Dimitri Christakis created a program that teaches young parents parenting skills. The program is called “Bright Start” and is aimed towards first-time moms. The team of experts is teaching first-time moms “how to create better learning environments.” Bright Start wants young parents to avoid screen time with their children and instead play something like board games. The program will actively follow these families and track strategies to help with their child’s development. Ultimately, Dimitri is the leader behind this study and is trying to cut down on screen use until kids have developed past the age of four. The goal is to help create a model for young parents nationwide and to deliver a plan to elude screen use.
Nicholas Carr- is a an author of innovative books on technology, some titled The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains and his Pulitzer Prize-nominated book The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us and has contributed to the World’s Economic Forum cloud on a computing project. His books discuss topics such as how technology has affected our thoughts and perceptions along with how people have become dependent on computers, robots, and apps, and how this has affect us personally and socially. In the movie, Screenagers, he explains a scientific reason why people want to be on their phones, he said, that “studies indicate that dopamine- a pleasure-producing brain chemical–seems to be released whenever people find or seek out new information and if [one carries] around a smartphone, you are always pulling it out and glancing at it because you want that release of the pleasure-producing chemical”. His blog http://www.roughtype.com . One blog post of his “Chas and control: the story of the web” could be an interesting read for our class because it talks about evolution of things and how technology began to advance. Along with his blog, Nicholas Carr also uses his twitter account to share what he has found about smartphones and how they affect us. His twitter account is interesting because he does not follow anyone, which is very unique.
Peggy Orenstein is the expert that explains the science behind teenage girls. She is a renowned author and a ted talk speaker who has written numerous books on teenage girls. Some of her books in the field such as cinderella ate my daughter are considered very influential for those trying to understand their daughters. in screenagers she attempts to explain how sensitive and vulnerable teenage girls are at this time while having to deal with unreasonable expectations and standards. She is used to describe the effect of screens on teenagers from a feminist point of view that wants to eliminate some of the consistent problems women encounter that are exacerbated by screens. She is widely considered a premium speaker for women and girls while using a scientific point of view to describe these issues. @peggyorenstein
Nino Ramirez: Nino ramirez a director of brain research at the Seattle’s children hospital. He is a leading scientist, that focuses on how spending a lot of time on a screen can negatively, but also positively affect your memory, and also your learning. It is very important to have a neuroscientist on a movie like screenagers because he is able to give accurate data, as to what the effects of screens are on a child’s developing brain. Also, he can explain why we need to stop using our phones so much, and show us what can eventually happen, when we overwhelm our brains with our phone screens.
For our project-based learning topic of women’s history, I would like to talk about women’s right to vote specifically within Connecticut. I would talk about how this proses morphed and changed overtime and how people adapted to this change. I would specifically like to compare Connecticut’s women’s rights movement to the rest of the states. I would compare its strengths and overall impact on the passing of the19th amendment and see if this movement was just as strong as the women’s movements in New York and other large and populated states. I would also include the states reaction to the 19th amendment and whether the men of this state were accepting of this change. From my research, so far,I have learned about the CWSA or the Connecticut women’s suffrage Association. Were there any women in Suffield apart of this association?
At Suffield Academy, along with the majority of the United States, woman were not allowed to play in any major sports such as baseball, basketball or tennis due to the fact that they were considered “male sports”. In the early 1970’s, woman were again granted into Suffield Academy making it no longer an all-boys school. Soon later, woman were allowed to play in the same sports that men were, regardless of what the sport may be. In 1972, a civil rights act (Title IX or Title 9) allowed women to have equal opportunity in education along with playing the same sports as men do. An activist movement also resulted in colleges supplying equal funding for women’s sports as done for men’s. As an example of women excelling in sports due to this change; Billie Jean King was a female tennis player who received $10,000 for her victory in the U.S Open Final versus the male winner who won $25,000. The year after this, she faced a male player named Bobby Riggs for a prize of $100,000 and was victorious; this competition was not official but was simply for “bragging rights”. This was a huge step for women in sports as it portrayed the image that women can do what men do. Overall, Suffield Academy allowing women to partake in major sports so early on is quite remarkable as it took a long time for the entire country to follow along with this movement.
Driving Question: I would like to know, when were the women’s sports teams able to play against other schools in major sports? In other words, when did other schools change in the way Suffield did?
Required Skills: Analytical skills along with some statistical skills.
Society is struggling to find the required apathy to completely eliminate the seemingly insurmountable issue of poverty. While this problem is being eliminated slowly year after year poverty still strikes in familiar places. At the drop of a hat someone’s life can take a drastic turn leaving them jobless with a bleak future, we need to find solutions to improve the future of those who recently fell upon these hard times. These problems can seem so distant to so many that we aren’t able to be filled with the same motivation and compassion as seen with other issues. This global problem needs awareness about the often misleading impressions regarding those in poverty or low income. We aren’t able to give the aid that is needed which can make a difference in supporting and saving someone’s life. Being personally affected draws one closer to the case but sadly for those with the most this is often not the case as they are removed from the situation. These people also have the largest ability to impact the lives of these people as they can provide them with a job opportunity or money that doesn’t impact their lives as much as the middle class man. The eventual solution to this issue lies in not only solving the global issue but the local one as well. This is the most important element for our generation as we strive to look in the local knocks and crannies of even the smallest town and find those who have been stricken down and lift them up. The potential of a career and life in the middle class is open to everyone but finding the right opportunities can be difficult and unclear for many. By raising awareness for the murky path to success we can sooner clear the way and find the way to feeding those who can hardly find the meals needed to live. We don’t consider small fairly wealthy towns to have the issue of poverty but these places can often be hardest for those at or approaching the poverty level as they aren’t afforded the same luxuries as other towns.
