Denise Jackson had such success with her first book that she was inspired to write another. via WBIR-TV

The Socratic dialogue is a particular way of developing children’s, as well as adults’, thinking skills through cooperative dialogue where significant human ideas and values are discussed. By participating in Socratic seminars regularly every other week, preschool children and older students develop their thinking skills. The seminars address literature and art work, with questions such as these: is Pippi Longstocking a good friend, is Jack stupid or smart when he sells his mother’s cow for some beans, or are we born good or evil? In the beginning the students have difficulty expressing their thoughts, but with time their ability to express themselves and to examine ideas critically and logically develops.

The study included seven groups of children, five to sixteen years old. The groups were filmed during three years of philosophizing in the classroom and the films were analyzed. The interaction in the classroom was positively influenced, according to Ann S Pihlgren. The teacher dominated less, more students spoke and the students gradually took over the responsibilities of the teacher to promote exploration in the dialogue. The ability to use the Socratic seminar is learned by students and teachers through practice and by testing the rules of the seminar. The students construct a supportive group culture through their silent interaction, where gestures, glances, and body language are used to show not only support or sympathy for each other, but also cooperation with each other when someone attempts to disturb or to provoke the dialogue. The teacher role changes to one of support, ensuring that the analysis is fruitful and that the dialogue is respectful.

Socratic methods have developed independently in various countries. They all describe a set of methodological steps to attain similar objectives. An opening question is answered by all participants and followed by cooperative, critical analysis. Finally, the new ideas are connected to the everyday life experience of the participants.

It seems as if this ritualized structure and the nurturing culture of the seminar provide a safe circle, helping the participants to try new, bold ideas that they might otherwise not have tested, Ann S. Pihlgren says. By cooperating when examining the ideas they also seem to learn a way to address problems on their own without teacher intervention.

To work with methods connected to the ancient philosopher Socrates may seem out-of-date in a modern school, but that is absolutely not the case, Ann S. Pihlgren states.

The Socratic seminars have been seen as a complement to traditional classroom teaching for hundreds of years. But it is not easy to learn how to stage them to get positive effects. It is especially hard for teachers, who often fall back to their traditional, controlling “teacher” roles. The dissertation offers excellent tools for teachers who want to develop students’ thinking and to foster cooperative group dialogue.

The name of the dissertation: Socrates in the Classroom. Rationales and Effects of Philosophizing with Children. The dissertation can be downloaded as a pdf here.

[Jonas Ablad @ Swedish Research Council]

Frasier Crane and his brother, Niles, both practiced psychiatry on their popular NBC sitcom “Frasier.” Mob boss Tony Soprano had his therapist on HBO’s hit show “The Sopranos.” And HBO has even made therapy the focus of two recent shows — “Tell Me You Love Me” and “In Treatment.”

But all of these TV portrayals may actually make viewers less likely to seek psychological services themselves. That’s according to a new study by three Iowa State University psychologists.

ISU psychology professors David Vogel and Douglas Gentile collaborated with graduate student Scott Kaplan on the study of 369 Iowa State students. It explored how exposure to television shows may contribute to negative perceptions about psychological services that can lead to lower intentions to seek such services. They produced a paper titled “The Influence of Television on Willingness to Seek Therapy,” which was published in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology, a professional journal.

Unflattering portrayals of mental health professionals

Kaplan has conducted a related content analysis on television portrayals of mental health professionals. It found that they’re not favorable.

“Generally, it seems like therapists are portrayed unethically — like sleeping with the client, or implanting false memories, or talking about their clients outside the session,” Vogel said. “These are things that almost never happen with real therapists, but on a show — because they’re probably more exciting — they happen more frequently.”

“Therapists also often are portrayed as buffoons,” Gentile said. “That’s either by being the jokester, like Frasier, or by being the butt of jokes. In either case, these are not positive portrayals. They do not show the skill, expertise and ethics of professional therapists.”

But it’s not just the portrayal of the therapists that may be keeping people out of therapy. It’s also the portrayal of those who seek counseling on TV.

“If you examine the portrayal of the clients, it’s probably as bad or worse,” Vogel said. “So why would you seek therapy if you believe you’re going to be perceived negatively and you’re going to see someone who’s incompetent and not able to help you?”

Because dramas and comedies are the two types of shows that often portray psychologists and psychotherapy, the ISU psychologists asked respondents how often they watched TV comedy and drama shows. They also asked them to assess perceptions of the stigma associated with seeking professional help, attitudes toward therapy, their intentions to seek therapy for psychological and interpersonal concerns, and their feelings of depression.

TV ties to therapy stigma

The study found a positive correlation between viewers’ exposure to comedy and drama shows and their perceptions of stigma associated with seeking professional help. This stigma was then related to lower willingness to seek professional mental health services.

“One of the things that’s important to note about this particular study is that we showed that TV exposure was related to your perceptions of the stigma associated with seeking help, which has been found to be one of the main factors found from inhibiting people from seeking that help,” Vogel said. “So you perceive that yourself, and other people, would be crazy to go (to therapy).”

That’s a problem for those people who could really benefit from professional mental health services. According to Vogel, the most recent studies in the mental health field have found that about half of population experiences a situation in their lives where psychological therapy could be helpful — about 20 percent in a single year. But in a given year, only about 10 percent of the people who could benefit from therapy will seek help from a psychologist or other mental health professional.

“Mental health services are already vastly underutilized, and this cultural stigma is part of the reason,” Gentile said. “And this study suggests that this cultural stigma exists partly because of the way that psychologists and their patients are portrayed on television.”

[Mike Ferlazzo @ Iowa State University]

Developed by the creative team that brings you Make — the groundbreaking magazine devoted entirely to DIY technology — and authored by Matthew Weaver and Duane Wessels, this latest title presents clear, easy-to-follow instructions for making your own easily customizable geeky devices by learning how to build and customize small form factor PCs from scratch.

“We want to show you how they work, how they look (inside and outside), and how you can use them,” write Weaver and Wessels. “We’ve written this book for people who like to tinker with both computer hardware and software.”

The book is also written for those of us who think smaller is better when it comes to computers. As Wessels elaborates, “Nobody wants a large, noisy, 200-Watt computer sitting on their entertainment center. And why use a full-size computer for your network firewall when a much smaller computer gets the job done while using only 1/10th the power? We want people to see how easy and fun it is to turn a small form factor computer into something that you can use in your home or workplace.”

The projects devised by Weaver and Wessels include all the necessary details for building eight different systems, from the shoebox-sized Shuttle system down to the stick-of-gum sized gumstix.

Thorough illustrations and step-by-step instructions make creating these projects easy:

• Digital Jukebox. Play your music collection with this Mini-ITX system that will fit anywhere
• Digital Video Recorder. Record and watch live television using a Shuttle ST62k-based system
• Network Appliances. Create and configure your own router and network monitor using embedded computers from Soekris
• Wi-Fi Extender. Extend the range of your Wi-Fi network with the Access Cube
• Portable Firewall. Protect your computer from unknown networks with a USB-powered firewall based on the OpenBlockS
• Handheld Wi-Fi Console. Turn the ZipIt Wireless Messenger into a go-anywhere, text-only, wireless handheld
• Tiny Bluetooth gizmo. Use the Bluetooth-powered gumstix computer to talk to cell phones, PDAs, and more

Shoebox sized and smaller, small form factor PCs can pack as much computing muscle as everything from a PDA to a full-sized desktop computer. Even better, they consume less power, have few or no moving parts, and are very quiet. Whether you plan to use one as a standalone PC or want to embed it in your next hacking project, this new up-to-the-minute resource from Make Projects is a must.