Content about Cognition
From the literary outpourings of poets to the breakthroughs of inventors, many of us have this idea that creative brilliance is something that just happens. In reality, creativity is not some force that acts upon us — although it can sometimes feel like it — and it isn’t only reserved for artists, inventors or “creative types.”
This is SuperConnected: the new blog run purely by The Daily Texan web staff. While taking breaks from maintaining the website and bringing you all the latest online content, we scour the internet to bring you the most interesting news, helpful apps, and entertaining updates out there. While you may not see stuff like memes and trends, we'll do our best to keep you entertained and informed. Follow along and stay SuperConnected.
UTexas Memes Facebook page creator Daniel Monroy said he was stunned to get an email from a high school student stating: “Thanks for creating the page, I’m going to UT instead of Rice because of it.” While Monroy, a computer science freshman, said he is not sure if the message is true, he is still surprised by the impact the UTexas Memes page has had.
Although there has been a growth in the technology that forecasts climate change, scientists are not equipped to effectively deal with natural disasters, said climatologist and University of Reading professor Julia Slingo.
Do schools kill creativity? Ken Robinson, TED talks lecturer, international educational adviser and author of “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything,” argues that they do.
When architecture professor Larry Speck helped design Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, he tried to prevent the crowded feeling he often felt walking through ordinary airports, he said.
“I hated the feeling of being a rat in a small, confined space,” he said. “I thought, ‘How can we make an airport with open spaces, without linear tunnels and crowding?’”
From cranking up the tunes to loading up on water, UT students are looking for ways to curb test anxiety with finals for summer classes approaching at the end of this week.
Jane Bost, associate director of the Counseling and Mental Health Center, said the center tends to see an increase in students seeking help with stress and test anxiety as the semester progresses and finals approach.
Is your professor a sherpa? Or is she a pioneer, a coaster, a dodger or a star? Rick O’Donnell could tell you. Yesterday morning, O’Donnell — of “seven breakthrough solutions” fame — released a report based on data recently released by the UT and Texas A&M University Systems. In it, he placed each faculty member into one of five categories based on their teaching loads and the amount of research funding brought to their universities.
Editor’s note: Among the many proposed reforms to Texas higher education are some that would modify or eliminate the current tenure system employed by colleges and universities. We asked UT philosophy lecturer Jeffrey C. Leon and former Wall Street Journal editor Naomi Riley for their views on the tenure system and asked, “Should Texas universities continue to employ the tenure system? Why or why not?”
Emphasis should be placed on online, not offline, reading comprehension, said an education professor who specializes in computer literacy.
Early education in Internet literacy may hold the key to maintaining the United States’ standing as a global power, educators learned at a lecture during the 2011 Texas Association of School Administrators Midwinter Conference on Monday.
