Friday, March 22, 2013
The Map of Scientific Thinkers
UK blogger Crispin Jago has produced an interactive map of scientific thinkers based on the London Underground.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Japanese History Lessons
Here's a BBC article (written by a former IB student) about history teaching in Japanese schools. She suggests that students' perception of events during the Sino-Japanese War and Second World War may have serious effects on international relations in the region, and therefore history teachers have considerable responsibility in shaping future events as well as accounts of those in the past. As in many countries, history teaching has become very politicised, and debates seem to be raging between the authors of different textbooks about how history should be presented in the classroom.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Child Abuse and False Memories
In 1987, in the county of Cleveland, England,121 cases of suspected child sexual abuse were diagnosed by paediatricians Marietta Higgs and Geoffrey Wyatt. All of the children were subsequently removed from their families (57 families in all).
After a number of trials, the cases involving 96 of the 121 children were dismissed by the courts, and they were returned to their parents. In a number of cases, it was adjudged that the doctors had misinterpreted some physical evidence, while the memories of abuse cited by some of the children were queried. It appeared that some of the children may have experienced ‘false memories’ (as in a number of similar cases) which developed during therapy.
Dr. Higgs still vehemently defends her actions, and she believes she acted correctly. Meanwhile, over the intervening years a debate has developed between those who believe that false memories such as these can be created easily and those who argue that doubting the memories of possible victims may allow abusers to escape prosecution. The article from the British newspaper, The Independent, below, sets out these arguments (although it is rather old now):
After a number of trials, the cases involving 96 of the 121 children were dismissed by the courts, and they were returned to their parents. In a number of cases, it was adjudged that the doctors had misinterpreted some physical evidence, while the memories of abuse cited by some of the children were queried. It appeared that some of the children may have experienced ‘false memories’ (as in a number of similar cases) which developed during therapy.
Dr. Higgs still vehemently defends her actions, and she believes she acted correctly. Meanwhile, over the intervening years a debate has developed between those who believe that false memories such as these can be created easily and those who argue that doubting the memories of possible victims may allow abusers to escape prosecution. The article from the British newspaper, The Independent, below, sets out these arguments (although it is rather old now):
