Unleash Your Creativity!!!

Right Brain, Left Brain...If I Only Had a Brain....

Albert Einstein said: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Just as "weaknesses become strengths" is one of the reasons why we need humility it is also one of the ways in which we can develop humility.

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them" (Ether 12:27).

Weaknesses sure aren't fun, but the Lord allows us to suffer, and humble us, that we may become strong.

In his early manhood, Benjamin Franklin was very disciplined in his efforts to acquire and maintain the virtues. Looking back on his efforts to gain humility, he says,

“In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself” (Autobiography).

So….a humble person is one who is attentive to and willing to “own” her limitations, weaknesses, and mistakes.

The brain was discussed last month in this class, but now we will continue with the creativity aspect, Unlease Your Creativity!

This is where I’d like to introduce you to the idea that we are all different. (whoa..I know..shocking, right?--**said with deep sarcasm.)

Did you know that the left side of your brain carries a logical, mathematical and linguistic side to it and the right side of your brain is artistic, creative and intuitive? So, as young children, we are pretty right brained and as we grow older the left side of your brain becomes more complex and dominate. It is helpful to understand which side of the brain you can relate most to. I (Sis. Hanks) thought I was very right brained. Through the online tests, they say I am pretty even on both sides. But, I most certainly have the right brained tendency to not think well in words but in pictures and feelings. The right brain is there also to solve problems by thinking out of the box. I think we live in a time where that is very important. However, the left side is super important to get things done and to express ourselves with our words.

I’d like to introduce you to mindmaps (I may have introduced it previously):

Leonardo da Vinci is a famous artist and studies reveal that he was ambidextrous. Some say that da Vinci utilized mind maps to complete his works of art. Because of this, a lot of artists as well as writers are now considering the use of mind maps in completing their works.

In the links below, we will collaborate and make a group mindmap, join me!

Required:

1- Go to your email, find the email from “GroupMap” and participate in our group mindmap about the life of William Shakespeare. Contribute in areas you know, but please expand on any of these ideas or make your own. Also, if you want to make your own group mindmap with a topic, we’d all love to participate.

2- Go to one of these 2 sites and pick 1 activity for us to do during Vanguard, you lead it.

Left brain exercises: http://www.learningrx.com/left-brain-exercises-faq.htm

Right brain exercises:http://www.gocreate.com/workouts/index.shtml

Left Brain: http://www.totthoughts.com/activities-logical-mathematical-intelligence/

Inspirements- 1 or more...:

1. Take the Right Brain/Left Brain test: http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/index.html

2.   Make your own group mindmap with a topic, we’d all love to participate. Invite us to join you!!  Here is a website for some ideas you could use for topics: http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/

3. Research a famous person, tell us if you think they are left brain dominant or right brain dominant, or if they are able to really use both well.

4. Do one or more of these activities and share with us what you did. Did it make a difference?

Left brain exercises: http://www.learningrx.com/left-brain-exercises-faq.htm

Right brain exercises:http://www.gocreate.com/workouts/index.shtml

Left Brain: http://www.totthoughts.com/activities-logical-mathematical-intelligence/

March 2015

FORENSICS

Sherlock Holmes, in A Study in Scarlet:

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that this little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for any addition of knowledge, you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
Part 1, chap. 2

• Watch this TEDTalk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZd2oLIIMw

What Sherlock Holmes Can Teach Us About Decision Making - Maria Konnikova

• Make this: http://micro.sci-toys.com/waterdrop

Build A Waterdrop Microscope

• OR Make this: http://www.space.com/24114-how-to-build-a-telescope-science-fair-projects.html?onswipe_redirect=no&oswrr=1

How To Build A Telescope / Science Fair Projects

• Read about Edmond Locard, the Father of Forensics: http://forensicsciencecentral.co.uk/edmondlocard.shtml
• 
  
• Read about something else forensic-y and tell us about it!

Edmond Locard,

Father Of Forensics

Edmond Locard, along with fellow Frenchman Alphonse Bertillon, was a pioneer in the move from criminal investigations based primarily on witness accounts to those based on rigorous scientific attention to physical evidence. He was greatly influenced by Sherlock Holmes and worked as a medical examiner during World War I, determining the cause and location of soldier’s deaths by looking at stains and damage to their uniforms. In 1910, he set up the world’s first forensic laboratory.

Locard is most famous for coining “Locard’s principle of exchange,” which is still the foundation of all criminal forensics. It states that every perpetrator will bring something to a crime scene and take something away from it, or in summary, “every contact leaves a trace.” His belief in the primacy of physical evidence bordered on faith. His views were summarized by Paul Kirk, who said “This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value.”