From Brain Mysteries 4-20-12: “We’re seeing that there are a lot of effects of social status on genes, including our own, but we are also seeing that many of the changes aren’t permanent …” Tung said [ lead author Jenny Tung, a visiting assistant professor in Duke University’s evolutionary anthropology department]. This study is “just the tip of […]
Re: Kids’ Cognition Is Changing—Education Will Have to Change With It (The Atlantic 2-29-12) Real educational reform must start with reforming the very mission of education. In the face of the ever increasing rate of techno-social-workplace changes taking place we have to stop assuming that ‘what we think children should learn is more important than […]
The Brain Clock “Times” featured a story entitled: “We only use 10% of our Brains anyway!” The story, while dispelling the “we only use 10% of our brain” misconception, perpetuates an even more insidious one. The author traces the origin of the 10% myth back to William James who is reported to have said: “We […]
Re: Greg Laden’s Blog: Modern Neuroscience Verifies a Peircian Idea Interesting reference to a recent paper in Neuroscience related to the role of long-term memory in orienting attention. It offers an interesting paradigm that is related to our interest in the ‘cycle of engagement’ that enables and constrains learning.
Re: Discovering How to Learn Smarter http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/02/discovering-how-to-learn-smarter/ Responded on two levels: 1) re: self-esteem: There is a difference between self-esteem as accumulated positivity and self-esteem as a buoyant absence of self-negativity. Of the two major domains of unhealthy learning, maladaptive cognitive schema and unconscious emotional aversions, the later, and in particular ‘mind-shame’, is largely the result of learned self-disesteem. 2) learning about the […]
The post asks: Will the science of the brain give us new ways to engage with kids to improve their chances for lifelong learning? My response: No doubt brain science can provide us valuable information about the difference between brain ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ learning. But it must always be remembered that there is a ‘being’ […]
