Educational History: Andrew Bell 1753 to 1832

Andrew Bell (1753 to 1832) was a Scottish Anglican priest and educationalist Founder of the Madras system of education (also known as “the monitorial system”) in schools and was the founder of Madras College, a secondary school in St. Andrews. Born 27 March 1753, he was the second son of a barber in St Andrews where a college in the university is still named after him to this day  Madras College. Read more…

Alcohol: How To Remember Not To Forget

This article is all about alcohol, why it causes memory loss and how to prevent this happening when you do drink it.

Alcohols are a family of compounds which contain a hydroxyl group (-OH) [1]. If we are talking about the alcohol which is commonly drunk by people as a beverage, we are talking about ethanol: CH3-CH2-OH.  The hydroxyl group on the end of the carbon chain makes it an alcohol.  When trying to conceive of chemistry it helps to think of lego – all matter is accountable so we can always count and track all the atoms in chemical reactions. Read more…

26th April 2012: The Chemistry of Alcohol or How to Remember Not to Forget by Alex Dunedin

Alcohol

Name of speaker and subject:

Alex Dunedin

Title of talk:

The Chemistry of Alcohol – or How to Remember Not to Forget

Bullet points of what you would like to cover:

  • Alcohol and what alcohols are
  • Why we enjoy drinking
  • Hypoglycaemia and diuretics as the effects of alcohol
  • Why Memory deteriorates when we drink
  • How to avoid memory loss and improve motor coordination

Read more…

9th Mar 2012: Tackling Internal Oppression by Emily Steedman

Forum Theatre

Name of speaker and subject:

Emily Steedman
Augusto Boal’s Rainbow of Desire Theatre Techniques: Working in the context of mental health and community

Title of talk:

Tackling Internal Oppression

Bullet points of what you would like to cover:

  • Overview of Theatre of the Oppressed and Rainbow of Desire techniques
  • A look at how I see those techniques being used in the context of challenging deeply rooted stigma and discriminatory beliefs about mental health and mental ill-health

Read more…

Samuel P. Huntington is a Muppet by Grant Crozier

Samuel P. Huntington’s 1993 article The Clash Civilisations? sparked enormous debate that continues today. There are many things that could be said about Huntington, but this talk will look at whether he was a Muppet, or whether he was very clever. I’m not sure I named this lecture correctly, for a start it shouldn’t be ‘is a Muppet’, it should be ‘was’, as Huntington copped his whack in 2008. But also, as I looked more and more into him and his writing, I started wondering if he’s not a Muppet at all, maybe he’s actually very clever. Wrong, but clever and sneaky to boot.
Now trust me, I don’t think I’m an expert on…, well, anything, but, I’m going to try and explain this theory, why Huntington came up with it, where he went wrong with it and hopefully put forth a good case for it being quite rubbish. Mostly I’m hoping to start a wee debate, cause it’s when we stop talking, stop doubting and start just believing, that the Muppets win. Like Noam Chomsky said; ‘Whenever you hear anything said very confidently, the first thing that should come to mind is, wait a minute is that true?’
Read more…