Engaging Brains: How to Enhance Learning by Teaching Kids About Neuroplasticity Editor's note: This post is co-authored by Marcus Conyers who, with Donna Wilson, is co-developer of the M.S. and Ed.S. Brain-Based Teaching degree programs at Nova Southeastern University. They have written several books, including Five Big Ideas for Effective Teaching: Connecting Mind, Brain, and Education Research to Classroom Practice. Enhancing Student Commitment Explicitly teaching students about neuroplasticity can have a transformative impact in the classroom. A central facet of our work as teacher educators is teaching about how the brain changes during learning. Lessons on discoveries that learning changes the structure and function of the brain can engage students, especially when combined with explicit instruction on the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies that guide them to learn how to learn (Wilson & Conyers, 2013). The same dynamic of persisting to succeed applies to teaching. Strategies for Engagement License to Drive Going BIG Make these lessons a BIG deal. Notes
Why top scientists are so worried about intelligent machines Sign Up for Our free email newsletters The world's spookiest philosopher is Nick Bostrom, a thin, soft-spoken Swede. Of all the people worried about runaway artificial intelligence, killer robots, and the possibility of a technological doomsday, Bostrom conjures the most extreme scenarios. Bostrom's favorite apocalyptic hypothetical involves a machine that has been programmed to make paper clips (although any mundane product will do). "You could have a superintelligence whose only goal is to make as many paper clips as possible, and you get this bubble of paper clips spreading through the universe," Bostrom calmly told an audience in Santa Fe earlier this year. Bostrom's underlying concerns about machine intelligence, unintended consequences, and potentially malevolent computers have gone mainstream. People will tell you that even Stephen Hawking is worried about it. How this came about is as much a story about media relations as it is about technological change.
Scientists Find That Playing Games Actually Improves Your Skills in Real Life While most parents would scold their children for wasting time in front of an electronic screen and playing video games, researchers have found in a new study that playing motion-controlled video games seems to help boost real-life skills. In their study, published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, the researchers noted that motion-controlled video games, such as those played on the Wii and using virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift, might be turning video games into legitimate simulations. In the study, the researchers compared participants who played 18 rounds of a golf video game that utilized motion controls to simulate putting, to those who played the video game using regular push-button controls. They found that the former group performed significantly better at real-world putting compared to the latter, and also against those without video gaming experience. These findings are not only limited to golf.
How Grateful Are You? Interactive Quiz + Seven Strategies for Cultivating Gratitude Gratitude increases our happiness, improves our relationships, and makes us healthier. And it does so reliably. Over 40 research studies have shown the same thing – gratitude rocks. So how can we get more of it? It depends. Let’s figure that out. How grateful are you? You are more grateful than 5% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 15% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 25% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 35% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 45% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 55% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 65% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 75% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 85% of the adult, American population. You are more grateful than 95% of the adult, American population. Trigger more intense feelings of gratitude or more frequent feelings. No.
What Motivates A Student’s Interest in Reading and Writing The excerpt below is from the book “Building a Community of Self-Motivated Learners: Strategies to Help Students Thrive in School and Beyond,” by Larry Ferlazzo. This excerpt is from the chapter entitled “I Still Want to Know: How Can You Get Students More Interested in Reading and Writing?” Let’s begin with a review of those essential qualities (needed to develop intrinsic motivation) in the context of reading and writing: ♦ Autonomy. A major Pew Research Center report (Lenhart et al., 2008) found that choice has an equally important role in teens feeling a desire to write (the story in Chapter 1 of my student who was energized by writing about football illustrates this point). Likewise, in reading, extensive research documents that teachers encouraging students to read books of their choice for pleasure is a major contribution towards students developing a positive attitude towards reading and a life-long interest in it (Leisure Reading Task Force, 20014, p. 2). ♦ Competence.
Is it Cheating To Use Smart Drugs To Crush Work? – Brain Report As smart drugs like Neurofuse flood Silicon Valley and other start ups, some question ‘has ambition and the will to win pushed us too far?’ CAMBRIDGE – As scientific research around cognition has improved rapidly in the last few years, a growing number of entrepreneurs are discovering the new class of legal, effective, and safe smart drugs that help with focus, concentration, retention, and energy. “Study Drugs” used to mean the dangerous and illegal misuse of prescription pills. However, a new class of pills called nootropics are providing an affordable, safe, legal, and effective alternative. With the access to these legal and safe supplements becoming increasingly easy, even regulators, whose role is to maintain fair competition, are scrambling to assess if new rules need to be implemented to prohibit them, despite the fact they are safe and legal. Fictional smart drugs like the one featured in Limitless have helped bring attention to real smart drugs which are increasingly popular.
How to Turn on the Part of Your Brain That Controls Motivation | MindShift | KQED News We know we should put the cigarettes away or make use of that gym membership, but in the moment, we just don’t do it. There is a cluster of neurons in our brain critical for motivation, though. What if you could hack them to motivate yourself? The researchers stuck 73 people into an fMRI, a scanner that can detect what part of the brain is most active, and focused on that area associated with motivation. “They weren’t that reliable when we said, ‘Go! That changed when the participants were allowed to watch a neurofeedback meter that displayed activity in their ventral tegmental area. “Your whole mind is allowed to speak to a specific part of your brain in a way you never imagined before. Using an fMRI for this kind of brain feedback is more effective than other, older tools like placing electrodes on the skull or EEG, Gabrieli says. Two of the researchers, Kathryn Dickerson and Jeff MacInnes, tried the system out on themselves. It was also exhausting, MacInnes says. Copyright 2016 NPR.
The Adolescent Brain - What All Teens Need to Know Adolescents have dynamic, open, hungry minds. They are creative, brave and curious. It has to be this way. The only way to learn many of the skills they will need to be strong, healthy adults will be to stretch beyond what they’ve always known and to experiment with the world and their place in it. The adolescent brain is wired to drive them through this transition, but there will be a few hairpin curves along the way. There will be good days, great days and dreadful days. Adolescence is something they have to do on their own. Most of their behaviour, even the most baffling, frustrating, infuriating parts of it, can be explained by the changes that are taking place in their brains. They need to know that their big feelings (the good and the bad) have a really good reason for being there. Having the information doesn’t mean things won’t get messy – things will get really messy. Our teens are amazing. Your brain is changing. Finally, know how awesome you are.
Memories Can Be Inherited, and Scientists May Have Just Figured out How In Brief Our life experiences may be passed on to our children and our children's children - and now scientists report that they have discovered that this inheritance can be turned on or off. What is Epigenetics? Epigenetics is the study of inherited changes in gene expression…changes that are inherited, but they are not inherent to our DNA. For instance, life experiences, which aren’t directly coded in human DNA, can actually be passed on to children. The question, of course, is how are these genetic “memories” passed on? This is the question that a Tel Aviv University (TAU) was seeking to answer when they reportedly discovered the exact mechanism that makes it possible to turn the transference of environmental influences on or off. Understanding the Mechanism According to their study, epigenetic responses that are inherited follow an active process as it gets passed on through generations.
What It Takes To Change Your Brain's Patterns After Age 25 "In most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again." That quote was made famous by Harvard psychologist William James in his 1890 book The Principles of Psychology, and is believed to be the first time modern psychology introduced the idea that one’s personality becomes fixed after a certain age. More than a century since James’s influential text, we know that, unfortunately, our brains start to solidify by the age of 25, but that, fortunately, change is still possible after. The key is continuously creating new pathways and connections to break apart stuck neural patterns in the brain. Simply put, when the brain is young and not yet fully formed, there’s a lot of flexibility and plasticity, which explains why kids learn so quickly, says Deborah Ancona, a professor of management and organizational studies at MIT. Focused Attention For those who want to stimulate their brain, Swart recommends learning a new language or musical instrument.