa from Röda korsets folkhögskola's Documentary Film Course. They gave a really thought-provoking presentation about Myanmar, media portrayal of developing countries, respecting people's dignity when making charity appeals and life as a volunteer - really interesting, thanks Lina & Moa!

PS. To the student who asks me EVERY WEEK if I've ever been to Australia, NO!!! and here's why:

Likeability and career advice for shoplifters

2 different tasks this week.

The first is my favourite default subject in English; crime:
Shoplifter fake baby
It's a crazy and slightly sad story but hopefully students can give it a positive spin.

Then we're into personality development. Here is the article:

Bradberry, T. (2017, January 30). Nine Things That Make You Unlikable. Retrieved January 25, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2017/01/24/nine-things-that-make-you-unlikeable/

The exercise is in 2 parts:

1) Flip the article on its head - write a page of A4 giving friendly advice on "How to become more likeable".

2) Put your very best advice into our joint presentation on the subject:

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Vacuum cleaner joy

This week, we enter the world of consumer electrical items and consider the humble vacuum cleaner.

Here is the worksheet containing the article, questions and creative group activity:

Best Vacuum Cleaner