A small group of students watched in stunned silence as a young woman moaned and banged her head against her bed pillow, over and over, for no apparent reason. They observed a small dog collapse in a heap while running after his owner. Finally, they saw a young boy screaming with terror as his mother tried to comfort him in the middle of the night. No, they were not watching a horror movie, they were observing videos of case files on sleep disorders at the Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic.The group of 25 plus students toured the ultramodern facility Friday. The center specializes in treating patients for various sleep disorders.According to Robert Tagnoli, a sleep technologist at the clinic, an estimated six percent of Americans are affected by sleep distorders. Patients are admitted in the evening and are put in one of the sleep rooms where they are constantly monitored and hooked up to a multitude of sensors that transmit information to a command center where the data is later analyzed.”We normally need at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep to achieve a valid test,” Tagnoli said, standing next to one of the collection stations that compile information on the patients. From there the technologists comb through the data with powerful computers to locate any potential problems that the patient may have during the night. The Skyline students touring the Stanford facility belong to Professor Jennifer Merrill’s psychology 100 classes, and were on one of several outside activities that she plans each semester. “One of the things I like about psychology is its applicable to your life,” Merrill said. “You can learn it in class but you don’t get how it works for you.” Merrill tries to show her students how the principles they learn in the classroom apply to real life. She does this through the various activities she plans for them each semester. “When professors use hands on experience, it helps us understand the material being covered,” said Ward, a student in Merrill’s class “It makes it more interesting.”Ward finds the correlation between the activities and the lectures helpful to learning. At least one connection was made for Ward when the subject of lucid dreaming came up, a state where you know you are dreaming, and you can actually take control of the dream. She’s done that, except in the future she intends to see if she can really control the dream. Dr. Rafael Pelayo, who has been with the Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic for 10 years, related his first hand experiences about sleep disorders and their treatments to the students. He conceded that scientists have no idea why we sleep. Sleep is not covered in medical school, according to Pelayo.”Sleeping makes no sense at all,” Pelayo said. Although psychologists know various species have sleep patterns peculiar to them, one thing is clear that applies universally- we all need sleep to survive. Merrill’s students participate in other outside activities as well. Some of them right on campus, such as the blindfold challenge. When the students are learning about the five senses and how they compensate for each other when one or more fails, Merrill has them take to the campus quad blindfolded. They are meant to experience the sensation of experiencing the world without sight and to see if, and how, their other senses compensate. “We have to try and read a license plate,” said Brett Caprio, a psychology major. “We have to see how well we can feel, how well we can hear while blindfolded. That was pretty fun.” Merrill wants to involve her students in the learning. From events at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where they take part in sensation and perception experiments, to the trip to Angel Island where they see, firsthand, the discrimination and prejudice that was directed toward Chinese immigrants, Merrill tries to infuse them with knowledge and understanding that comes from being outside the classroom. “All I can do is offer those experiences,” Merrill said, “What they choose to do with that opportunity is completely up to them. Some choose to embrace it.”