Robin Staple's Page

A recent article in Science details a study conducted at the University of Colorado that focused on tackling the gender gap in Physics.Interestingly, while normal techniques - exam prep, for instance - did help, what really closed the gap was something entirely unrelated. In fact, it had nothing to do with Physics, whatsoever.Students were asked to write an essay about things they valued (family, friends etc). A control group was asked to write the essay about things they did not value, things…See More

Following on from Thursday’s ‘Imbibed’ blog post, the following Chinese proverb came to my attention:“Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.”What is highly interesting about this proverb is how it pits ‘doing right due to extrinsic motivation’ (laws) against the implied ‘doing right due to intrinsic motivation’ (right conduct). As Thursday’s blog post outlined, it is motivation of the…See More

According to a recent article in New Scientist magazine, which reports on a study conducted by Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, on “the link between religion and a willingness to inflict punishment”, religious cues, such as words like “holy” or “divine” act on the brain to “awaken the concept of appropriate punishment”. It goes on to mention that this can be…See More

It seems as though, in the eyes of this government (and the one before it, to be honest), the main aim of education is to grow the economy. In other words, today’s children are tomorrow’s bread-winners and that is what they need to be prepared for.No doubt earning one’s way in life is important. Certainly, being able to work and earn a living wage is indeed foundational to one’s well-being.God clearly thought so when he supplied the bread that the people of Israel needed for survival during…See More

“Tell [name] to [undertake an action]”. Have you come across this sentence in school? I suspect it is quite a common sentence among children! In fact, it is quite a common sentence among adults too - and I reckon this is not what Jesus meant when he asked us to be "childlike"!Jesus came across this very sentence, as recorded in the gospel of Luke:“Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’” (…See More

Sick of pushy parents? Or perhaps you wish that some of the parents at your school “pushed” a bit more? In loco parentis can be hard when the parents seem almost completely absent!Maybe “pushy parents” don’t deserve their bad reputation...Because according to a recent article in The Guardian, their methods seem to work. It reports that “researchers found that children from poorer…See More

A catchy title which is a blatant attempt to capitalise on the hype surrounding the upcoming cinema film of the same name. Before I get back to that, though, let’s take a look at an exemplary life portrayed in the Old Testament: that of Joshua, son of Nun (which does not, by the way, mean he did not have a father - sorry for the pun).Joshua, the exemplary leader, is known for many things: having an entire book of the Bible named after him. Being Moses’ successor. Fighting the battle of Jericho…See More

“Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.” Exodus 19:12It can serve us well to reflect from time to time on what Jesus has done for us and what that means for humans everywhere. In Exodus God instructs Moses to put a boundary around Mount Sinai which people are forbidden from…See More

"We'll never grow to spiritual maturity until we learn to do what's right even when it feels wrong" Joyce Meyers, quoted by Rick Warren.The above tweet by Rick Warren really caught my attention. We are used to hearing about “doing what’s right even when we don’t feel like doing it” or “doing what’s right even when other people might think it is wrong”.But “doing what’s right even when it feels wrong” is a strange concept. It…See More

“Esau then understood that his father Isaac did not approve of Canaanite women.” (Genesis 28:8 GNT)You’ve got to feel for Esau. Yes, he was a bit of a trouble maker. Alright, he was quite foolish to simply trade away his rights as a first-born son for a bowl of bean soup (as tasty as that sounds).But the poor guy, having married two Canaanite women at the age of forty (…See More

No, not some form of prosperity gospel. On the contrary. This formula represents a radical rethinking of cultural norms. The pursuit of wealth is a driving force in our society, as it was when Paul wrote the following words:“Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6, KJV)But what does he mean? Are we to be poor? Certainly not. Paul is reacting here against “false teachers” who are using a “show of godliness” to…See More

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1, KJV)While we are definitely not called to be strange, we are called as Christians to be strangers in this world. 1 Peter 1:1 is addressed to “the scattered strangers”. Other translations put it as “strangers in the world, scattered...” (…See More

Recent news headlines seem to have been dominated by government cuts, the spending review and unsettling economic news. Granted, some attention was given to the small matter of 400.000 leaked secret records on the Iraq war, but it seems to have focused mainly on whether or not WikiLeaks was right to make the documents available. It generally seems to have been of secondary importance to a…See More