Author Archives: harmen tatla

Helping You Help Yourself – A new approach to learning

Posted on November 30, 2016 | Leave a comment

Can a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list without any answers help you solve your problem?

You might scoff at the idea at first and wonder to yourself, “if there are no answers, what’s the point of an FAQ list?”

Surprisingly, a recent study from the University of British Columbia conducted by Dr. Sarah Burke has found that university students were able to solve problems more effectively when given just a list of frequently encountered problems.

In her study, Dr. Burke – a physics and chemistry professor at UBC – offered a “help menu” to first year students during their physics lab exam. The menu contained a list of commonly encountered problems, and students were given the option of requesting for help with specific tasks at the expense of some of their exam grade.

Over 20% of the students were able to solve their problem simply by looking at the list of areas to ask help for and did not request for actual help from the instructors.

So how does this “help menu” work?

Image Courtesy of quoteaddicts.com

Image Courtesy: Motley News

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting is a process of problem solving, which is often applied in technical fields to repair failed products, machines, or systems. It is a search for the source of the problem in a logical manner by following a series of steps to determine the root of the problem and learn how to go about solving it.

Although you might not realize it, you already use troubleshooting skills on a daily basis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qE2BKqxDDM&feature=youtu.be

Why is troubleshooting important?

Problem-solving and troubleshooting go hand-in-hand helping us see different solutions to problems from a number of different perspectives. Troubleshooting may effectively strengthen our capacity to think intelligently and flexibly when faced with unfamiliar problems that not only school, but life as a whole throw in our direction.

After the interview with Dr. Burke about her recent study, she made it evident that in today’s ever-changing world, one of the most important criteria for success is having the ability to think and work independently.

“Those are life long skills, right, if you know very general strategies on how to tackle a problem, you can tackle problems in many different fields.”

– Dr. Sarah Burke

Image Courtesy: cqrollcall.com

How do you encourage troubleshooting?

So we’ve seen why troubleshooting is important, and how it can help us solve our problems. But how do we learn to troubleshoot independently instead of simply relying on our friends or the teaching assistants for help?

Image Courtest of: uberhumor-images.leendu.com

Image Courtesy: Pinterest.com

This is the idea behind the “help menu”.

Dr. Burke compares the use of a help menu to a scratch card. She mentions the analogy of points being deducted for every time you scratch an answer, as a penalty. The same method was used in her study, as students were incentivized to troubleshoot and solve the problem themselves to avoid point deductions on the exam for asking for help.   

The following video, outlines a snippet from what may occur in a physics laboratory with, and without the use of a help menu.

So the next time your iPhone stops working, instead of checking the FAQ list for a quick solution.

Pause for a second.

Look at the list of potential problems and try to solve the issue yourself. You might be surprised by your own ability to troubleshoot while strengthening a crucial skill for other areas of your life at the same time.

Group 3: Justin Tao, Harmen Tatla, Zimeng Li, Kelvin Au

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Issues in Science, Outreach Project, Science Communicators

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Liar, Liar… Brain on Fire

Posted on October 31, 2016 | 4 comments

Whether you lied to get out of homework, or to get out of work, or even just lying to your friend to make them feel better… we have all been there. Lying is a part of the human condition, but have you ever wondered what triggers you to tell that lie? I’ll admit that there have been many instances where I have lied. For example, I’ve told my friend many times her hair  looks great – when it really doesn’t.

blog-cat

Image Courtesy of Pinterest.com

Studies in the field of neuroscience show there may be a biological explanation behind why lies escalate over time.

 

Image Courtest of: Huffingtonpost.com

Image Courtesy of: Huffingtonpost.com

So what triggers a lie? Psychologist Tali Sharot from the University College of London suggests that the brain becomes numb from the aching it causes, thus lying becomes a routine.  This explains why people progress easily from smaller to bigger lies; they become used to the fabrication.

Sharot and colleagues suggest that the “emotional adaptation” is the logic behind the acceleration of dishonesty. A little white lie can’t hurt anyone, right? You’re inclined to feel slightly bad from your first lie, but what about the few dozen after that? Will it feel just as bad? I’ve lied many times as a child and used to feel incredibly guilty, but now making the same lies just doesn’t feel as bad.

Sharot then conducted a study with 80 volunteers. These volunteers were to scrutinize jars containing pennies and estimate how much money was in them. The volunteers had partners who had to estimate as well, but had blurry pictures. Thus, the partners had to rely on the volunteer’s advice to estimate. Some volunteers were told that the more accurate their guess, the more the both of them would win; an incentive to send the truest estimate. In other instances, the more the partner overstated the money the jar contained, the more the volunteer would win and the less the partner would; an incentive for the volunteer to give the partner false information. Of the two cases, the second situation had partners lie more.

Next, 25 volunteers underwent neuroimaging when they were providing information to their partners. The amygdala, the part of the brain that responds to processes encountering emotional experiences, spew out activity after the first lie. This represents the idea that lying is unpleasant.

Image Courtesy of: http://brainmadesimple.com

Image Courtesy of: http://brainmadesimple.com

However, activity experiences by the amygdala decreased before subsequent lies. The larger they decreased, the more lies were detected by the volunteers in the next rounds. This suggests that the more decrease in amygdala activity, the more comfort one will experience when lying.

“Think about it like perfume. You buy a new perfume, and it smells strongly. A few days later, it smells less. And a month later, you don’t smell it at all.” 

    – Tali Sharot, a psychologist at the University of University College of London.

Image Courtesy of: Pinterest.com

Image Courtesy of: Pinterest.com

This idea of emotional adaptation relates to every human, because let’s be real… we all lie when we think we can get away with it. You experience less guilt when you easily get away with lying. The moral of the story is, don’t become a liar, because a little white lie doesn’t end just there. It begins to snowball. Also, you wouldn’t want your nose keep growing like Pinocchio, I know I wouldn’t.

Image Courtesy of

Image Courtesy of  www.disneyclips.com

By: Harmen Tatla

4 Comments

Posted in Science Communicators, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Link