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Weird Science: Why Do We Dream?
John PhD
Star Educator
Popular
Average rating:5.0Number of reviews:(202)
In this one-time class, students will learn about a number of theories that may explain a common human experience - dreaming!
Class experience
US Grade 4 - 7
Science can be beautiful, miraculous, and sometimes downright weird! Do you know why we dream? Does anyone?! Dreaming is still a huge mystery. The (maybe disappointing) answer as to why we dream is… we don’t really know! While we may not have a definitive answer why we dream, we do have many excellent theories backed by interesting scientific studies. Do we dream to manifest desires? To practice situations we don’t often find ourselves in? Maybe we dream to remember… or to...
Science and psychology fans will learn about some theories on why we dream - something to think about the next time you’re dreaming about being a billionaire!
I have taught science to students from elementary to University for over 15 years.
Select References: Eagleman and Vaughn (2021). The Defensive Activation Theory: REM Sleep as a Mechanism to Prevent Takeover of the Visual Cortex. Frontiers in Neuroscience Barrett (2017). Dreams and creative problem-solving. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences El-Solh (2018). Management of nightmares in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder: current perspectives. Nature and Science of Sleep Káli and Dayan (2004). Off-line replay maintains declarative memories in a model of hippocampal-neocortical interactions. Nature Neuroscience Valli et al. (2005). The threat simulation theory of the evolutionary function of dreaming: Evidence from dreams of traumatized children. Consciousness and Cognition Wamsley et al. (2010). Cognitive Replay of Visuomotor Learning at Sleep Onset: Temporal Dynamics and Relationship to Task Performance. Sleep
Hello, Outschoolers! My name is John and I have been a scientist and educator for over 15 years. I hold a Bachelor of Science (Honors in Biology), Master of Applied Sciences, and a Ph.D. in biology. Over my BSc, MSc and PhD I have designed and...
Group Class
$21
per classMeets once
25 min
Completed by 32 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-14
2-10 learners per class
