Dreams+-+An+Introduction

= = Consider this well known Chinese proverb.

Image of Chung Tzu was retrieved from [], 24 June 2011. What questions does this raise about what is real for a person? Do you believe our state of dreaming is real in some way? Once upon a time people thought the Earth was flat. Now we have knowledge that it is not. What if this kind of discovery applied to our thoughts around what is real and what is imagined in relation to dreaming? Post your thoughts on the discussion board. *

Why is dreaming important to learn about?
> > ====to freely cross the brain, as such unlocking creativity====
 * ====Everyone dreams in their sleep whether they remember their dreams or not====
 * ====Sleeping dreams are a function of the brain and are believed to be important in filing information and memories and allowing information====
 * ====Dreaming can be of great cultural significance to some people, such as as a channel of communication, or an alternate reality.====
 * ====Dreams can affect a person, emotionally and physically, for example being upset or experiencing sleep disturbances.====
 * ====Being able to direct your dreaming can be useful in problem solving.====
 * ====Dreams can provide inspiration for art, such as stories, film or paintings.====
 * ====Can you think of some more reasons to add here?====

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Post your responses to these questions on the discussion board.
====1. If you could lucid dream to solve a personal or world problem, what issue would you like to find a creative solution to? Design a dream catching machine to record dreams so that people can share their creative ideas easily to be able to work with others to create solutions for important issues.====
 * 1) ====What is dreaming? ( Post your ideas on the discussion board, then you might like to visit [] for a dictionary definition.) ====
 * 2) ==== 'To dream' has different significance to people depending on their upbringing and culture. Share what this means to you. ====
 * 3) ==== Do you think dreaming has an effect on our emotions, and our brain? ====
 * 4) ==== Do you think our emotions and brain have an effect on our dreams? ====
 * 5) ==== Could creativity, memories and dreams be linked, if so how and what implications could this have? ====

//Lucid Dreaming Documentary - The power to enhance your creativity.//
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2. Research to find out more about dreaming. Find out more about why we dream, what dreams mean, about nightmares and cool dreams, how to control them. Create a board game to share what you learn and help others understand more about sleep.



====3. Do animals dream? It is often said that when cats are twitching it is because they are dreaming. Draw a funny comic strip of what a cat, or some other creature might dream about.====

====4. One night a little girl called Sophie is having trouble sleeping when she notices a giant blowing something into the bedroom windows down the street. The giant notices her, reaches through the window, and carries her away...What was the giant blowing? What will happen to Sophie? Will the giant return to the town? You will have to read the book to find out! Read the BFG book by Roald Dahl and paint a piture of what a dream might look like based on the BFG's description OR read and perform the play of the BFG for an audience.====

Image retrieved from, 25 May 2011.

====5. If dreaming influences creativeness, do you think that artists, explorers, scientists and inventors have lots of dreams? Choose a famous creative person or an interesting invention to find out more about.====

Images retrieved from [], 25 May 2011. media type="custom" key="9551648"

6. The concept of dreaming can be found in many forms of artwork, dance, sculpture, paintings to music. Choreograph a dance to either; represent dreaming, or to a piece of music about dreaming.
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====7. Play around with this interactive to see how medical equipment detects and dispays sleep and wakefulness in a person. Often this sort of test is conducted in a sleep lab and is used to find out about sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy.====

====8. Many settlers came to New Zealand because they dreamt of a brighter future, for example many Chinese people immigrated to Otago during the Gold Rush. Investigate to find out about your own ancestry and if it's relevant to you, how and why your family or ancestors came to New Zealand.====
 * ====If we all have dreams why do you think we don’t always remember them? Do you think this could have anything to do with how efficiently our brains are processing information?====
 * ====If we cannot remember things, can we still dream?====
 * ====How could we enhance the use of our dreams to increase our ability to problem solve and be creative?====
 * ====Is it important to have dreams, goals and aspirations?====
 * ====If other creatures dream in their sleep, and this serves the same purpose as for humans;====
 * ====do you think that other creatures also use this access to creativity to form aspirations and goals?====
 * ====does a creature with a short memory not dream as much? What about an elephant? Or a goldfish? Or an amoeba?====
 * ====could it be possible that plants dream?====
 * ====could it be possible that plants dream?====