Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

The annual passing of a student from grade to grade through a school, regardless of the student’s academic performance.  

Disorders that result from malfunctioning of the body’s immune system, which mistakenly attacks the body’s tissues or organs, regarding then as foreign invaders. Among the autoimmune disorders that are commonly found among young people are rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus (Type 1), systemic lupus erythematosus, a disorder of the thyroid gland (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis), a disorder of…

A set of overlapping skills that involve the ears and hearing; closely related to communication skills.  

The nerve that actually carries electrical signals representing sound vibrations from the inner ear to the brain. Malfunctioning of the auditory nerve leads to sensorineural loss, a significant ear and hearing problem. One of a pair of major sensory nerves, the eighth cranial nerves, that carry impulses from the inner ear to the brain for…

The amount of time someone can concentrate on a task without losing interest in or being distracted from it. Increasing attention span is one of the skills a young child develops gradually; however, children with learning disabilities and some other developmental disorders may have heightened distractibility, perhaps as part of a complex of problems known…

Ability to pay attention to a task, including alertness, focusing, vigilance, and selection from among various stimuli.  

In education, the presence of a student in school or in a school-sponsored activity on a day when the school is considered in session. Under compulsory attendance laws, children are required to be present when school is in session, except when having a valid excuse. An attendance or truant officer is normally assigned in the…

A type of scholarship offered to students with outstanding sports abilities, who are expected to make a major contribution to their school’s athletic program. Many highly talented athletes are actively recruited and often offered financial and other material inducements to attend a particular school. Too often, then, the focus is only on the sport, with…

A type of learning style that focuses on relating new knowledge, skills, and concepts to prior learning.  

A type of biopsy using a hollow aspiration needle to obtain a sample of suspect material, such as a possible tumor, from the body for laboratory analysis; also, the technique of removing defective bone marrow from a patient, as part of a bone marrow transplant. The removal of tissue with a needle and syringe, for…