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Contents contributed and discussions participated by David McGavock

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David McGavock

Beyond the Brain - NYTimes.com - 7 views

www.nytimes.com/...brooks-beyond-the-brain.html

neuroscience critical thinking fMRI sceptic

shared by David McGavock on 21 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • This is what’s happening right now with neuroscience.
  • you get captivated by it and sometimes go off to extremes, as if understanding the brain is the solution to understanding all thought and behavior.
  • David McGavock on 21 Jun 13
     
    "It's a pattern as old as time. Somebody makes an important scientific breakthrough, which explains a piece of the world. But then people get caught up in the excitement of this breakthrough and try to use it to explain everything." Good to read and raise your radar. Simplistic arguments for a complex topic. He offers 2 alternative views. What's that about?
David McGavock

The News Literacy Project - About Us - 6 views

www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/about

crap detection critical thinking evaluate resources skills

shared by David McGavock on 29 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • The News Literacy Project (NLP) is an innovative national educational program that mobilizes seasoned journalists to help middle school and high school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age.
  • The project teaches students critical-thinking skills that will enable them to be smarter and more frequent consumers and creators of credible information across all media and platforms
  • NLP shows students how to distinguish verified information from spin, opinion and misinformation
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Students are being taught to seek news and information that will make them well-informed and engaged students, consumers and citizens.
  • David McGavock on 29 Dec 12
     
    The News Literacy Project (NLP) is an innovative national educational program that mobilizes seasoned journalists to help middle school and high school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age.
David McGavock

Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong | Video on TED.com - 1 views

www.ted.com/...ryn_schulz_on_being_wrong.html

behavior critical_thinking wrong failure TED wonder

shared by David McGavock on 28 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • So what I want to do today is, first of all, talk about why we get stuck inside this feeling of being right. And second, why it's such a problem. And finally, I want to convince you that it is possible to step outside of that feeling and that if you can do so, it is the single greatest moral, intellectual and creative leap you can make.
  • Augustine understood that our capacity to screw up, it's not some kind of embarrassing defect in the human system, something we can eradicate or overcome.
  • This attachment to our own rightness keeps us from preventing mistakes when we absolutely need to and causes us to treat each other terribly.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • But when it comes down to me, right now, to all the beliefs I hold, here in the present tense, suddenly all of this abstract appreciation of fallibility goes out the window -- and I can't actually think of anything I'm wrong about.
  • You know, we're already wrong, we're already in trouble, but we feel like we're on solid ground. So I should actually correct something I said a moment ago. It does feel like something to be wrong; it feels like being right.
  • according to this, getting something wrong means there's something wrong with us. So we just insist that we're right, because it makes us feel smart and responsible and virtuous and safe.
  • The miracle of your mind isn't that you can see the world as it is. It's that you can see the world as it isn't.
  • when it turns out that people who disagree with us have all the same facts we do and are actually pretty smart, then we move on to a third assumption: they know the truth, and they are deliberately distorting it for their own malevolent purposes.
  • trusting too much in the feeling of being on the correct side of anything can be very dangerous.
  • most of us do everything we can to avoid thinking about being wrong, or at least to avoid thinking about the possibility that we ourselves are wrong.
  • So by the time you are nine years old, you've already learned, first of all, that people who get stuff wrong are lazy, irresponsible dimwits -- and second of all, that the way to succeed in life is to never make any mistakes.
  • The first thing we usually do when someone disagrees with us is we just assume they're ignorant. They don't have access to the same information that we do, and when we generously share that information with them, they're going to see the light and come on over to our team.
  • And to me, if you really want to rediscover wonder, you need to step outside of that tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, "Wow, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong."
  • And the thing is," says Ira Glass, "we need this. We need these moments of surprise and reversal and wrongness to make these stories work." And for the rest of us, audience members, as listeners, as readers, we eat this stuff up. We love things like plot twists and red herrings and surprise endings. When it comes to our stories, we love being wrong.
  • This internal sense of rightness that we all experience so often is not a reliable guide to what is actually going on in the external world. And when we act like it is, and we stop entertaining the possibility that we could be wrong, well that's when we end up doing things like dumping 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, or torpedoing the global economy.
  • I've spent the last five years thinking about being wrong.
  • When that doesn't work, when it turns out those people have all the same facts that we do and they still disagree with us, then we move on to a second assumption, which is that they're idiots.
  • David McGavock on 28 Dec 12
     
     if you really want to rediscover wonder, you need to step outside of that tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, "Wow, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong."
David McGavock

Molly Crockett: Beware neuro-bunk | Video on TED.com - 0 views

www.ted.com/...rockett_beware_neuro_bunk.html

shared by David McGavock on 28 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • the insula, a region they say is linked to feelings of love and compassion. So they concluded that because they saw activation in the insula, this meant the subjects loved their iPhones. Now there's just one problem with this line of reasoning, and that's that the insula does a lot. Sure, it is involved in positive emotions like love and compassion, but it's also involved in tons of other processes, like memory, language, attention, even anger, disgust and pain.
  • You've probably heard of it. So, Dr. Love bases his argument on studies showing that when you boost people's oxytocin, this increases their trust, empathy and cooperation. So he's calling oxytocin "the moral molecule."
  • Trial or no trial, these claims are front and center on their label right next to a picture of a brain. And it turns out that pictures of brains have special properties. A couple of researchers asked a few hundred people to read a scientific article. For half the people, the article included a brain image, and for the other half, it was the same article but it didn't have a brain image. At the end — you see where this is going — people were asked whether they agreed with the conclusions of the article. So this is how much people agree with the conclusions with no image. And this is how much they agree with the same article that did include a brain image. So the take-home message here is, do you want to sell it? Put a brain on it.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • So what I'm going to do is show you how to spot a couple of classic moves, dead giveaways, really, for what's variously been called neuro-bunk, neuro-bollocks, or, my personal favorite, neuro-flapdoodle.
  • Now these studies are scientifically valid, and they've been replicated, but they're not the whole story. Other studies have shown that boosting oxytocin increases envy. It increases gloating. Oxytocin can bias people to favor their own group at the expense of other groups. And in some cases, oxytocin can even decrease cooperation.
  • We haven't found a "buy" button inside the brain, we can't tell whether someone is lying or in love just by looking at their brain scans, and we can't turn sinners into saints with hormones. Maybe someday we will, but until then, we have to be careful that we don't let overblown claims detract resources and attention away from the real science that's playing a much longer game.
  • Ask the tough questions. Ask to see the evidence. Ask for the part of the story that's not being told. The answers shouldn't be simple, because the brain isn't simple. But that's not stopping us from trying to figure it out anyway.
  • David McGavock on 28 Dec 12
     
     Ask the tough questions. Ask to see the evidence. Ask for the part of the story that's not being told. The answers shouldn't be simple, because the brain isn't simple. But that's not stopping us from trying to figure it out anyway.
David McGavock

Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world - 1 views

www.eff.org

privacy freedom electronic Digital activism

shared by David McGavock on 04 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 04 Aug 12
     
    About EFF From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990-well before the Internet was on most people's radar-and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.
David McGavock

Can neuroscience inform management accountants? | CIMA Financial Management Magazine - 1 views

www.fm-magazine.com/...-inform-management-accountants

neuroscience management financial management accountants

shared by David McGavock on 22 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • In business we regularly have to consider what level of risk is acceptable to the organisation. Management control systems typically assume that people adhere to some rational decision rules and are able to estimate the probabilities and values of future outcomes.
  • Pre-neuro behavioural studies have shown that this is most often not the case. Moreover, the way in which alternatives to a decision are presented to people affects their opinion about them and their choice between them.
  • Behavioural economics shows that if alternatives are framed as gains, decision-makers usually opt for safer options, thereby exhibiting risk-averse behaviour, but they reverse their choice when alternatives are framed as losses.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Management accountants need to consider what kind of presentation of information may reduce hidden fear and anxiety.
  • Management accountants need to provide management with overviews of the inter-temporal consequences of managerial decisions
  • People simply have such a strong preference for sooner rather than later (positive) outcomes that it appears to be hard to change that.
  • people barely make a difference between two outcomes that lie in the distant future.
  • Neuroscientific research may provide a starting point in the analysis and solution of this problem, as its results suggest that humans’ preference for short-term outcomes is the consequence of the emotional system’s strong response to immediate, rather than to delayed, rewards.
  • When applying neuroscientific methods for fundamental or applied research, management accountants have to deal with at least four challenges.
  • First, neuroscience requires a mastery of observation techniques that are not the normal repertoire of social researchers
  • Second, given the technological complexities of neuroscientific research, it is crucial to develop cooperation in multidisciplinary teams consisting of neurologists, economists and psychologists, as well as management accountants.
  • David McGavock on 22 Jun 12
     
    A new pilot study has been looking at how neuroscience can be used to understand how business decisions are arrived at, and the role it can play in management accountancy by evaluating the decision-making process and the role that emotional responses play their part in this
David McGavock

There Is No Digital Divide - Technology Review - 1 views

www.technologyreview.com/...there-is-no-digital-divide

digital divide technology Jessica Daniels rheingold

shared by David McGavock on 05 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • I think we've all sort of accepted the "digital divide" framework, but there are some real problems with that.  First of all, saying there is a "digital divide" presumes a shared understanding of that term and there's not one.
  • Given that in the original research, the middle- and upper-classes, whites, and men were more likelyt to have access to technology, those sorts of questions about the characteristics of the "have-nots" just point us to old ways of thinking about class, about race, and about gender."
  • My research finds that Black/Latina/o LGBT youth who are homeless - in other words, the very people who should be on the "other side" of so-called the "digital divide," are in fact, quite adept at technology and most have smart phones. They use this technology to survive - to find work, social services, avoid police or report police misconduct.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Instead of "digital divide," other scholars have talked about "digital fluency," or even "digital entitlements" which I like better.
  • I found that while they were very adept at some things (opening multiple browser windows, locating things online quickly), they weren't very good at some other, important tasks. For example, they weren't good at deciphering "cloaked" sites from legitimate ones. 
  • I'd point to the work of my friend Howard Rheingold and his new book "Net Smart," which is an excellent guide for how to be a digitally fluent user of all the technologies we have available to us now.  It's an excellent book and I think the FCC should include it in their plan for training the digital educators going into schools!
  • David McGavock on 05 Jun 12
     
    a recent New York Times piece, "Wasting Time Is New Divide in Digital Era" (or, as Gawker put it, "Poor People Are Wasting Time on the Internet!") asserts that while all kids are spending more time with media, those with lower socio-economic status were spending even more of it, and on activities like Facebook that aren't exactly conducive to learning. In other words: even when you give poor people access to technology, they don't know what to do with it! Might as well give a paleolithic tribe access to a chip fab, pffft. Jessie Daniels, Associate Professor of urban public health at Hunter College and CUNY and author of a forthcoming book on Internet propaganda, tweeted her displeasure at the piece. (There's even a Storify of all her comments on it.)
David McGavock

Truth is the foundation of trust | PostIndependent.com - 1 views

www.postindependent.com/...1022&parentprofile=1081

opinion critical_thinking evaluate media

shared by David McGavock on 12 May 12 - No Cached
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Something I agree with
  • Sometimes it seems as though all the infighting is self destructive and financially draining.
  • Well, $14 trillion of debt later, I wonder if she still likes the sound.
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Written with no acknowledgement of the situation that was handed to him. I would like to see the Ross Talbott plan for avoiding a depression.
  • ...3 more annotations...
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Truth, truth, truth. He repeats the need for truth and for relationship. At the same time he provides no basis for the arguments he makes. Truth requires evidence.
  • Who then, are the wise? Are they the ones who liked the way he sounded? Are they the ones who believe the lies?
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      It would be helpful to have the details here rather than the chant that we can hear from "the press".
  • A famous saying is, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” The opposite of truth is the lie, and the lie creates bondage and death. The lie is so dangerous because it is presented as truth by impressive and convincing people. The real truth is often initially painful but is always liberating. Truth is the light at the end of the tunnel.
  • David McGavock on 12 May 12
     
    One man's version of truth sans evidence.
David McGavock

Species diversity refutes the theory of evolution | PostIndependent.com - 1 views

www.postindependent.com/...1022&parentprofile=1077

opinion critical_thinking information_literacy evaluate evolution theory

shared by David McGavock on 12 May 12 - No Cached
  • Species diversity refutes the theory of evolution
  • Somehow, I always understood that the concept of evolution was the proof that there are no miracles.
  • Evolution presupposes that somehow some accidentally formed primordial soup
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • the universe had a point origin extremely hot and of incredible speed.
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Changing topics - now we're on to saying that there is an infinite supply of fuel burn. Talk about spending (consuming) above our means...
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      To say that a miracle is outside of science or that science cannot see the miracle is uninformed.
  • oil is not a “fossil fuel” and there is some process deep within our planet that is producing it.
  • volution was a foundational belief of Hitler
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      The belief in evolution is the "cause" of nazi germany? I think not.
  • That understanding destroys the leverage politicians use to scare us into the idea that we are running out of oil.
  • incredible complexity deeply challenges any idea that it is the result of spontaneous generation.
  • When you compare that time against the $14 trillion-plus of the U.S. debt, it is comparatively a short time.
  • The rest of us are also somehow sub-human and must be conquered and/or killed
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      And the arabs are fervent believers in evolution???
  • The concept of evolution is an effort to demonstrate that there is no God. That being the case, there are no eternal consequences. Evil is just what the government says it is.
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Evolution = no god = no eternal consequences = evil government. I'm not sure how all this ties together.
  • one thing that did not come into existence without a purpose and a creator.
    • David McGavock
      David McGavock on 12 May 12
       
      Christianity doesn't have the patent on creation. All faiths have a creation story describing causes.
  • David McGavock on 12 May 12
     
    "Species diversity refutes the theory of evolution"
David McGavock

http://www.ace-ncc.org/47L/CKW/?ID=7655524654&C=90109&E=1&T=B - 3 views

www.ace-ncc.org/...CKW

critical_thinking skills resources

shared by David McGavock on 11 May 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 11 May 12
     
    What You'll Learn Critical thinking is a vital component of every part of the school day. With each activity that students engage in, they are utilizing critical thinking skills - skills that must be fostered and encouraged by educators so students can perform at the highest level possible. This module will teach educators to employ various strategies and tactics that will ensure that they are continuously cultivating critical thinking skills in their students throughout the day so that student achievement is constantly being emphasized. In this course you'll learn how to encourage critical thinking and active learning, as well as tactical and structural recommendations to enhance your lessons, different approaches to thinking, and how to drive thinking through questions. You will discover: The intrapersonal components involved in critical thinking The role of critical thinking in student interactions How to incorporate critical thinking strategies into every activity and lesson plan The various approaches to thinking
David McGavock

How to Use the Internet Wisely, for Your Health and Your Country's - Howard Rheingold -... - 1 views

www.theatlantic.com/...256898

thinking information_literacy crap detection Net Smart critical_thinking resources skills Howard Rheingold

shared by David McGavock on 10 May 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 10 May 12
     
    Editor's note: The following essay has been adapted from Howard Rheingold's new book Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, which offers Rheingold's insights on how to find quality information on the web, and then how to piece that information together "intelligently, humanely, and above all mindfully." The book was published in April by MIT Press.
David McGavock

Critical Thinking: A Necessary Skill in the Age of Spin| The Committed Sardine - 6 views

www.fluency21.com/blogpost.cfm

critical thinking skill spin evaluate crap detection

shared by David McGavock on 25 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 25 Apr 12
     
    "The ability to think critically is one skill separating innovators from followers. Critical thinking reduces the power of advertisers, the unscrupulous and the pretentious, and can neutralize the sway of an unsupported argument. This is a skill most students enjoy learning because they see immediately that it gives them more control."
David McGavock

About New America | NewAmerica.net - 0 views

newamerica.net/about

thinking journalism creative solutions resources information_literacy

shared by David McGavock on 01 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • oo often, these challenges have proven impervious to conventional party politics and incremental proposals. With an emphasis on big ideas, impartial analysis and pragmatic solutions, New America invests in outstanding individuals whose ability to communicate to wide and influential audiences can change the country's policy discourse in critical areas, bringing promising new ideas and debates to the fore.
  • David McGavock on 01 Apr 12
     
    "The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States. New America emphasizes work that is responsive to the changing conditions and problems of our 21st Century information-age economy -- an era shaped by transforming innovation and wealth creation, but also by shortened job tenures, longer life spans, mobile capital, financial imbalances and rising inequality. The foundation's mission is animated by the American ideal that each generation will live better than the last. That ideal is today under strain. Our education and health care systems are struggling with problems of quality, cost and access. The country requires creative means to address its fiscal challenges and pay for needed public, social and environmental investments. Abroad, the United States has yet to fashion sustainable foreign and defense policies that will protect its citizens and interests in a rapidly integrating world. "
David McGavock

About Us - ProPublica - 0 views

www.propublica.org/about

journalism newspapers investigative crap detection information_literacy critical skills critical thinking

shared by David McGavock on 01 Apr 12 - Cached
  • David McGavock on 01 Apr 12
     
    ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. Our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories, stories with "moral force." We do this by producing journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them.
David McGavock

Steve Hargadon: Search results for Panel on search - 0 views

www.stevehargadon.com/search

thinking evaluate information_literacy critical skills search hargadon

shared by David McGavock on 12 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 12 Mar 12
     
    Join me Thursday, December 1st, for another live and interactive FutureofEducation.com webinar as Tasha Bergson-Michelson brings Debbie Abilock and Jole Seroff together for a panel and audience conversation on "search literacy" in education: what is search literacy, what sources should students be using, how do we help them evaluate what they find, what are the biggest misconceptions about search, and what is the school's role in teaching search literacy and skills?
David McGavock

The 9-to-5 doesn't always make sense. How I work: Discipline. Differences. Structures. ... - 1 views

itstartswith.com/...how-i-work

work balance critical thinking tools

shared by David McGavock on 19 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • In all of this, creative and intellectual pursuits require exceptional discipline, or else these individuals can become swallowed by the banal of chasing information and products that yield no results.
  • In any given day, I probably only have 5 hours of ‘great’ work time, time when I’m focused on writing and complex problem solving; I regard these hours as fundamentally precious and push everything to the wayside during these times.
  • I am a fastidious multi-tasker; in that I do many tasks throughout the day and let some percolate in the back of my mind while focusing most of my energy on the job at present.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Throughout it all, I set targets and goals and deadlines, knowing the importance of self-discipline above all else–and in the mornings, I write out fresh post-it notes with clear, tangible goals and deadlines.
  • it’s like morning, when I get back from a walk, and I’m ready.
  • David McGavock on 19 Jan 12
     
    A few months ago, I tried to explain to my Granpda why my style of working worked for me, and what it was that I was doing differently than his generation-for better or for worse. I've decided to revisit and revise the essay, here. Let me know what you think-and what style of working has worked for you: how do you work best? Do you think the structure of 9 to 5 is antiquated? Where did the 9-to-5 system come from? How is it helpful, and how is it a hindrance? More importantly, how can we make it better?
David McGavock

Peeragogy Lit Review - Google Docs - 4 views

docs.google.com/...edit

lit review critical_thinking peeragogy paragogy Rheingold

shared by David McGavock on 18 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 18 Jan 12
     
    The contemporary movement towards peeragogy has roots in the work of these Western education scholars, who have contributed to what is known as the field of "critical pedagogy." This is an approach to teaching that encourages students to think critically and creatively about what they read as opposed to passively accepting it.
David McGavock

Child Development Research - 1 views

www.childdevelopmentmedia.com/hild-development-research.html

thinking critical_thinking lowest common denominator resources child development research

shared by David McGavock on 04 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 04 Jan 12
     
    "Child Development Research Child Development Videos » History, Theory & Research » Child Development Research Child development research encompasses a broad range of topics, and included here are titles illustrating some of the many branches of developmental psychology and child development theory. Methods of research and observation have changed dramatically in the past century, allowing for vast amounts of new information to be compiled and assessed. Our collective knowledge of how children grow has grown exponentially, thanks to researchers from around the world. Titles in this section offer an in-depth look at this new and compelling research, and the lives of the individuals who founded them. "
David McGavock

The demise of quality content on the web - 4 views

www.elezea.com/...the-demise-of-quality-content

thinking evaluate information_literacy critical_thinking ads lowest common denominator

shared by David McGavock on 30 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • I remember exactly when I decided to stop reading Mashable.
  • You can’t see a single word from the actual article without scrolling. It reminded me of a comment that Merlin Mann recently made in his typically funny and obnoxious style:
  • we seem to be in this bizarre race to the intellectual bottom to write the most generic article in the world so that everyone with an Internet connection will click through. And the only purpose seems to be to keep the advertising monster fed, fat, and happy.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • I’m worried that all the noise makes it increasingly difficult for quality content[1] to be seen. Worse, I’m worried that it’s discouraging the creation of quality content because what’s successful (i.e. what gets the most clicks) is mostly lowest-common-denominator blog post titles that either start with a number or end with a question mark.
  • The problem is not that people don’t have enough time, it’s that people don’t have enough attention.
  • The wells of attention are being drilled to depletion by linkbait headlines, ad-infested pages, “jumps” and random pagination, and content that is engineered to be “consumed” in 1 minute or less of quick scanning – just enough time to capture those almighty eyeballs[2]. And the reality is that “Alternative Attention sources” simply don’t exist.
  • David McGavock on 30 Dec 11
     
    "I used to believe that if you write with passion and clarity about a topic you know well (or want to know more about), you will find and build an audience. I believed that maybe, if you're smart about it, you could find a way for some part of that audience to pay you money to sustain whatever obsession drove you to self-publishing (and to do it without selling your soul in the process). "
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