Note: This text was written as a graded essay for a university course I attended at HU Berlin, which is why its structure and content is a tad different from my other writings. The version below also does not (yet) include the proposed revisions and criticisms of the course instructor. Furthermore, I do not think that I was able to answer the leading question of this essay sufficiently, as it undoubtedly is a very difficult one. So, as always, comments and criticism are welcome!
Introduction
The field of psychology first emerged as a branch of philosophy, and it continued to remain…
Not too long ago, probably sometime around summer last year, I first came across the term “Learning Sciences”. In case you’re hearing about it for the very first time right now, what comes to mind for you? What do you envision the field to be about? Hold that thought!
I remember what I thought back then: Just like with many other disciplines — think Cognitive Neuroscience or Computational Sciences — , the name does not feel entirely telling as to what it’s actually about. Fast forward maybe a year or so, and it just so happens that three weeks from…
Scholarships may have an entirely different reputation and/or use depending on which country you’re from and whether you have regular school or higher education in mind. Within Switzerland, as far as I’m concerned, scholarships are mostly considered something that is awarded to students in dire need of financial support. In the general population, merit-based support seems to be rather unheard of and only rarely actively promoted (or only in very specific circles). …
To conclude the year 2020, I decided to put together quotes from two of the books I very much enjoyed reading, complementing them with a few personal comments. Some of the topics that occupied me in particular during the past twelve months and beyond were (lifelong) learning, teaching, creativity, and education as a whole. This text ended up being somewhat long, but thanks to the quotes being stand-alone, any part can be skipped without loss!
Lifelong Kindergarten
To start off with my most recent read, Lifelong Kindergarten is both a book written by MIT professor Mitchel Resnick as well as the name…
A quick disclaimer that I deem necessary: Most of the following is based on my own experiences as a student of psychology in the German-speaking parts of Europe. It is not meant to be strictly factual or representative, but more of a summary of observations and anecdotes, occasionally connected to information from other sources. It is also for this reason that I’d be very interested to hear about your personal experiences of studying at universities in other disciplines, educational systems and/or countries!
In autumn of 2018, I began studying applied psychology at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Zürcher Hochschule…
World University Rankings are an interesting phenomenon. Some of their first editions were published around the early 2000s, and they seem to have become increasingly controversial over the years.
The rankings that are named to have the largest audiences and possibly also the largest impact would be the QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the US News & World Report Global Ranking.
I stumbled upon them about two years ago and did not really think much of it at first. At a later point, out of…
PRODUCTIVITY
Notetaking has many forms
Today’s story is a bit different from all the other ones I’ve written so far: It’s not about findings from research, but rather about tools I find helpful for taking notes about research (among other things), both digitally and physically. “What are Roam Research and Notion, and what do scanners have to do with Leonardo da Vinci?” you might ask, and rightfully so. Let’s start off with that second question.
Scanners and their Daybooks
If you’ve read Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher, then you’re probably already familiar with the concept of scanner daybooks. If not, you might be wondering what a scanner and…
If you’ve read my past two stories on Game-Based Learning and exciting projects at the intersection of video games, CS and education, then you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been on the lookout for positive examples of novel approaches to learning and teaching, especially those involving digital technology.
Incidentally, I came across the docudrama The Social Dilemma yesterday, which reminded me why it’s so important to have online platforms, products and software that are designed in a way so that their use and content is of benefit to the user. …
Game-Based Learning (GBL) is one of those things that kind of sound too good to be true. How could it be that games teach us things in an effective manner? After all, most of the commonly known ones are designed for entertainment. Furthermore, digital games are often made so that the story takes place in a fictional world nothing like ours, take Super Mario for example. However, that’s not exactly what researchers mean when they speak of GBL. Let’s have a look at the definition(s) first.
What exactly is Game-Based Learning (GBL)?
So, what falls under GBL? According to Qian & Clark, (2016) the term is…
When you hear or read the words “video games”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Childhood memories? “Waste of time”? “Fun free-time activity”? “Something only kids use”?
Personally, I have drawn some of these connections in the past (fun free-time activity), and some of them are still in place (childhood memories). However, nowadays, I mostly see video games as some of the most used and most promising media — something that has the potential to benefit old and young alike. Why? Let’s start with some numbers.
The Stats
Two well known sources within the realm of video game market analytics…
Adani Abutto
Hi there, I’m Adani, a psychology student from Switzerland with various interests :) I have moved my writings to my website -> adaniabutto.com/allwritings
