Finding Worlds to Conquer

"Alexander cried when he heard Anaxarchus talk about the infinite number of worlds in the universe. One of Alexander's friends asked him what was the matter, and he replied: "There are so many worlds, and I have not yet conquered even one." - Claudius Aelianus, Historical Miscellany

As we look forward to the New Year, here's some thought-provoking links about motivation and learning. Although I remembered Alexander weeping that there were no more worlds to conquer, a scholarly source suggests that he wept over the opposite. Do our children see the future as opportunity? Can they find whole worlds to pioneer?

One educator defined engagement as being really attracted to a subject or study, persisting despite challenges, and intrinsic delight. One of the greatest challenges for education, then, is help students find areas or activities of learning that they really love.

The first link below talks about ways to foster student
SCORE (scholastic success, curiosity, originality, relationships), while the Sternberg article (Defying the Crowd in Science) comments on the importance of not following the crowd, and the Gee article, on how epistemic or Knowledge Games) may help some students prepare for the flat world of the 21st century.

Finding worlds may mean developing new sciences or technologies, transdisciplinary thinking or creation, or translational and interpretative work that finds new meaning or uses for knowledge. Finding new worlds to conquer doesn't only mean looking forward. I've been enjoying my slight progress in learning Latin and reading ancient writings (in translation) on education.

We hope you all have a very Happy New Year. See you back January 2, 2007!

Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great and Aristotle

Technorati: motivation, creativity, education, parenting, students, classical education, New Year

T'is the Season

"But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round...as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely."--Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

May you and yours have a very merry Christmas!

Here's the look of altruism, moral sensitivity and compassion, and love. Emotional areas are very important for these sentiments, but also multisensory areas like the superior temporal sulcus that allow us to mirror, empathize, and feel with others.

We'll post just once next week, but back blogging Jan 2nd, 2007.









Research | Compassion & Empathy
It's good to be good
Altruism | The joy of giving | Economist.com
Altruism and the Brain
Maternal and Romantic Love and fMRI
Moral Sensitivity and the Brain

Technorati Tags: Christmas, emotions, brain, science, psychology.

Visions of Sugarplums - Stimulating Visual Imagination

When we close our eyes, a vigorous network of multisensory brain areas becomes activated. The brain up above shows how much brain switches on when test subjects are asked to close their eyes. fMRI researchers have to be careful how they design their experiments. What looks like resting from the outside, might be heavy sensory work on the inside.

Compared to eyes open, eyes closed activated bilateral "visual, somatosensory, vestibular and auditory cortical areas" as well as "olfactory and gustatory system" (sight, body position sense, movement, hearing, smell, taste) so the full multisensory experience.

So don't let your holiday rush get the best of you. Take time out to close your eyes or you'll miss the sugar plums.

We'll take a brief blog break for the Christmas holidays. We'll try to post once before Christmas, then be back December 27th.

Eye closure in darkness animates sensory systems pdf
Eye closure activates taste and smell
ENL Blog: The Daydreaming Brain
picture of sugarplums
picture of eyes shut


Technorati Tags: Christmas, imagery, creativity, brain, science, visual, fMRI

The Increased Work of Dyslexia

Here is an interesting study from Stanford that gives support to what dyslexics have said for years - it's harder for them to read. The study (Oct 2006 J Neurosciecne) isn't yet fully online, but the abstract and figure (below) can be seen.

The fundamental difference in this study is that here dyslexic and non-dyslexic subjects were matched for reading performance - so differences in brain activation weren't due to efficiency of reading issues.


It's not surprising why so many bright dyslexics will fall between the cracks in the school system - even if they master the code of reading for comprehension, they fail to be identified as having a disability and are penalized for not finishing tests or papers, or required reading on time.

A study such as this also underscores the problems of defining dyslexia on the basis of reading performance.

The Neural Basis of Dyslexia
fMRI Supplemental Info
Stealth Dyslexia
Eides: The Surprising Things We Can Learn from Gifted Dyslexics pdf

Technorati Tags: dyslexia, brain, fMRI, science, teaching, learning disabilities,education, testing, reading, gifted.

Procrastination

In this study at MIT, we learn that setting self-imposed early deadlines for ourselves may improve our performance and reduce the likelihood that we'll finish the job late. If we have more than one thing to do, though, "artificial" self-imposed deadlines may not be as good as external ones that space out tasks in an even fashion.



So have you finished your shopping?

Technorati Tags: procrastination, psychology, motivation, students, organization, perfectionism, gifted, ADHD, brain, decision-making

Procrastination at MIT
The Problem of Procrastination
Relaxed and Tense Procrastinators at Wikipedia

Your Brain...While Christmas Shopping

Ok, which kind of Christmas shopping brain are you? When undecided about whether to buy (is it worth it, does she want it, could I get it cheaper, i.e. decision-making under ambiguity), are you more likely to answer your impulse to buy (opt for risk) or muddle through the pros and cons / various contextual possibilities (opt for ambiguity)?


An fMRI or a look under the tree may give you the answer...

Neural Signatures of Economic Risk and Ambiguity pdf

Technorati Tags: Christmas, economics,decision making, risk, brain, science, fmri, impulsivity, ambiguity, teaching, education, homeschooling, parenting, ADHD, ADD.

Irony and Metaphor

Literal understanding is much easier than irony or metaphor, although by age 7-9, children are well on their way to understanding both. Metaphorical meanings are usually understood before irony, which has greater demands on theory of mind or putting yourself into another person's perspective, and subtleties of language meaning and situational context.

In the figure below, the activation at the front of the brain in irony and metaphor (right hemispheric view) shows activated pathways seen to be important in other studies involving reflective thought.



It's the right hemisphere that's thought to be causing the greater difficulty that kids diagnosed with Aspergers have perceiving different word interpretations or associations with ambiguous narratives.

Metaphors are very valuable tools creative and analytical work of all kinds, whether science, history, law, negotiation, entrepreneurship, or self-understanding, as some of the links below attest. But misleading metaphors can also be obstructive or destructive to good thinking, as the bottom reference (a thesis) argues.

fMRI of irony and metaphor

Metaphors in Science
Metaphors at Purdue OWL
Teaching Metaphorical Thinking
ENL Blog: Metaphorical and Gifted Thinking
Analogical Thinking and Imagery in Problem Solving
Metaphors We Live By
Metaphors Bewitch, Analogies Illustrate, and Logic Fails - Controversies Over the Use of Metaphoric Reasoning

Technorati Tags: learning styles, brain,reasoning,creativity,language, philosophy, fMRI, Aspergers, autism,teaching

Language Files in the Brain - Finding Words

Word finding difficulties can be maddening as speaker struggle to find the right words.

Some recent fMRI studies shed insights into the different filing patterns for words in the brain. There is no single spot, but rather a network of connections that files words according to similar sounds, meanings, and categories, real life experiences, and phrases. Other brain regions keep track of word frequency and whether the words are concrete or abstract. The complex network of word filing is good news for the tongue-tied because it means that different pathways can be tapped to find the correct word...if they know the different paths to choose.

One recent paper using word priming found that that when test subjects heard the word "piano", they were quicker at retrieving a similarly acted upon object like a typewriter.



Possible implications for teaching / learning:

- word retrieval can be stimulated by different routes, including sound cues, meaning or synonym cues, visual or sensory-motor (e.g. gestures, physical experiences) associations, cloze / fill-in-the-blank prompts
- language learning doesn't only mean sitting at one's desk and memorizing; word filing can be enriched by personal and hands-on experiences
- dramatization or enactment can be a useful approach for improving a student's expressive difficulties
- teachers can work subliminally on their dysfluent students by grouping classroom experiences (theming) that enrich associations and direct contact with objects; later they can be prompted with similar items
- artifacts and physical copies of primary source materials (for instance historical documents) are generally recognized as valuable - but if teachers want to improve word learning and later retrieval, then direct hands-on experiences should be linked with words / verbal labels at the same time

Word Retrieval and Manipulation
Different Word Retrieval - Picture and Sound /Japanese
Hippocampal and Brain Stem Activation during Word Retrieval after Repeated and Semantic Encoding
Sentence Imagery
Word Finding Difficulties in the Classroom
ENL Blog: Gestures and Word Retrieval
Concrete and Abstract Word Differences in Dyslexics
Artifacts in the Science Classroom
Teacher Resources - Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Spatially Gifted, Verbally Inconvenienced

Technorati Tags: speech, language, learning disabilities, dyslexia, brain, word retrieval, kinesthetic, learning styles, teaching, education, word finding, gifted, expressive speech

Sensory Overload - Sensory Processing Disorder Article in Alt Med

We were interviewed (along with two wonderful families and Dr. Lucy Miller) for an article that just came out in Alternative Medicine magazine (article isn't online, at least not yet). The article starts..."Kelsey Ganes got kicked out of preschool at age 2 1/2 because she wouldn't finger paint with chocolate pudding. Now 15 and already taking college classes, she says flunking preschool was a big relief..."

The story concludes with a tribute to Kelsey's mother: "It sounds horribly lame and completely dorky to say my mom is my best friend, but from the time I was a tiny child she understood me when nobody else did. And that's really cool..."

Technorati Tags: sensory processing disorder, sensory integration, sensitivity, learning differences, alternative medicine, alternative health, ADHD, gifted, brain

Untapped Potential

"Ignogti nulla cupido" - Ovid (We don't desire that which we do not know.)

In the Washington Post, Jay Matthews comments on the spectacular rise in AVID programs - programs offering advanced / college prep classes to average-achieving students in assocition with encouragement and training in practical study skills to increase the likelihood of success.

The data look good:

The program has higher pass rates in advanced math classes, AP courses, and college acceptances. There does seem to be an amazing amount of human potential that goes wasted. The 7 UP series is still on our minds because we decided that it might be a interesting thing to watch with our 11 year old. What's remarkable about the series is how different children's dreams of the future were even by the age of 7. In answer to the question: "What do you think you might want to do when you grow up?", the differences in the children's answers said much about what impact they thought they could have on the world (agency), what they thought was really valuable in life, and what they felt others had in terms of hopes for them.

How many Ben Carson's are there out there - from class dummy to pioneering pediatric neurosurgeon who separates siamese twins. The success doesn't happen overnight, but success stories seem to share an outside source of inspiration or encouragement, a period of hard work (skill building, intellectual), and individual determination.

Escaping 'Average' - washingtonpost.com
ENL Blog: 49 Up: "Give Me the Child Until He is 7..."
ENL Blog: Mother's Day Flashes from the Past"
Ben Carson: The Big Picture
Motivating Students
Motivation: Attitude, Drive, Strategy
Effects of Parent Involvement and Expectations on Achievement
External Barriers to Achievement in Gifted Women
Parental Involvement in Education
Family and Community Influences on Achievement in New Zealand

Technorati Tags: motivation, learning, education, underachievement, minority, parenting, achievement, teens, gifted, parents, psychology, schools, boys, girls,

Learning to Play By Different Rules - Kids are Less Flexible

It's a common notion to think of children as being more "creative" than adults but this latest developmental study puts a different spin on our understanding of kids' thinking. Flexibility is a developmental skill - at least flexible rule use is better in teens than tweens, and better in young adults than either of the younger groups.



It may be that children have fewer rules to begin with, or more inconsistent application or understandings of their rule library. Nevertheless, once learned, a child's rule is likely harder to break. Inflexibility not only impairs learning, it also causes social-emotional havoc.

If we think about the implications of this relative inflexibility about rules, it means we should be careful about the rules we pass down to children. Though rules for children are often different for them than adults, it would be wise to minimize rules that will have to unlearned later.

When children have mismatches disappointments at school, they often make up rules for themselves that may or may not share with adults. Private rules based on distorted assessments or self-conceptions ("I'm bad at this, so I must be dumb at everything") may trap them in a self-destructive cycle.

The bottom link below is to an interesting study (abstract only) that found that children were "perseverative" in their use of rules in a card sorting task. Greater flexibility could be induced by the addition of novel (but unrelated) stimuli, whereas poor flexibility resulted when labels were given to rules.

Do you know of an inflexible child? Are his or her labels getting in the way flexibility?

Children Poorer at Rule Switching fMRI pdf
When Labels Hurt but Novelty Helps: Children's Perseveration and Flexibility in a Card-Sorting Task (Abstract)
Obsessive-compulsive disorder --

Technorati Tags: children, flexibility, creativity, novelty, development, brain, teaching, ADHD, attention, autismgifted, Aspergers, perfectionism, emotional, sensory processing, OCD

Learning Through Failure - Getting Unstuck

"Spectacular failure is better than moderate success." - Faste, Stanford Dept Mechanical Engineering

How many of us can say this after a spectacular failure? For those whose jobs day-to-day innovation, this often is one of their secrets of success. One of the books I'm reading now is To Engineer is Human.

It doesn't take long to get Petroski's message - failure is involved in any successful design. The problem is, we often don't hear about failures - and the problem is more severe in schools. As Petroski recounts the history of different styles of architecture, like the Bent Pyramid (below), 1284 medieval cathedral collapse (flying buttresses aren't just used to look pretty), or Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

One of the most pernicious things about hiding failure for students is that it discourages healthy risk-taking and can have profound intellectual and creative stunting consequences in adulthood.

Resilience and optimism may not come easy for some kids, so it's important to know how to encourage in a way that is credible but also constructive. Having a more realistic concept of failure - is a good place to start, but modeling failure (don't be afraid to let them see you try difficult things and fail), scaffolding the process (learning from mistakes), and reminding them of the limited and temporary natures of setbacks are also important.

Technorati Tags: learning, motivation, engineering, creativity, innovation, mistakes, education, perfectionism, gifted, entrepreneurship, optimism, EQ

Sustaining Motivation and Learning Through Failure
ENL: Walt Disney & Build This!
EQ TODAY: Teaching Optimism
Organizations - Learning from Failure
Fear of Failure Deters Women from Entering Business
The Hard Work of Failure Analysis
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Picture, Bent Pyramid
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Oscillation Video

Self-Regulation with Neurofeedback Reduces ADHD Behaviors

The data look pretty good in this study of 8-13 year old children taught to self-regulate slow cortical potentials using a neurofeedback a computer program. Parents and teacher ratings improved, as did academic achievement.


The research comes from a collaboration between the NIH and University of Tubingen.

Self-Regulation with Neurofeedback Reduces ADHD Behaviors
ENL Blog: Focusing Attention with Meditation and Biofeedback
ENL Blog: Efficacy of Working Memory Training for ADHD
KING5.com | Too Many Kids Diagnosed with ADHD

Technorati Tags: ADHD, children, boys, self-regulation, mindfulness, brain, science, alternative medicine, attention deficit disorder