Re: Wired Science 4-11-2012 DNA Ain’t Destiny. No Kidding “you are — a constant conversation between your genes and the environment, which includes both you and the surrounding world” Yes, it can’t be said enough that genes do not programmatically determine who we become. And, the way you put it is a big improvement over the old dichotomy of nature v nurture […]
Re: Getting Our Kids Ready for the Competition – the Great Conversations and the 32,000,000 Missing Words! by Dick Jacobs Your piece creates a great framework for conversation but one point needs clarification: “Cognitive science tells us that if learning our reading fundamentals doesn’t start very early and the skills aren’t in place by age nine or ten, […]
From Science 2.0: Of 3,500 college applicants, more than a third couldn’t report their weight accurately. The heavier they were, the less accurate their estimates. “This misperception is important because the first step in dealing with a weight problem is knowing that you have one,” said Margarita Teran-Garcia, a University of Illinois professor of food science […]
What happens to you when you become confused? How do you feel? Most of our children are growing up in environments (families, schools, peer groups…) that insidiously (mostly unintentionally but nevertheless pervasively) teach them to blame themselves for feeling confused. Children who blame themselves for feeling confused feel shame when they feel confused. Naturally, subconsciously-automatically, children […]
The other night I received a call from the cable company. The voice explained that it was calling about an appointment I had scheduled and asked whether I wanted to keep the appointment, cancel, or reschedule it. After saying I wanted to keep it, the voice asked me if I or someone over 18 would […]
Re: the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Article: “We Can’t Teach Students to Love Reading” by Alan Jacobs, professor of English at Wheaton College. An important missing distinction: Most of the people who ‘love’ reading began loving it when they were children. In the past few decades there has been an unprecedented decline in how lovable reading is for most children […]
Re: Brain’s involvement in processing depends on language’s graphic symbols (3/29/2012) “Readers whose mother tongue is Arabic have more challenges reading in Arabic than native Hebrew or English speakers have reading their native languages, because the two halves of the brain divide the labor differently when the brain processes Arabic than when it processes Hebrew […]
Re: Stanford School of Medicine – March 21, 2012 – Imaging study reveals differences in brain function for children with math anxiety This study is important reading for anyone interested in understanding the emergence of neuroscience in support of unhealthy learning, maladaptive schema, and Mind-Shame. Absent from the article are two critical distinctions: 1) Math Anxiety is a form […]
Learning (v) is the exercise of intelligence. Learning(n) is the memory-effects of the exercise of intelligence (like muscle-effects result from physical exercise). To whatever degree our intelligences (physical, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, social, spiritual, visual, musical, etc..) aren’t genetically determined, our intelligences grow – extend – adapt – evolve – improve (whatever other word you might prefer) […]
Re: “U.S. Education Woes Threaten National Security, Report Says” Education Week 3-20-2012 Of course everything about the future ultimately depends on our children’s learning. Certainly the economy and how well it resources traditional national security activities is one dimension. But the bigger issue is how well our nation learns. We as a nation must learn […]
