Category: TED Videos

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Sleep and Teenagers: Why Teens Need More Sleep Than Adults

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Sleep and Teenagers: Why Teens Need More Sleep Than Adults

As children grow and move to the teenage level, they become a significant stage of their growth and development. Therefore, at this stage, they need more sleep than adults. The average teen needs about eight to nine hours of sleep each night to feel attentive and refreshed. Many factors keep teens from getting enough sleep, and one of the reasons is – early schooling.

Wendy Troxel studies and specialises in behavioural treatments for insomnia and other sleep-related disorders. She believes teens don’t get enough sleep because of Snapchat, social lives or hormones. It’s because of public policy. Drawing from her experience as a sleep researcher, clinician and mother of a teenager, Troxel confers how early school start times withdraw teenagers from sleep during the time of their lives when they need it most. Continue reading “Sleep and Teenagers: Why Teens Need More Sleep Than Adults” →

Why Do Students Cheat in Exams? | The Concept of Predictable Irrationality

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Why We Cheat? | The Concept of Predictable Irrationality

Yesterday one of my students, who is now in high school, came to me, sharing the good news about his achievement in a school exam. As the conversation proceeds, he asks me, ‘Sir, why do we cheat? What difference does it make if a person succeeds by cheating and a person who did not cheat? This question is not new to me as the pupils usually ask when they are caught up doing cheating in exams or observe any cheating in the classroom. However, this question reminds me of a year old TEDx video of Dan Ariely, who shared his hospital experience when he was severely burnt and talked about the concept of ‘Predictable Irrationality’.

What is Predictable Irrationality? It means a person is very well aware of their decision(s) and its repercussions; still, the person wants to make that decision. Cheating is one of the kinds of decisions that students and adults make when they want to achieve something or when things are getting ‘wrong’. One may ask, what encourages us to cheat? According to Dan Ariely, it is all about duration and intensity, i.e. how much time we have to complete any given task or target and at what strength we are working. Continue reading “Why Do Students Cheat in Exams? | The Concept of Predictable Irrationality” →

Why Kids Lie, and Why It’s Difficult to Detect their Lies

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali
  1. Why Kids Lie, and why it’s difficult to detect their lies
    By Ahmad Amirali

‘Sir, I will not come to school because I am not feeling well’, ‘Sir, my monthly evaluations are going to start so I will not come in today’s class’, ‘Sir, my aunt, passed away, I will not come today’. These are the messages which I normally received by an absentee. Although, I eventually find out that all these were excuses (lies) when the absent students’ deceased aunt called me to inform about her nephew’s (my student) cello classes. The cello sessions were the reason behind his skipping my classes but why he lied about it? Instead, he can share the real reason and we might sort out the middle way. What makes him think that I would rather lie to my sir instead of being truthful. Continue reading “Why Kids Lie, and Why It’s Difficult to Detect their Lies” →

The Longest Study on Human Development that Might Change the Way We Live or Think

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

The Longest Study on Human Development that Might Change the Way We Live or Think

For the past 70 years, scientists in the United Kingdom have been studying thousands of children through their lives to find out why some end up happy and healthy while others struggle. It’s the longest-running study of human development in the world, and it’s produced some of the best-studied people on the planet while changing the way we live, learn and parent. Continue reading “The Longest Study on Human Development that Might Change the Way We Live or Think” →