FCS FLASH ISSUE 102: April 14, 2009
April 17: Downey: 2009 Culinary Arts and Hospitality Competition:
California Dreamin’:
April 17: Fresno:
CCCECE Spring Region 5 Meeting, Fresno City College, 9am-1pm
April 17: TBA:
CCCECE Spring Region 10, 9am-1pm
April 18: Yosemite: The Western Region of the Costume Society of America: “Springtime
in the Sierras” a field trip to Yosemite
April 22-24: Lake Arrowhead:
2009
Workforce Leaders Institute
April 24: San Diego:
CDE/ECE Faculty Initiative Project
May 1: Chico:
CCCECE Spring Region 1, Chico College, 1pm-4pm
May 1: Cupertino:
CCCECE Spring Region 4, DeAnza College, 10am-4pm
May 1: Los Angeles:
CCCECE Spring Region 7, LA City College, 9am-1pm
May 2: Northridge:
Careers in Aging (Re)Boot Camp
May 7: Mission Viejo: Annual Fashion Show:
La Mode Du Cirque
May 8: Livermore:
CCCECE Spring Region 3, Las Positas College, 10am-2:30pm
May 8: San Luis Obispo:
CCCECE Spring Region 6, Cuesta College, 9am-1pm
May 15: Sacramento:
CCCECE Spring Region 2, Cosumnes River College, 9am-12pm
May 16: Redwood City: Student Fashion Show: “BAM
- Beauty, Art, Madness”
May 22: Long Beach:
CCCECE Spring Regions 8 & 9, Long Beach City College, 9am-12pm
May 22: Pasadena:
CCCECE Spring Regions 8 & 9, Pasadena City College, 9am-12pm
September 25-26: Sacramento: CSA Western Region, 2009 Symposium “Costume
in the American West” Call For Papers
FCS “UpDates”: To begin, check out the latest edition of CA-AFCS Contempo Newsletter, and what President, Marge Lichty has to say about supporting high school programs. Next, review The Careers Project -- highlights of statewide efforts to help students in public middle and high schools explore their career options. Then take a look at Allen Martin’s, Cal State Northridge, great money saving strategies; Roger Gerard’s, Shasta College, nostalgic look at design and travel; and Dana Wu Wassmer’s, Cosumnes River College, answers to “Can food make you smarter?” Finally, read how Rachael Libolt, Palomar College, with the support of CA-AFCS, has built a fabulous Industry Partnership Program and website.
FCS FLASH: Hand-Made Minds
According
to neurologist and author of The Hand, Frank Wilson, there is a
significant
connection between our brains and our hands. In fact, Wilson contends
that the hand built the brain as much as the brain built the hand.
Furthermore, he believes that working with our
hands help us solve problems and generate ideas. Organizations like JPL,
NASA, and Boeing concur with Wilson. When hiring research development
problem-solvers, they look to hire engineers who have “done stuff” with
their hands as well as their heads. Regardless of their brainpower, even
summa cum laude grads from Cal Tech and Harvard, have to demonstrate their
hand-made minds to land jobs with these research giants. In today’s
whole brain exercise, students will experience the hand/brain connection
as they continue to gather strategies to learn better and faster.
Do this:
Ask students questions about what they do with their hands ... play an
instrument, fix their cars, lay tile ...
Explain that research shows that working with our hands helps us solve
problems and generate ideas.
Tell them you are going to give them an opportunity to experience a
hand/brain connection.
Distribute the instructions for
origami boat to each person and a sheet of blank 8 1/2 x 11 blank or
lined notebook paper.
Have students work together so they can discuss and follow the directions as
they each “build” their boats.
Discuss the outcomes. How did this assignment feel? What is the advantage of
hands-on learning? How will you use this information in your lives? How did
working on a team help them?
FYI: The hand speaks to the brain as surely as the brain speaks to the hand. Robertson Davies, What’s Bred in the Bone.
This newsletter
was brought to you by a grant from the California Community College
Chancellor's Office Family and Consumer Science Collaborative Grant
(#08-0160).
Please contact Joann Driggers (jdriggers@mtsac.edu)
with any questions.
MT. SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE 1100 N. GRAND AVENUE, WALNUT, CA 91789
909-594-5611 x5203
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