Some History of Syria and Palestine

The full title of the article is actually "History of Syria and Palestine from the Palaeolithic Age to 100 AD". As this part of the world has always fascinated me, I decided to learn something about it. I have prepared it in the form of a timeline. It stops at about about 100 AD as I wanted to focus more on distant times and also because that was a convenient time to end the current discussion. The article is subject to change as and when I get round to modifying it. For example, I am now rather sceptical that there was an exodus from Egypt to Israel (as described in the Bible) so comments referring to this will need to be edited.

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The Ancient Near East, Canaan and Israel

As I state in the article (bottom of page 2), the main purpose of the article is to describe the origins and development of ancient Israel. This was mainly because of the controversy of Israel's origins. Were they for example, the result of an exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible, or did they arise from an indigenous Canaanite population following the massive upheavals of about 1200 BC when many older civilisations collapsed and others were created and took their place? As other states/empires in the Ancient Middle East had significant effects on the (possible) origins and developments of Israel, details relating to these other regions are also discussed. The article covers a time span of 4000 years from 4000 BC. This article also overlaps with the the above article on the history of Syria and Palestine.

The image on the right shows a relief of Sargon II of Assyria with a dignitary.

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Some of the Origins History and Future of Religion

The article begins by defining religion and stating some prerequisites for religious belief in humans. It then attempts to trace the origins of a primitive religion in tandem with the evolution of humans from early hominids from about 5 million years ago to homo sapiens (us!) to the possible roots of a more sophisticated religion and its functions about 70 thousand years ago. Then follows a discussion of the evolution of religion over time and the question as to whether or not there is a true religion. The article concludes with some speculation as to the future of religion.

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A Guide to Cognitive and Social Development

This article, as the title states, covers aspects of the cognitive and social development of children from birth to adulthood. It deals with both theoretical and practical issues and so should be of interest to students of psychology, parents of children at various stages of development as well as to the general reader.

The picture on the right shows a young boy doing a test for understanding of numbers. Many children of his age, while being able to count objects, show that they do not actually understand what a number means. The article includes links to videos of this and other key ideas. Click on the picture to view the article in a separate tab.

Note: The original article contains a number of 'Sticky Notes'. These may not appear or be readable when the article opens on-line. If this is the case, you will have to download the article and view it with Adobe Reader or another pdf viewer.

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Psychology of Learning and Teaching

This project is based on the course notes used in the course of the same title taught by me at CUHK. The students were training to be secondary school teachers in Hong Kong.

The project follows on from the previous one "A Guide to Cognitive and Social Development" though it focuses on learning and teaching and not with development.

The picture shows the main emphases: the behavioural approach to learning and teaching, the cognitive view, and classroom application for effective learning and teaching.

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The Ascent of Man

From running around the African savannah to landing on the moon is a giant step in man's achievement. This essay looks at some of the key steps in the ascent of man that have made him the dominant creature on Earth today. The idea of came after reading the book "The Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski. I have also taken ideas from other sources and included some of my own.

For the picture (right), I chose the printing press, perfected in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. In the ascent of man. this is one of the most important inventions ever.

Note: As with the previous article, the 'Sticky Notes' may not open on-line. If so, download the article and view it with Adobe Reader or another pdf viewer.

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Organic Chemistry: Natural product research

This project is actually my M.Sc. chemistry thesis carried out many years ago, but some viewers may just be interested in it. The research involves natural products, that is, compounds found in animals or plants; in my case the Alaska-cedar tree (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) (left).

An important part of natural product research is to determine the chemical structure of these naturally-occurring compounds. The basic approach is to do tests and analyse the compound and use the data obtained to infer its structure. The next part is to try to synthesise (make) a substance with the structure inferred. If the properties of this substance correspond with those of the original substance, one can be reasonably certain that the inferred structure is correct. The synthesis involves starting with a simple substance, whose structure is known, and converting this step-by-step into other substances that lead to the substance you want to make. The diagram on the right is taken from my thesis, and shows such a pathway beginning with a simple substance (in this case benzoic acid).

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Dissertation

My PhD required the writing of a dissertation. It involved Educational Psychology, which I was specialising in, combined with the learning and teaching of a topic in secondary school Chemistry. The study contributed to our theoretical understanding of learning and teaching and at the same time had implications for the enhancement of the teaching and learning in the Chemistry classroom. Hence the title of the dissertation, which was:

Mental representation of knowledge for a topic in high school Chemistry

The research for the dissertation was done in Hong Kong after the course-work requirements had been completed at Stanford. The subjects for the research came from a Form 4 Chemistry class at a local secondary school in Shatin, Hong Kong. The study investigated students' understanding of acid-alkali volumetric analysis involving titrations, concentration and related ideas, together with their approaches to solving quantitative calculations in this topic.

The study itself included both qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The final published dissertation was over 500 pages in length, which necessitated two volumes!

Click on the Stanford logo to view the complete dissertation.

To view just the abstract, click on the cartoon.

The Brain and Body Movement: level I

My original plan was to investigate the brain and how it is involved in memory and learning, but somehow I got sidetracked into how the brain controls body movements and decided to continue with this. I soon became aware of just how complex and difficult the topic is and that while much is known, there is still a lot that is not understood at all.

The topic of the brain and body movement is split into two levels of difficulty. Here is the level I article which gives an overview and more-integrated account of how the brain functions during body movements, with a focus on voluntary movements. Because of the complexity of the subject and my relative lack of knowledge, it took many months to complete this Level I article.

The Level II article provides a more in-depth but fragmented treatment of the subject.

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The Brain and Body Movement: Level II

The Level II article covers many of the same topics introduced at Level I but provides a more in-depth treatment. As you read through the article, you will appreciate further just how complex the subject is. Again, because of this, it took a total time for the two articles of about eight months of effort!

The diagram illustrates this complexity. It shows the part of the brain known as the Basal Ganglia and the pathway through it that must be taken before the motor parts of the brain that execute movements can actually do so.

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