Lessons

Debt

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Quote:

A 2013 study by the urban institute shows that:

  1. 35% of USA citizens (77 million) with a credit file, have a report of debt collections.
  2. They owe an average of %5178 (median $1,349).
  3. Debt in collections involve a nonmortgage bill – such as credit card balance, medical or utility bill – that is more than 180 days past due and has been placed in collections.
  4. 5.3 percent of people with a credit file have a report of past due debt, indicating they are between 30 and 180 days late on a nonmortgage payment.
  5. Both debt in collections and debt past due are concentrated in the South.

How can these facts be used in the classroom?

In statistics

Have students read the article:

  • What considerations were taken by the study.
  • How did they collect their data?
  • Mean v Median….why does it matter here?
  • Why mention there is a correlation between high debt and geographic location?

Algebra II

  • The effects of credit card debt, compound interest, and exponential growth.

 

 

Multitasking – part 2

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As I said in an earlier post, many people believe they can not only multi-task but do it well.  One particular experiment my stats students do is to read the following paragraph.

THE NECESSITY OF TRAINING HANDS FOR FIRST-CLASS FARMS IN THE FATHERLY HANDLING OF FRIENDLY FARM LIVESTOCK IS FOREMOST IN THE MINDS OF FARMS OWNERS. SINCE THE FOREFATHERS OF THE FARM OWNERS TRAINED THE FARM HANDS FOR THE FIRST-CLASS FARMS IN THE FATHERLY HANDLING OF FARM LIVESTOCK, THE OWNERS OF THE FARMS FELL THEY SHOULD CARRY ON WITH THE FAMILY TRADITION OF TRAINING FARM HANDS IN THE FATHERLY HANDLING OF FARM STOCK BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IT IS THE BASIS OF GOOD FUTURE FARMING.

While listening to Black Eyed Peas : Smells like Funk.

Their task:   Count the Fs and List how many different things smell like Funk.

Then I give them the same amount of time to find how many “f”s appear in this paragraph:

Black holes stand at the very edge of scientific theory. Most scientists believe they exit, although many of their theories break down under the extreme conditions within. But Professor Conelius Van Bockstein of the University of Ushuaia says he knows what you would find inside, and challenges the traditional idea that gravity would cause you death by “spaghettification.”  Frank Litherfield states in his ground breaking trestle: “Phantasms within super fine gravity wells”, that the gravitational forces in a black hole ebb and flow. For example at the event horizon there finite areas that would not feel the effects of gravity and could sustain an elliptical orbit.

without playing the music.

Students then can discuss their ability to multitask after having direct experience with it.   The results are common: They start to acknowledge that they do not multitask as well as they thought they did.

Power

datadan Uncategorized ,

A saw a lesson power a while ago by a colleague S. Vargas.  It was brilliant.  It made me hearken back to the days when I first learned about the different types of power in Political Science 2.

I’ve amended the lesson, and used it since in a variety of ways to help students become aware of how they are influenced, and how they are influencing others.

What is power?    (answer: According to Dahl, Power is the ability for A to make B do something that A wants)

What are the different ways that people exercise power over you?

This is what Wikipedia from Dahl’s webpage:

  1. Rational Persuasion, the nicest form of influence, means telling the truth and explaining why someone should do something, like your doctor convincing you to stop smoking.
  2. Manipulative persuasion, a notch lower, means lying or misleading to get someone to do something.
  3. Inducement still lower, means offering rewards or punishments to get someone to do something, i.e. like bribery.
  4. Power threatens severe punishment, such as jail or loss of job.
  5. Coercion is power with no way out; you have to do it.
  6. Physical force – is backing up coercion with use or threat of bodily harm.

When I learned it it was:

  1. Reason
  2. Legitimacy  (It is perceived as the right thing beyond reason … Monarchies, Religious, Traditional, etc.)
  3. Expertise
  4. Utility
  5. Force (Or threat thereof)
  6. Charisma (Think Hitler, Jesus, Jim Jones,…)

How do you exercises power over people in your life?

Who exercises power over you?

If you had to rank or rate the types of power in terms of the “best type” of power how would you do so?