Formula for success in learning If you have found this place in the vast cyberspace of the web, you are probably not the one to convince that knowledge is power, and that solutions to most problems facing humanity could be found if we were armed with more understanding of how the world works. While knowledge is power, information can be overpowering. An increasing proportion of the population suffers from Information Fatigue Syndrome, i.e. from stress related to being overwhelmed with an unmanageable glut of information. This text introduces you to simple steps toward managing information and toward rock-solid knowledge. No cheap miracles. I have been working on the problem of effective learning for 16 years now since, as a student of molecular biology, I first understood how I could greatly change the quality of all my actions were I able to improve the recall of what I studied for exams (and not only). You may find the first three points obvious. This is the shortest path to empowering knowledge: Further reading
Gimnasia Cerebral para niños.10 Ejercicios para realizar junto a tus hijos La gimnasia cerebral ayuda a desarrollar la concentración, la creatividad, el aprendizaje y hasta la autoestima. Las actividades que trabajan el cerebro se realizan desde que los niños tienen seis meses de edad y son útiles para toda la vida. La mayoría de las personas sueñan con tener un cuerpo saludable y con medidas perfectas. Por eso, permanecer varias horas del día en un gimnasio para fortalecer los músculos se convierte en una tarea casi obligatoria.Pero, ¿se ha puesto a pensar que la mente también necesita ejercitarse? Sí, la gimnasia cerebral es indispensable y es una actividad que, aunque también está dirigida a los adultos, es ideal practicarla desde la primera infancia. La Gimnasia Cerebral es un conjunto de ejercicios que coordinados y combinados estimulan y desarrollan las habilidades y capacidades cerebrales, potenciando y acelerando el proceso de aprendizaje; apoya y nutre los desplegamientos de las destrezas e inteligencias innatas del ser Relacionado 14 marzo, 2015
Metacognition: Nurturing Self-Awareness in the Classroom How do children gain a deeper understanding of how they think, feel, and act so that they can improve their learning and develop meaningful relationships? Since antiquity, philosophers have been intrigued with how human beings develop self-awareness -- the ability to examine and understand who we are relative to the world around us. Today, research not only shows that self-awareness evolves during childhood, but also that its development is linked to metacognitive processes of the brain. Making Sense of Life Experiences Most teachers know that if students reflect on how they learn, they become better learners. Metacognition plays an important role in all learning and life experiences. How do I live a happy life? Through these reflections, they also begin to understand other people's perspectives. At a recent international workshop, philosophers and neuroscientists gathered to discuss self-awareness and how it is linked to metacognition. Image Credit: Marilyn Price-Mitchell 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Variety is the key to learning On a number of occasions I have reported on studies showing that people with expertise in a specific area show larger gray matter volume in relevant areas of the brain. Thus London taxi drivers (who are required to master “The Knowledge” — all the ways and byways of London) have been found to have an increased volume of gray matter in the anterior hippocampus (involved in spatial navigation). Musicians have greater gray matter volume in Broca’s area. Other research has found that gray matter increases in specific areas can develop surprisingly quickly. For example, when 19 adults learned to match made-up names against four similar shades of green and blue in five 20-minute sessions over three days, the areas of the brain involved in color vision and perception increased significantly. This is unusually fast, mind you. But how quickly brain regions may re-organize themselves to optimize learning of a specific skill is not the point I want to make here. A rat study suggests the answer.
7 enseñanzas de Albert Ellis El día que conocí la vida y obra de Ellis, simplemente caí enamorada. Después de mucho tiempo de no encontrarle sentido a la psicología ni “creer” mucho en ella, aprendí que, haciendo una buena terapia, como la TREC, la psicología podía ser una poderosa arma para solucionar la mayor parte de los problemas psicológicos de la gente. Así lo explica Ellis, cuando él mismo se autoaplicó su terapia para superar su timidez y su miedo a conocer e intimar con mujeres. Y he de confesar que a mi también la cabeza me dio un giro total cuando empecé a autoaplicármela. Por ello, y para que más gente conozca al padre de la terapia racional, quisiera mostrar, a modo de resumen, 7 de las enseñanzas de este genio. 1. Desde la terapia racional, se postula que no es la situación ni la adversidad la que está provocando directamente tu malestar emocional, sino que somos nosotros mismos, con nuestras creencias y pensamientos, los que nos autogeneramos el sufrimiento. 2. Son las B en el modelo antes descrito. 3.
Project-Based Learning vs. Problem-Based Learning vs. X-BL At the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), we've been keeping a list of the many types of "_____- based learning" we've run across over the years: Case-based learning Challenge-based learning Community-based learning Design-based learning Game-based learning Inquiry-based learning Land-based learning Passion-based learning Place-based learning Problem-based learning Proficiency-based learning Service-based learning Studio-based learning Team-based learning Work-based learning . . . and our new fave . . . Zombie-based learning (look it up!) Let's Try to Sort This Out The term "project learning" derives from the work of John Dewey and dates back to William Kilpatrick, who first used the term in 1918. Designing and/or creating a tangible product, performance or event Solving a real-world problem (may be simulated or fully authentic) Investigating a topic or issue to develop an answer to an open-ended question Problem-Based Learning vs. Problem-based learning typically follow prescribed steps:
Gesturing to improve memory, language & thought I recently reported on a study showing how the gestures people made in describing how they solved a problem (the Tower of Hanoi) changed the way they remembered the game. These findings add to other research demonstrating that gestures make thought concrete and can help us understand and remember abstract concepts better. For example, two experiments of children in late third and early fourth grade, who made mistakes in solving math problems, have found that children told to move their hands when explaining how they’d solve a problem were four times as likely to manually express correct new ways to solve problems as children given no instructions. Even though they didn’t give the right answer, their gestures revealed an implicit knowledge of mathematical ideas, and the second experiment showed that gesturing set them up to benefit from subsequent instruction. And in a demonstration of improved memory, an earlier study had participants watch someone narrating three cartoons.
12 Things I See Happy People Do (that unhappy people do not) | Rev. Shane L. Bishop I have been thinking a lot about happiness of late, partially because so many people seem unhappy. I think that was my first epiphany upon entering the world of Social Media; people are unhappy and there are a lot of them. Now don’t get me wrong, we all know some people who wouldn’t be happy, were they not unhappy but I am not talking about them. We will just let them be. I am also not thinking theologically here (i.e. juxtaposing happiness and joy), today I am going to err on the practical and pragmatic side of things. With that being said, let’s get going. I think most people want to be happy; they are just not quite sure how to get there from their present location. Here are my observations on the topic that have been formed by watching happy people for decades. Focus on what you have and not on what you don’t Unhappy people are unthankful people. As you begin a new week, you have an opportunity to invest in your own happiness or to make yourself miserable. -Rev. Like this:
projet de neuroéducation People learn better when brain activity is consistent | About memory An intriguing new study has found that people are more likely to remember specific information if the pattern of activity in their brain is similar each time they study that information. The findings are said to challenge the long-held belief that people retain information more effectively when they study it several times under different contexts, thus giving their brains multiple cues to remember it. However, although I believe this finding adds to our understanding of how to study effectively, I don’t think it challenges the multiple-context evidence. The finding was possible because of a new approach to studying brain activity, which was used in three experiments involving students at Beijing Normal University. In the second experiment, 22 participants carried out a semantic judgment task on 180 familiar words (deciding whether they were concrete or abstract). In the third experiment, 22 participants performed a different semantic judgment task (living vs non-living) on 60 words.
Nuestras emociones no se sitúan en el corazón, sino en el intestino Las interacciones cerebro-intestino-microbiota pueden desempeñar un papel importante en la salud y el comportamiento humanos, esta es la principal conclusión del nuevo estudio, del que en investigaciones anteriores ya se había sugerido que la microbiota, una comunidad de microorganismos en el intestino, podía influir en el comportamiento y las emociones. Los experimentos con ratones han demostrado los efectos de la microbiota intestinal sobre los comportamientos emocionales y sociales, como la ansiedad y la depresión. Había, sin embargo, poca evidencia de estos extremos en los seres humanos. Para este estudio, los científicos buscaron identificar las características cerebrales y conductuales de mujeres sanas agrupadas por perfiles de microbiota intestinal. Las mujeres fueron divididas según su composición de bacterias intestinales en dos grupos: 33 tenían más de una bacteria llamada Bacteroides; en las 7 restantes predominaba la bacteria Prevotella.
Les effets de l'apprentissage et de l'enseignement sur le cerveau Vous avez probablement souvent entendu cette phrase lors d'une discussion : « La recherche sur le cerveau dit que... ». La vulgarisation et la diffusion des résultats des récentes recherches sur le cerveau nous offrent l'opportunité de revoir les grands principes pédagogiques inhérents à l'apprentissage et à l'enseignement. Les précieuses informations issues des recherches nous obligent aussi à faire des liens avec les efforts déployés pour utiliser les TIC au profit des apprentissages en classe et à la maison. « Il y a quelques années, la pertinence de s'intéresser au cerveau en éducation était plutôt limitée. Trois grandes découvertes sur le cerveau ont été présentées par Steve Masson lors de cette présentation : Découverte no 1 L'apprentissage modifie l'architecture du cerveau. Le cerveau fait preuve de plasticité tout au long de la vie. Découverte no 2 L'architecture du cerveau influence l'apprentissage. Découverte no 3 Enfin, une bonne nouvelle? Ressources :
People learn new information more effectively when brain activity is consistent, research shows AUSTIN, Texas--People are more likely to remember specific information such as faces or words if the pattern of activity in their brain is similar each time they study that information, according to new research from a University of Texas at Austin psychologist and his colleagues. The findings by Russell Poldrack, published online today in the journal Science, challenge psychologists' long-held belief that people retain information more effectively when they study it several times under different contexts and, thus, give their brains multiple cues to remember it. "This helps us begin to understand what makes for effective studying," says Poldrack, director of the Imaging Research Center (IRC) at The University of Texas at Austin. "Sometimes we study and remember things, sometimes we don't and this helps explain why." Until now, scientists have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to examine activity in large regions of the brain when studying memory.