Editorial Welcome
Captain's Blog
The Main Course
Lesson Plan Binders
12 Cognitive Distortions
How would you help?
Brainteasers
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Welcome to the June 2006 issue of the new Learning Center Exchange!

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Editorial Welcome

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

It's the end of the academic year, and I'm certain many of us are contemplating vacations if we haven't already embarked. The flurry of exams, graduation, end-of-year reports, and other activities is exhilarating and at the same time exhausting. At my institution, the "high" of graduation is wearing off, and we are settling onto our summer routine. All but a few cadets are off campus now, on leave, on academic trips, or at military training, the music of their voices replaced by the cacophony of construction equipment, mowers, and weed eaters, the audible and visible symbols of college summer maintenance. Despite...
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In the Spotlight: The Main Course-Body Paragraphs

By Kyle Cushman, Vermont College of Union Institute and University

Setting up lesson plan binders using PowerPoint and Microsoft Word

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

Basic essay structure always has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. While the introduction and conclusion are the appetizer and dessert of the essay respectively, the body paragraphs are the "meat and potatoes" (or for vegetarians, the tofu and potatoes). A good introduction wets the appetite, tantalizing the reader with an interesting lead and a provocative thesis statement, and the conclusion puts the finishing touches...
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One of my annual summer projects as a course director is to update the PowerPoint slides my instructors and I use in our speed reading class, and then update the lesson plan binders to reflect the changes. The lesson plan pages include a picture of the slide and the notes alongside the picture, plus white space for more handwritten notes…
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Understanding Millennials: Captain's Blog, Stardate 2007-2008

By Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

12 Cognitive Distortions
That Limit College Success

By Dennis Congos, University of Central Florida

Some students inadvertently acquire habits that distort the way they think about, see academics, or their potential for academic success. These are called cognitive, or thinking, patterns. When these patterns inhibit and frustrate success in college, they are called cognitive distortions. Such patterns of thinking can limit college success, result in ...
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Maybe the last time (or first time) you heard about blogs was during the last Presidential election. Bloggers on the east coast allegedly reported information about exit polls publicly on the internet, allowing west coasters to either counter-vote or decide to stay home. This was replayed on The West Wing's most recent election...
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How Would You Help This Student?

By Mona Pelkey, United States Military Academy, West Point

Jeannette has come to you as a last resort. She reports that no matter how hard she studies, she performs poorly on exams. She opens her backpack and pulls out three notebooks, full of Cornell-style notes, for chemistry, math, and history. She pulls out her chemistry text and shows you several...
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Brainteasers

Compiled by Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

Robert Biviano from Herkimer County Community College submitted all of his correct answers and even came up with an alternate way of performing the math calculation in question 5. Great work!

1. Albumen.
2. S (Can You Guess The Next Letter In This Sequence)
3. S again! (One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven…)
4. 1
5. 99 + (99 / 99) = 100 or (999-99)/9 = 100 (thanks Robert!)

Celebrating Mother's Day… Some family fun questions!

1. When Jane and Jim describe their children, they say: "They are all blondes but two, all redheads but two, and all brunettes but two." How many children do they have?
2. If a man's mother-in-law can marry his son, and a woman's father can marry her sister-in-law, can a man marry his widow's sister?
3. A man owned an exquisite oil portrait known to have been painted by a world famous 17th Century Dutch painter. When asked whom the painting was of, he replied, "I have neither sister nor brother, but my mother's daughter is that man's mother." Who was in the painting?
4. A father asks his three sons, Gary, Nick, and Paul, to repeat three times that they are sorry for upsetting their mother. They apologize in unison:
   Gary: We are sorry. We are sorry. We are sorry.
   Paul: We are sorry. We are sorry.
   Nick: We are sorry. We are sorry. We are sorry. We are sorry.

Which boy did exactly as his father had asked?

As always, submit your answers and brainteasers to me at jscibetta3@hotmail.com .

These and April's questions from IQ Challenge, by Lagoon Games.

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