Friday, November 3 Analogies, Solutions and IMRT

Weekly Postings
Monday: Marzano's 'Problem is Posed'
Tuesday: Maintaining Attitude
Wednesday: Solution Support, to Marzano's 'Problem is Posed'
Thursday: Me and My Shadow
Friday: Solution to Marzano's 'Problem is Posed' So what...?
Saturday: Treatment Update and Effects
Sunday: Picture Gallery (send me a picture if you want it posted)

Comparing the Doctor's and the General’s Problems.
The Doctor had a similar problem to the General, however when people were asked to solve the Doctor's problem, only 10 % of people could solve this problem when it was first presented to them.

Using a Comparison to Solve the Doctor’s Problem
Gick and Holyoak were rather surprise by this rather low percentage. As a result they presented their subjects with the General’s problem as an analogy. Having more easily figured out the General’s problem, 90% of the subjects were then able to come back to resolve the Doctor’s problem. Why is it that people find the Doctor's problem easier to solve after hearing and solving the General’s problem?

It's all about the Similarities and Differences
Marzano, felt that once similarities and differences are identified between a story which is easy to understand, and one that is difficult to solve, the solution becomes more obvious. His major finding was that presenting subjects with explicit instructions to identify differences and similarities enhances their ability to use knowledge. In addition, his research revealed that identifying differences and similarities were basic to human thought and resulted in the greatest level of learning compared to any other teaching strategy. As a result the use of analogy may just be the most powerful of teaching and learning tools.

Grandpa and Grandma
So grandpa and grandma knew the importance of telling us those stories that had a message and a moral. Somehow they hoped that we could learn, from these stories and analogies, if only we could apply them to our own lives.

Now the Solution to Wednesday’s Military Problem

See Wednesday, November 1 - Same Problem Different Story
The General devised a simple plan. He divided his army into small groups and dispatched each group to a different road. When all was ready he gave the signal and each group marched down a different road. Each group continued down the road to the fortress so that the entire army arrived together at the fortress at the very same time. In this way, with maximum force, the General captured the fortress and overthrew the dictator.

Now the Solution to Monday’s Doctor Problem, So What is IMRT?

See Monday, October 30 Marzano, Teaching and Healing
As mentioned the Doctor’s problem is an more uncommon one, however it is more relevant, to me, because it is an example what the doctors are dealing with in terms of my tumor. The Doctor's Dilemma illustrates the General's as well as the theory behind the type of radiation that is involved in my treatment. Intensity Modulation Radiation Therapy, (IMRT) is presently being used to deliver the radiation to my tonsil and surrounding tissue.


IMRT

Intensity Modulation

Radiation Therapy

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is a more precise method for treating cancer while sparing surrounding structures. This State-of-the-art technique was pioneered in the 90's in Stockholm, London , Houston and at Memorial in New York. It is a highly precise technique employing hundreds of tiny 'beamlets' in place of the standard 4 or 6 beams to tailor the radiation to the cancerous tissues. This technique became commercially available in 2002 . In the image shown, multi-beam segments (beamlets) that are focused on a tumor from multiple directions.

A physical setup in intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) planning is determined by the irradiation geometry - the geometric arrangement of the beam directions - and intensity maps representing the fluence distributions on each of the beams The mathematical task of radiotherapy planning is to compute a physical setup that yields an optimally shaped dose distribution in the body tissue. One strives for an ideal distribution, that applies a high curative dose to the tumor volume in order to guarantee the success of the treatment with a sufficiently high probability, but keeps the radiation in neighboring organs at risk as small as possible in order to avoid serious complications.

This is particularly inportant for cancers of the head, neck and throat due to all the organs and processes that take place in these regions.

Thanks!

Just want to thank everyone who bared with me throughout the week to get pick up some info on IMRT...