Precision in Language

According to Stahl, “Words are used to think.  The more words we know, the finer our understanding of the world.”  (Stahl, 1999)

 

As an instrument of thought, we cannot think in any other context than language.

Language allows…

·         you to clarify your own thinking

·         the person next to you to understand what you are thinking.

·         you to understand what I am thinking.

·         all of us to transfer our thoughts and accumulated information from one generation to the next generation.

Most important, the most effective of all “shared public language” is (1) well constructed, (2) precise, (3) specific, and (4) provokes mental images. These should be practiced often in schools and at home.  

A concise summary of written language is that language is a remarkable form of “recorded thought” allowing us to defy both time and distance. Yet precision in language is priceless – think of the consequences that can result from a careless usage of language in the operating room, the pharmacy, or the air traffic controllers’ tower.

Through language we articulate thoughts, describe events, connect ideas, make inferences, and ultimately make sense. However, everyday language, surface grammar, and imprecise word selection can lead to oral or written misunderstandings.

Are the words disinterested and uninterested synonymous or interchangeable? Most individuals would equate the two terms although “unbiased” would be a more precise definition of “disinterested.”

In school, it is the misuse, imprecision, and under-specification that we see in language that leads to the hazardous results. In a field like science, each of these can deny children access to ideas, concepts and key principles.

 

Visualization and the Human Brain
(Part 4)

Several states have responded with an “innovation index” to address the uneasiness expressed by American business leaders concerning the lack of innovative thinking in today’s young job-seekers. “What if...?" and "Ah-hah!” have become unwelcome academic intruders treated with derision and disdain, and subsequently have been suppressed in our schools, where "filling in the bubble" and “teaching to the test” reign supreme. Standardized testing is quite unforgiving to creativity, although a student’s unconventional answer may reflect far more insight than the multiple-choice options presented. Even scientists don’t always agree. The novel ideas from some of the most celebrated scientists were initially rejected and those perspectives subsequently, remained unpublished for decades.

Inside the brain, there are over 1,000,000 miles of nerve fibers (the “white matter” connections), with over one quadrillion connections that can link brain cells one another. Through these connections, we develop a remarkable ability to create and invent -- the byproducts of teaching students to visualize multiple unique solutions to a stated challenge.

The European Union designated 2009 as the "European Year of Creativity and Innovation." In support of that declaration, conferences on the neuroscience of creativity, real-world inquiry, and teacher training took place. Korean students ranked first in the world in reading, first in the world in math, and third in the world for science achievement in the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) report. The former South Korean Minister of Education Byong-man Ahn, said recently “…the current administration of President Lee Myung-bak has focused its policy efforts on creating the type of education in which creativity is emphasized over rote learning.” 

The #1 “leadership competency” of the future, as identified by 1,500 CEOs, will be “creativity.” Continuing educational practices designed for top ranking in the Industrial Age should not be our national goal, when the leading nations have stepped up to the next plateau in the advancement of our species -- the Innovation Age. Global economic viability in the decades to come will be the ultimate report card for educational accountability. Even more important, Professor Yong Zhoa released a new study recently indicating that there is an inverse relationship between test scores and entrepreneurship globally.

 

So much for "No Child Left Behind" as a means of laying the foundation for our nation's future economic success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visualization and the Human Brain
(Part 3)

Recent research has shown that we learn a great deal from making errors, particularly when we can later analyze those mistakes and correct our errors. Thinking differently or creatively seldom goes unpunished in school today’s assessments for “accountability.” Regrettably, our current assessment methods have given students a perception that only plan A or “answer A” can ever exist as the single definitive “right answer.” Independent thinking today is comparable to escaping the shackles of slavery in the early 1800s. In both cases, one might pay dearly for seeking his independence.

 

We often arrive at an optimal answer after thoroughly considering numerous possible ideas and methods for problem resolution. Our high-stakes tests reward speed over intrinsically-motivated perseverance and the time-consuming, slow-burning creative processes that have historically driven imaginative minds to conceive of the incandescent light bulb, a vaccine for polio, the Hubble telescope, brain-imaging, the i-Pad, mind-reading computers, and brain-controlled prosthetics, each expanding human knowledge and revolutionizing life as we know it or once knew it. (Imagine the marketing challenge facing the creative salesmen charged with consummating the first sale of these new inventions!) Thinking constitutes one of the best ways to learn. There is no evidence-based research available today indicating that worksheets or standardized tests stimulate creativity although 

 

The future portends new models and methods for teaching, learning and assessment. Technology will increasingly influence the “classroom of the future.”

The broader goal of education should be to teach our students how to think their way through any problem, because the problems that will confront them in the future have yet to come into existence, although a wealth of feasible solution strategies can be taught today. Rather than teaching a student to solve the same problem five different times as we do in traditional textbooks, it is far more important to teach him to solve that problem five different ways.

While the 3Rs make a contribution to educational success, linking together (1) relevance, (2) visualization, and (3) creativity are the new educational essentials for future inventors now and future economic success. As educators and parents, it is our ultimate responsibility to assist our children and students in building the best brains possible by helping each of them develop a "cognitive tool chest” replete with imaginative as well as everyday solution strategies. Creativity is what intelligent people use when the problems are unconventional and the answers are both clearly unknown at the outset. The answers sometimes remain elusive and must be pursued for a significant amount of time before they reveal themselves to the learner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visualization and the Human Brain
(Part 2)

The Wright brothers were able to make heavier-than-air objects do precisely what they are not supposed to do. Leonardo da Vinci, Francis Crick, and Albert Einstein are time-honored men who designed and built new inventions, who made earth-shattering discoveries, and who offered fresh new ways of thinking. They found ways to solve problems that led to advancements benefiting all of mankind. In his book, Sparks of Genius,” McArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” recipient Robert Root-Bernstein, detailed an astounding discovery-- many of history’s most prominent scientists and inventors were also accomplished in the arts, where abstract and creative thinking complemented innovative traits. Creative thinking is immobilized by standardized thinking although creativity is three times stronger as a predictor of lifetime accomplishment than IQ. It is most revealing that no statue has ever been erected out of admiration of a single "standardized" thinker.

Instead of placing a spotlight on innovative and creative thinking, "standardized" thinking (making for easy assessments) has been our primary educational focus over the past two decades. Consequently, most American 8^th grade students know how to multiply 9x5, but the vast majority does not know when to do so, exposing the hazardous nature of high-stakes tests masquerading under the cloak of "accountability." An important distinction must be made between possessing specific skills or knowledge, and knowing when, where, and how to apply them under routine and non-routine circumstances. Otherwise, the knowledge is of no practical long-term value.

Dynamic changes are occurring daily in an interconnected, information-rich, highly visual and complex world at unprecedented rates requiring inventive (not standardized) ideas to address our current and future challenges. The old "tried and true" approaches we embraced from the 1960s, 70s and 80s are no longer adequate in 2012, although we have held tightly onto them for decades. However, the world has changed. The world is "flat." Unfortunately for many of us, progress only goes in one direction –forwards, not backwards. In their best moments, contemporary educational practices cannot stretch far enough to cover future classroom realities.

 Teaching students (1) to understand, analyze, and visualize problem-based scenarios, (2) to explain those situations effectively in words and through models, (3) to solve problems by blending together multisensory and multidisciplinary strategies, (4) to evaluate the quality of multiple convergent solutions, and (5) to identify the criteria for selecting the best solution to a problem, as well as knowing how and when to deploy a viable "plan B," or "plan C," if “plan A” does not appear to be working.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking to Improve Your Memory

in 2013?

 

 

We constantly perceive vast amounts of information each minute, but we make no attempt to recall very much of it. Equally important, we cannot remember information that we failed to encode for memory storage in the first place.

If your New Year’s resolution is to improve your memory in 2013, look no further than the article below for effective memory tips for the classroom or for daily living.

 

“30 Ways to Improve Your Memory” at

http://brainworldmagazine.com/?p=2022

 

What is the difference between an explicit memory and a flashbulb memory? If you can’t remember, don’t despair. You are quite normal. We have been able to identify over 40 different types of memories and further research will reveal more. When someone tells you, “I think I’m losing my memory!” Your best response is now, “Which one?”

For a short and concise list of types of memory and a short description of each, see...

 

“A Dictionary for Types of Memory” at

http://brainworldmagazine.com/learning-memory-how-do-we-remember-and-why-do-we-often-forget/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visualization and the Human Brain  
(Part 1)

 "Imagination is more important than knowledge, for imagination embraces the world."

--Albert Einstein

Over the millennia, our ancestors endeavored to teach survival skills to each subsequent generation.  It quickly became evident that maximizing their innovative capabilities enhanced survival, increased longevity, and advanced a culture.

Anthropologists recently discovered that the ratio of older inhabitants to younger members of a civilization frequently determined, if and how far that group advanced on the path from short-term primitive living to sophisticated civilizations. Today’s mission for the next generation remains no different than it was 50,000 years ago.

Over the eons, the remarkable human brain evolved to store information, not merely for the purpose of being able to recall the past and its myriad details. Instead, early hominid brains developed in a manner that permitted them to successfully navigate a frequently dangerous and unpredictable world. While the physical world has always been governed by the same universal natural laws, our ancestors increasingly relied heavily upon patterns and relationships in nature to anticipate the future and to plan their behaviors accordingly in order to survive environments that were subject to change at a moment’s notice. These early “scientist-explorers” devoted the majority of each day to avoiding the numerous dangers while taking advantage of any clear and present opportunity. Keys to survival were

(1) distinguishing danger from opportunity

(2) storing accurate memory records

(3) visualizing appropriate responses.

Matters relevant to the danger-opportunity continuum warranted visualization and memorization. Early mankind learned to visualize future possibilities by using their imagination, asking the right questions, making observations, gathering data and information, classifying objects and events, making predictions, thoughtfully conducting tests and experimenting, operating on “best-guesses” and hunches, framing explanations based on evidence, communicating ideas, using trial-and-error strategies, revising their thinking as-needed, dedicating their lives to “making sense” of their environment –the ultimate quest of human knowledge. At the core of these new competencies was a complex web of curiosity, inferential and abstract thinking, not for academic purposes, but for survival. 

Two million years ago, Homo habilis began an exponential brain growth enlarging both the cerebral cortex and expanding the cranium to encase and protect a much larger brain. Within a million years, the Homo sapiens brain doubled in size to 1350 cm². The most distinguishing features evolved

(1)  a brain that was extremely large relative to body mass

(2)  the cognitive abilities to create tools and technology, to reason and plan

(3)  a unique ability to adapt to a plethora of environments and circumstances, as well as to create their own environments, rather than just adapting to natural surroundings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRAIN-SIGHT: CAN TOUCH ALLOW US TO “SEE” BETTER THAN OUR EYESIGHT?


Which of the following procedures do you think would allow you to reproduce the most accurate representation of an object: tracing the object; looking at the object while drawing it; or, with your eyes closed, touching and examining that object and then drawing it without ever seeing it? Most educators and parents would surmise that the range in the quality of the three renditions would match the order in which they have been presented. However, you are in for a neurological epiphany!

Read the full article on “Brain Sight” at http://brainworldmagazine.com/brain-sight-can-touch-allow-us-to-see-better-than-sight/