Many of us have collected things at some point in our lives, whether it’s coins, records, CDs, or stuffed animals. You might be surprised by the range of weird and wonderful things that people like to collect. Some examples I’ve seen around the internet include sugar packets, traffic cones, and umbrella covers. Visually, collections are […]
Describe your current level of pain using the scale below. Use the scale below to indicate your current level of happiness. Rate your degree of agreement for the following statement using either a 4-, 6-, or 11-point scale of your choosing from strongly disagree to strongly agree. “I lead a purposeful and meaningful life.” From […]
Have you ever had a moment where a word was on the tip of your tongue, but you couldn’t quite remember it? For a bit of fun, here are two questions that might generate this feeling for you: What is the traditional, long, wooden, Aboriginal wind instrument most associated with the Indigenous peoples in Australia? […]
The Black Mirror episode “Nosedive” (2016) introduces a society where people constantly rate their interactions with each other through their smartphones. Those ratings deeply influence outcomes in their everyday life, including high-stakes situations such as access to housing and freedom of transit. Leaving aside the dystopian aspects, people in that society managed to solve an […]
The “same or different” concept is something we all learned as a child. We were shown two images and asked if they were the same or different. This activity teaches us to compare objects in the world; it introduces critical thinking and has applications in mathematics. The same/different task has also been used in visual […]
It’s a beautiful day outside. While you recline comfortably under a tree, you see a small creature in the distance. It has four legs, a long tail, brown fur, and dark eyes that stare directly at you. If you had no prior experience with a creature like this, how would you encode and later remember […]
Much to the chagrin of my Vietnamese parents, and probably also a few French teachers from my school years, I never picked up a language beyond English well enough to comfortably call myself bilingual. I think the closest thing to a bilingual experience I’ve ever had was when I attempted to order in French at […]
Quests A quest is a journey or mission to some goal, usually fraught with obstacles, twists and turns, and hopefully, some epiphanies along the way. Neil Armstrong. Harry Potter. Indiana Jones. Katniss Everdeen. Merida. Dorothy. Each individual had their individual quests for exploration, peace, facts, freedom, home, or truth, while others, like myself, sought education […]
Everyone struggles to remember things. Whether it’s a home address, someone’s phone number, or even a new acquaintance’s name—it’s challenging to recall information when we need to. We have lost count of the number of times we’ve been introduced to someone only to immediately forget their name. However, some things might be easier to remember […]
Have you ever had the experience of talking with someone and partway through, you realize that while you both might be using the same vocabulary, what you mean is quite different? Sometimes, this comes from a generational gap. Slang words change frequently, and some words don’t have the same meaning that they once did. For […]