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A glossary of Italian cooking ingredients and terms.
Ideal for people who are studying Italian and need some handy translations or for those who would like to understand Italian menus better particularly when travelling.
13 February 2017
In the 1920s a group of psychologists led by Kurt Lewin, an early pioneer social psychology, would meet regularly at a local restaurant to debate and exchange ideas. Their meetings were also a chance to marvel at the incredible skills of one of the restaurant's waiters: a man who, without the need of pen or notepad, seemed able to remember the complex food and drink orders of large numbers of diners and deliver them, without error, to the table concerned.
So impressive were the waiter's feats that one of the group, young academic by the name of Blumama Zeigarnik, decided to undertake an impromptu experiment. After another faultless delivery of food and drink, she and her colleagues covered their plates and glasses with their napkins and asked the waiter to recall what each of them had ordered. He couldn't do it. He didn't even come close.
At first glance this seems baffling. Barely minutes had elapsed since the waiter's successful delivery. So how could such an accomplished memory perish in a matter of moments? Zeigarnik thought she knew the answer.
Immediately after the last plate of food and final drink had been placed on the table, the waiter's task was no longer an incomplete one. He had finished and no longer had any need to invest effort or attention in the job at hand.
What emerged from this initial observation and dozens subsequent studies, was what we now call the Zeigarnik Effect. Simply put, our attention is drawn to, and we tend to remember, incomplete or interrupted tasks much more than completed ones.
In another example, a study found that viewers of a series of TV advertisements were able to recall one particular set of ads much more readily and remember them for longer than the comparable set of ads. Why? Because even though the messages conveyed for each product were the same, one set of ads froze abruptly a few seconds before the finish. As a result, the viewers never saw the end. It seems that when it comes to influencing what people pay attention to, there is something compelling about the unfinished. It's an insight that could prove useful to educators and learners alike.
For example, should we question the use of a summary? It reinforces what has been taught and brings the session to a conclusion, but would it be better to stop just as you are starting the summary?
7 February 2017
The desktop version is now available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
5 January 2017
Our website has a new name:
The Learning Repository.
It has been changed to The Learning Repository to more clearly reflect the purpose of the site clearer and the increasing number of free resources.
It can be accessed from either LearningRepository.co.uk or MWLS.com
4 January 2017
Been stuck for words at a business meeting? Let this 'Business Jargon Generator' do the work for you. (Java, 4KB)
Now available for Linux as well as OSX and Windows.
22 November 2016
Desktop version is now available for Linux as well as Windows and Mac OSX.
21 November 2016
After spending many hours searching the Internet and following many different instructions and typing thousands of commands into the terminal with the process always failing (usually at the last input), I've finally found a way of installing Java on Ubuntu.
To run Java programs you need to have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed. You can see whether it is already installed by checking the version: In the Terminal (search for 'Terminal'), type:
$ java -version
If the required version of Java is not already installed, try running the Software Updater and check again, otherwise install the required version from a different repository:
$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:openjdk-r/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install openjdk--jre
$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
[Choose version by entering the Selection Number of the required version]
This method will also probably work for Debian and Linux Mint.
If you want to develop programs you will, of course, also need the Java Development Kit installed, so enter:
$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
instead of:
$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jre
18 November 2016
Arrange 6 Matches to make 4 equilateral triangles whose sides are one matchstick long.
This icebreaker encourages creative thinking.
8 November 2016
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