Kim MacLin

Curiosity--The Discovery Channel

2011-06-13T18:49:43Z

In May 2010, the Discovery Channel came to UNI to interview Kim & Otto MacLin, as well as to shoot footage for an episode on memory for a new series called "Curiosity."

"Curiosity: The Questions of Life" is a 60-episode, five year series that aims to answer vital questions of human existence. Beginning in August 2011, a new one-hour episode of "Curiosity" will be shown each month. A recent article in The New York Times states, The channel calls "Curiosity" a landmark series, drawing comparisons to "Planet Earth," the 11-part environmental overview that received wide acclaim when it was shown in the United States in 2007." http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/curiosity/

Short blurb in CSBS Kudos http://www.uni.edu/csbs/sites/default/files/Kudos_Oct10.pdf

Mock Crime/Trial Materials

2011-06-13T16:37:17Z

I often get requests on how to plan, organize, and conduct a mock crime and mock trial for Psychology & Law classes.

Here are some sources to get you started:

MacLin, M. K. (Winter, 2006). Implementing a mock crime, investigation and trial into your psychology and law course. AP-LS Teaching Techniques. American Psychology-Law Society. Available: http://www.ap-ls.org/publications/newsletters/aplsnews.win2006.pdf

MacLin, M. K., Tapscott, R., Peterson, D., & MacLin, O. H. (May, 2008). Using CSI to teach science to middle school students. Poster presented at the Teaching Institute of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL. Link

A link to my Psychology & Law class website: http://www.psychologicalscience.com/psylaw/

A link to project and role information: http://www.psychologicalscience.com/psylaw/2010/08/mock-crimemock-trial-project-information.html　

Mind Maps

2010-10-02T13:33:22Z

Mind maps are graphic depictions of a concept and the concepts related to that concept. It is a diagram used to represent words linked to and arranged around a central concept (Read Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map).

Mind maps can be used to organize ideas, generate ideas (brain storming), and visually show information about a topic.

You will be generating a mind map as a way to demonstrate your developing knowledge base about the course you are in with me. A mind map used as a 'test' focuses on evaluating what you DO know, not on what you don't know.

Should you choose, you can be very creative with your mind map (using colors and small drawings). It is possible however, to do a good mind map using lines and bubbles.

Here is a sample of a mind map (an incomplete one) where the central concept is S&P (referring to sensation and perception). This shows the main categories, and the person would/could/should add as much detail off of each of these main category bubbles as they could.

Here are some other ones done by students last semester:

Other samples from the internet:

http://www.targetprocess.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/mind-mapping-bdd.jpg

http://www.mindtools.com/media/Diagrams/mindmap.jpg

http://www.spicynodes.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/combating-global-warming-map.jpg

http://www.indyish.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/IaGo_J001ArtdepMindmap.jpg

http://www.mindmapart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/adjusting-to-eye-loss-mind-map-jane-genovese.gif

http://www.mindmapart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/psychology-of-persuasion-mind-map-adam-sicinski.gif

Waterloo/Cedar Falls Services

2010-07-05T16:57:48Z

Car

Murphy's Auto Service

414 E 7th St

Waterloo, IA 50703-4402

(319) 234-9752

All Car Transmission Center

407 East Mullan Ave

Waterloo, IA 50703-3413

(319) 235-6300

Dental

Eric Kimball

http://www.cedarvalleysmiles.net/

211 E. 4th St

Waterloo, IA 50703

(319) 232-3310

Mark Trunnell (kids)

http://www.dentalcowards.com/

922 Rainbow Dr.

Cedar Falls, IA 50613

(319) 266-7559

Vision

The EyeCare Associates

David Neill

http://www.theeyecareassociates.com/

999 Home Plaza, Suite 100

Waterloo, IA 50701

(319) 234-0847

Vets

Klima Small Animal Clinic (dogs)

http://www.klimasmallanimalclinic.com/

1210 Southtown Dr.

Waterloo, IA 50702

(319) 232-3674

Pawsitive Pet Care (rats)

http://www.bepawswecare.org/

1799 Ansborough Ave

Waterloo, IA 50701

(319) 234-7511

Keys

B & B Lock and Key

2200 Falls Ave

Waterloo, IA 50701

(319) 234-5397

Property Inspection

National Property Inspections

http://www.npiweb.com/Default.aspx?alias=www.npiweb.com/griswold

(563) 927-2788

Realtor

Steve Knapp, Lockard

http://www.lockardonline.com/index.php

4501 Prairie Parkway

Cedar Falls, IA 50613

(319) 493-4000

Attorney

Eric Johnson, Beecher Law Firm

http://www.beecherlaw.com/

620 Lafayette St., Suite 300

Waterloo, IA 50704

(319) 234-1766

Banking

MidWestOne Bank

http://midwestone.com/index2.php

4510 Prairie Parkway

Cedar Falls, IA 50613

(319) 277-2500

‎

School Uniforms in Waterloo Public Schools?

2010-05-19T11:45:51Z

I received an automated phone call last night from my third grader's principle. This phone call informed me that on May 24th, the school board will be voting on whether to implement a school uniform policy in the public schools. First I've heard about it (and we all know how long it can take any committee to draft a policy, so this has probably been kicking around for awhile), and after some passing thoughts on why I receive a million fundraising emails from my PTO but none on this issue, I decided to look into this whole school uniform thing.

There is little to no empirical evidence demonstrating that school uniforms are beneficial for school climate, discipline control, lowered drug use, or academic achievement (Elliot et al., 1998; Loeber & Farrington, 1998; Sugai, Horner, & Gresham, 2002; Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998). What support there is for benefits of school uniforms on academic achievement are highly debated (e.g., Bodine, 2003; Brunsma, 2003) and largely based on opinion, not data (Ryan & Ryan, 1998). There is some evidence that school uniforms lower violence levels in urban schools with documented gang problems (McGloin, 2009), and can sometimes improve attendance (Shimizu, 2000). NO school in our district remotely falls in the category of having significant urban/gang problems that may benefit from school uniforms. School uniforms are a popular but ineffective control strategy (Cornell, 2006). Controlled studies demonstrate that school uniforms DO NOT impact discipline referrals or suspensions; in other words, schools with and without school uniforms show no difference in discipline problems (Washington-Labat, 2004; McCarty, 2000). In fact, one of the only consistent findings is that teachers and administrators THINK that school uniforms improve discipline issues (Alleyne, LaPoint, Lee, & Mitchell, 2003; Washington-Labat, 2004; Britt, 2001), but in fact all the data say otherwise: there is no impact. Further, there are real constitutional (free expression) issues at play (Mitchell & Kinechtle, 2003) with regard to mandatory dress codes and uniforms in public schools. My issue though, to be clear, is the problematic practice of governing bodies making decisions based on gut feelings, impressions, perceptions, and things that sound like "good ideas". At best, the data available on the benefit of school uniforms in public schools is inconclusive, with mounting evidence that school uniforms do little to nothing to improve discipline issues or raise academic achievement. On these grounds, I am strongly opposed to Waterloo Public Schools adopting a school uniform policy.

Critical Thinking-It is Like Magic

2010-05-13T13:29:27Z

Zach Paige does his magic!

http://www.courierwebcasts.com/play.php?vid_id=1429&file=magicshow.flv

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

2010-04-22T15:16:11Z

When you support a CSA you pay a certain amount of money in advance of the growing season and someone else (usually a small family farm) does all the work for you by growing and harvesting the crops. Once a week for about 16 weeks you pick up your take for that week. We dabbled in this last year (by scamming on some vegies from friends who were out of town and couldn't pick up their csa batch that week), and this year we are in it for real. Great, fresh vegetables, good cause (supporting local farms), and this year, our pickup location is just a short bike ride away. Can't wait.

http://kellerberryfarm.com/

http://kellerberryfarm.com/blog/

Can't Play the Piano? Yes You CAN!

2010-03-04T23:09:15Z

Can't play the piano? Always wished you could? You can! If you know the QWERTY system of typing you can play the piano and sound like a pro after just a few minutes of getting the hang of it...you can also use your mouse to poke out tunes. It's weirdly fun and addictive!

http://buttonbeats.com/

Why Some People Like Drama

2010-03-01T15:07:12Z

I really don't like drama. Especially contrived drama. You know what I mean...people who make everything around them awful or wonderful (usually awful). And some people are drama magnets. You need drama? Drama will find you. Derek Sivers recounts an interaction with Kurt Vonnegut where Kurt explains (and diagrams!) drama.

http://sivers.org/drama

Food Blogs

2010-03-01T01:54:35Z

Here are some great food sites for pics and recipes.

Enlightened Cooking

Noble Pig

Food Porn Daily

Straight from the Farm

eat make read (she's got a great happy hour category)

Food and Whine -

Food People Want

Tension on College Campuses

2010-02-27T13:34:17Z

Maybe you've seen this newsweek article that highlights the disparity between admissions of minority students and graduation rates. http://www.newsweek.com/id/233843

Unfortunately, UNI is directly mentioned "At less-selective state schools, the numbers get worse. During the same time frame (2007), the University of Northern Iowa graduated 67 percent of its white students, but only 39 percent of its blacks."

In my personal opinion, this kind of damaging, national news media needs a swift response by administration to the university community, expressing concern, outrage, explanation, renewed effort, something, anything...

Tension on campuses is increasing (http://www.psychologicalscience.com/stereotyping_prejudice_discrimination/2010/02/racial-tension-on-college-campuses.html) with serious racial incidents at UCSD, arrests at UCI for protesting what is going on at UCSD, violent riots at UCB over tuition hikes.

California might get the fashion trends first, but they trend first in other ways as well...I think we are going to see a lot of unrest on college campuses nationwide, even in polite Iowa.

I'm in no way advocating violent protest. But I am advocating awareness and civic engagement. Going about one's business when campus violence (shootings, racial incidents, and rape) is on the increase nationwide, while tuition increases and programs and services are cut, is in itself an outrage.

UNI has seen an increase in racially-motivated incidents this year with little public attention, scrutiny, or awareness. Sure, eventually, a lot of people heard about these incidents and there has been administrative action. However, I sense little actual concern from the student body and community. More of a shrug, and 'that's too bad.' That kind of complacency can only lead to trouble.

Language Arts

2010-02-23T17:33:32Z

Yes. I am one of *those* people. I can't read anything without editing it. I know the difference between "effect" and "affect" and it makes me crazy to see grammatical or spelling errors in print or on signage. See below, a sign in the Dublin Zoo in Ireland.

Language can be artful, and I get a certain peace when I read writing that flows and is technically correct. I so appreciate writing that elevates even above that into something truly creative. Knowing the parts of speech and the 'rules of the road' make writing easier. Knowing and fixing the mechanics of a piece of writing allows the ideas to shine through.

If you understand parts of speech, you can find a distinct pleasure in diagramming a sentence. Here are a couple of great websites on this "old school" skill:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/diagrams/diagrams.htm

http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm

And here is a quite beautiful diagram:

That said, I know from experience that writing skills can be taught. I was in my mid-20's before I stopped using "that" when I should have been using "who." It was only through the brute force of probably dozens and dozens of corrections by a mentor that I broke that habit. And just because I know grammar and spelling, doesn't mean I always practice what I preach. Point in fact, it is taking everything I have (and many backspaces) to write in upper and lower case letters in this post, with periods and commas. I much prefer all lower case and lots of dot dot dots....

Here are a few common errors I see in writing from people who have a lot to say, but are still learning how to write it.

Who vs. That

Who refers to people, that refers to objects

"The woman that dropped her purse" should be "The woman who dropped her purse."

Affect vs. Effect

Affect (emphasis on the A) has to do with emotional expression and is a noun, affect (emphasis on ffect) is a verb, and effect is a noun.

Their They're There

Their is possessive ("Their house"), they're is a contraction ("They're going to church") and there is location ("over there")

And here is a blog where all things grammar reign: http://www.grammarphobia.com/

Go for the Bold?

2010-02-19T16:07:54Z

president ben allen has charged the strategic planning committee to 'be bold' in its vision and implemenation of that vision for uni. here are some thoughts that have been going around my mind recently, and especially, since i attended one of the town hall meetings yesterday re: the strategic plan. my examples will specify the psychology dept, because that is what i know, but i believe these ideas are not specific to the psychology department.

bold:
the psychology department (and others that have an "intro to x" course in the lac) could have a majors-only intro course of reasonable size (25-35 instead of 200-220). if an incoming freshman knows from the get-go that they want to be a psych major, they apply to the program right away (and those that meet a minimum gpa requirement gain entry). they start right away on our classes, with our majors-only intro course and progress through our courses...except for this small intro class nothing structural really changes. our courses are already tightly organized around prerequisites, and our students who are here for 4 years do this anyway...take a couple psych classes their freshman year and then progress through the rest of the courses. the difference being, they feel a part of the major right away, instead of when they are a sophomore or a junior which is when they currently apply to the major. the current structure actually encourages people to go to hawkeye first. this late-joining to the major has several negative consequences: they don't feel part of our dept until way later which leads to a disconnect while they're here and little or not contact with our alums later; they feel urgency by the time they join the major so they just want to rush on through; and this urgency contributes to their negative impression of the lac which has "wasted" their time their first two years when they could have been working on their major. the fact is, they are working on their major but we don't formally acknowledge them and bring them into the fold until too late.
pros: this creates community between students and their major faculty; this creates value for the 4 year experience--they get the impression that they can start their major right away; this greatly lessens the attractiveness of hawkeye--why go to hawkeye when you can start right away? and many more unintended positive consequences that come out of that greater sense of connection with the dept.

bolder:
but what about those who don't declare right away? what about intro to psych as part of the lac? what about the lac as a whole? i envision a school of liberal arts and sciences (or some cool name that someone comes up with)..this could be stand alone if possible, or under the new college of arts and sciences (yes, social sci people would be concerned, but place a social science person as director or head or however that works, and poof a lot of that goes away--plus, the structure of this school will alleviate these concerns as you'll see i think). being a school means that it is a unit with its own faculty and curriculum. what is that curriculum? the utterly new, completely revamped "core" of courses that all students take at uni, spread across the 4 years as an integrated liberal arts and sciences experience. everyone upon acceptance at uni, is accepted to this school. upon graduation, everyone ultimately has the equivalent of a double major (liberal arts and sciences and then say, psychology). this curriculum is decided by the university as a whole..now it's not a matter of turf because these classes aren't being taught as a course from a specific department, depts don't feel like they are 'servicing' something, they don't feel like their resources are being sucked up by the lac and under appreciated because people (students and faculty) hate those classes anyway...now they might be concerned that they lose advertising for their major, but too bad--they'll have to be a bit more creative and proactive in attracting students :) and the benefits of majors-only intro to x classes is very appealing to departments, makes those classes fun and important again for them, and they still will be able to attract majors from the liberal arts and sciences curriculum because very likely there are courses and content that relate to their major. so back to the curriculum....through a large carefully chosen committee (akin to the strategic planning committee, but more heavily faculty and of course relying on the efforts and skills of existing people already serving on a variety of lac-related committees), town hall meetings, etc...the university decides "what is it we want students to know" "what are the course skills and outcomes we want them to have?" and we develop courses that do that....we don't beg, borrow and steal them from depts. the school creates the curriculum. now you have a 4 year experience that is thoughtful, mindful, purposeful...it runs like any other unit..there are entry level courses (first year experience could be housed with the school)...freshman first semester likely would be all liberal arts and sciences courses (writing, critical analysis development, democracy project-esque stuff, etc)...then their second semester they could branch out if they were ready (like the student who knows they want to be a psych major they could go and apply to the psych dept and take the majors only intro class spring semester)...their courses in this liberal arts and sciences school would progress like any other dept...they take their entry level classes, and then there are others after that...the students are guided through the program just like they are now in majors--through preqrequisites. by the time of their 4th year in the school they are taking senior seminars, capstone, portfolio courses, whatever...very cool stuff...their experience with *this* kind of core is purposeful, meaningful, throughout their entire experience. it doesn't feel like an obstacle to majors, it's part of their whole education at uni. (an added benefit is that it completely undercuts community colleges--we create value again for the 4 year university experience and foster cooperative arrangements with community colleges for people transferring into this new system, but we take away the leverage that community colleges rightfully have now: "why go to UNI when you can go to hawkeye and it all works out the same in the end?")

boldest:
so if these school's courses aren't the existing courses from depts, who the heck is teaching them?! the school should be populated with faculty by application and invitation, and later, resources permitting, external hires. the school in this way acts as any other unit with their own invested faculty teaching their own courses. who do you extend invitations to? faculty who have won teaching awards (i'm sure you can see the public relations/advertising benefits--"award winning faculty" etc), those teachers who have already indicated by willingness and desire to teach in the current lac (if they're any good, you invite them)..and then you invite applications more generally. what you DON'T want the school to be is to be populated by volunteers who love the idea and want to see it work and they stay in their own dept and stretch themselves to 'help' the new school...this won't work...it's why a lot of interdisciplinary programs don't work...in the end, faculty have to turn their attention to their home dept...but what if the school of liberal arts and sciences were their home? now you might wonder who would apply, or why an award winning teacher would want to leave their department to come to the school? possibly the whole concept of a liberal arts and sciences education resonates with them, and they want to be a part of it; they want a new challenge, they're bored, been there done that in their dept and want to move on..on but now out of uni (more on that later)...could you get enough people to start the school with the requisite skills and background from a variety of disciplines. i think you could. i really do....let me digress for a moment and say that the rigidity of the department is part of a lot of problems...it leads to turf wars, it lowers creativity, it kills prospects for true collaboration across disciplines. imagine a place where there was more permeability between units. where i as a faculty member am truly considered an employee of UNI and not tethered to a department...where i as a faculty member can become excited about a new initiative or collaboration or unit or school on campus and can apply for it...and move there, where i will be evaluated over there, where my resources (since now they aren't so tightly considered dept resources, they are uni resources) can travel with me..because after all i'm a uni employee..and if i, and the person making the hiring/appointment decisions thinks that i serve uni best in this new capacity, so be it. the school's courses are now their own, determined by university core values, and campus discussion of what those courses could be, subject to the curriculum cycle for revision and continued growth and development and taught by a devoted faculty--devoted, because it's their dept, they teach them well, they've been chosen. and everyone likes to feel chosen. so what about scholarship/research/creative activity? well now you have a group of faculty, who are very likely research active (as most excellent faculty are), and what are they going to be doing? they are going to be doing research with people from other departments. they are not bound to their old home dept, though certainly, they'll have a good source of colleagues there..but now the world is their oyster, they can establish research collaborations with anyone from any dept...you get that kind of thing going, and i can nearly guarantee you others (who are in their own regular home depts) will follow. *that's* interdisciplinary. i find so many benefits to this model, that i won't list them here as i've tried to at least hint to them in this paragraph. but i will make one more explicit: we lose excellent faculty all the time because they become disenfranchised, often not from uni as a whole, but from their department. what is their only choice? try an admin route that will allow for partial and sometimes total escape from their department, but more likely--they leave. they leave uni and take their skills and energy and all the resources we've put into them, with them. poof. gone. in large businesses this would be an insane prospect. you lose an excellent, creative employee because they don't like their unit?? no, you move them! microsoft for example has a system of working groups. and you apply to join the groups, and you can leave your group and apply to others...and people aren't moving around willy nilly, there are usually terms associated with the appointment (by time, or project completion)..but you can constantly grow as an employee. there is no such thing as dead wood and burning out...because you can move around, learn, grown. so why can't we do that here? why can't i say, 'my research interests have changed a lot since i arrived here 9, 15, 25 years ago, and i feel like i might be a much better fit in xyz dept or school' ? why can't that person do that? why must they give up, succumb, become bitter and bored, OR, leave the university altogether. and of course, some people can't leave for a variety of reasons, so by virtue of the system we have (which granted is pretty typical for universities) you end up with deadwood. those truly are the choices WE as a university have created as options for our faculty. at worst, bitter and bored and disengaged; at best--lost opportunity for faculty to develop and grown be more engaged, serve their departments (wherever those may be) well and happily.

now are there details, downsides, politics and logistics that i'm simply glossing over for the sake of utter persuasive intent? you bet. but if you want to go bold, you gotta behave boldly.