Skip to main content

Home/ Diigo In Education/ Group items tagged Brain

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Marianne Hart

The Creativity Crisis - Newsweek - 48 views

  • there is one crucial difference between IQ and CQ scores. With intelligence, there is a phenomenon called the Flynn effect—each generation, scores go up about 10 points. Enriched environments are making kids smarter. With creativity, a reverse trend has just been identified and is being reported for the first time here: American creativity scores are falling.
  • “Creativity can be taught,”
  • it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children
    • Brian C. Smith
       
      Students are labeled as "creative" if they display a knack for art or music, and sometimes in writing, however, they are rarely recognized as creative in math or science where a lot of creativity is not only needed, but excellent for learning within those very two disciplines.
    • Bill Genereux
       
      This is precisely why creativity education is important. It is needed everywhere, not just in the arts. Those teaching outside of arts education need to start recognizing the importance of creative thinking as well.
  • ...23 more annotations...
  • When faculty of a major Chinese university asked Plucker to identify trends in American education, he described our focus on standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing. “After my answer was translated, they just started laughing out loud,” Plucker says. “They said, ‘You’re racing toward our old model. But we’re racing toward your model, as fast as we can.’ ”
  • The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process.
  • When you try to solve a problem, you begin by concentrating on obvious facts and familiar solutions, to see if the answer lies there. This is a mostly left-brain stage of attack. If the answer doesn’t come, the right and left hemispheres of the brain activate together. Neural networks on the right side scan remote memories that could be vaguely relevant. A wide range of distant information that is normally tuned out becomes available to the left hemisphere, which searches for unseen patterns, alternative meanings, and high-level abstractions. Having glimpsed such a connection, the left brain must quickly lock in on it before it escapes. The attention system must radically reverse gears, going from defocused attention to extremely focused attention. In a flash, the brain pulls together these disparate shreds of thought and binds them into a new single idea that enters consciousness. This is the “aha!” moment of insight, often followed by a spark of pleasure as the brain recognizes the novelty of what it’s come up with. Now the brain must evaluate the idea it just generated. Is it worth pursuing? Creativity requires constant shifting, blender pulses of both divergent thinking and convergent thinking, to combine new information with old and forgotten ideas. Highly creative people are very good at marshaling their brains into bilateral mode, and the more creative they are, the more they dual-activate.
  • those who diligently practice creative activities learn to recruit their brains’ creative networks quicker and better
    • Ed Webb
       
      Surely, "more quickly"?
  • Creativity has always been prized in American society, but it’s never really been understood. While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. The problems we face now, and in the future, simply demand that we do more than just hope for inspiration to strike. Fortunately, the science can help: we know the steps to lead that elusive muse right to our doors.
    • Brian C. Smith
       
      Likely because it was out of necessity and the hardships of life. Not that we don't have hardships and necessities, but innovation has solved a lot of problems and automation has made skills and tasks easy.
  • What’s common about successful programs is they alternate maximum divergent thinking with bouts of intense convergent thinking, through several stages. Real improvement doesn’t happen in a weekend workshop. But when applied to the everyday process of work or school, brain function improves.
    • Brian C. Smith
       
      Everyday process of work or school... over time, consistent and non-prescriptive.
  • kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they’d unwittingly mastered Ohio’s required fifth-grade curriculum—from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing. “You never see our kids saying, ‘I’ll never use this so I don’t need to learn it,’ ” says school administrator Maryann Wolowiec. “Instead, kids ask, ‘Do we have to leave school now?’ ” Two weeks ago, when the school received its results on the state’s achievement test, principal Traci Buckner was moved to tears. The raw scores indicate that, in its first year, the school has already become one of the top three schools in Akron, despite having open enrollment by lottery and 42 percent of its students living in poverty.
  • project-based learning
  • highly creative adults frequently grew up with hardship. Hardship by itself doesn’t lead to creativity, but it does force kids to become more flexible—and flexibility helps with creativity.
  • When creative children have a supportive teacher—someone tolerant of unconventional answers, occasional disruptions, or detours of curiosity—they tend to excel. When they don’t, they tend to underperform and drop out of high school or don’t finish college at high rates. They’re quitting because they’re discouraged and bored, not because they’re dark, depressed, anxious, or neurotic. It’s a myth that creative people have these traits. (Those traits actually shut down creativity; they make people less open to experience and less interested in novelty.) Rather, creative people, for the most part, exhibit active moods and positive affect. They’re not particularly happy—contentment is a kind of complacency creative people rarely have. But they’re engaged, motivated, and open to the world.
  • solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others
  • The age-old belief that the arts have a special claim to creativity is unfounded.
  • When scholars gave creativity tasks to both engineering majors and music majors, their scores laid down on an identical spectrum, with the same high averages and standard deviations. Inside their brains, the same thing was happening—ideas were being generated and evaluated on the fly.
  • The lore of pop psychology is that creativity occurs on the right side of the brain. But we now know that if you tried to be creative using only the right side of your brain, it’d be like living with ideas perpetually at the tip of your tongue, just beyond reach
  • those who diligently practice creative activities learn to recruit their brains’ creative networks quicker and better. A lifetime of consistent habits gradually changes the neurological pattern.
  • The home-game version of this means no longer encouraging kids to spring straight ahead to the right answer
  • The new view is that creativity is part of normal brain function.
  • “As a child, I never had an identity as a ‘creative person,’ ” Schwarzrock recalls. “But now that I know, it helps explain a lot of what I felt and went through.”
  • In China there has been widespread education reform to extinguish the drill-and-kill teaching style. Instead, Chinese schools are also adopting a problem-based learning approach.
  • fact-finding
  • problem-finding
  • Next, idea-finding
  • there is one crucial difference between IQ and CQ scores. With intelligence, there is a phenomenon called the Flynn effect—each generation, scores go up about 10 points. Enriched environments are making kids smarter. With creativity, a reverse trend has just been identified and is being reported for the first time here: American creativity scores are falling.
  •  
    For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong-and how we can fix it.
Martin Burrett

Evidence of changes to children's brain rhythms following 'brain training' - 17 views

  •  
    New research questions the strong claims that have been made about the benefits of 'brain training' - enhanced mental skills, a boost to education, improved clinical outcomes and sharper everyday functioning. This new study found evidence that 'brain training' changed brain signalling but no indication of other benefits...
Jay Swan

18 Beautiful Infographics About the Human Brain - 42 views

  •  
    Counselors, psychologists, doctors, biologists and others know that the human brain is complex and fascinating. Even as we learn more and more about the brain, there are still plenty of mysteries surrounding it. What you do with your brain can have bearing on your salary, your happiness, your fitness and any number of other factors in your life. If you are interested in learning more about the brain, here are 18 beautiful infographics.
David Simpson

Association for Psychological Science: Public Information - 12 views

    • David Simpson
       
      Notice the nuanced difference here between "brain potential" and "brain area"
  • Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.
  • The popularity of the 10% myth probably also stems from misunderstandings of scientific papers by early brain researchers
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Another possible source of confusion may have been laypersons' misunderstanding of the role of glial cells, brain cells once believed to outnumber the brain's neurons ten to one.
  • But a careful search by the helpful staff at the Albert Einstein archive on our behalf yielded no record of any such statement on his part
  •  
    Brain Myth---We use only 10% of our brain.
Bill Genereux

Brain Power | BrainWorld - 63 views

  •  
    From neurons to brain wiring, Dr. David Walsh gives an easy-to-understand tour of children's and teens' brain development and the impact of experience on the "wiring' of their brains. Children are shaped by the stories they see and hear from parents, relatives, and teachers which pass on values, attitudes, and affect emotional and physical well-being. More than ever, media has become a powerful storyteller in children's lives and raising healthy kids in the media age involves making wise media choices.
Beth Panitz

Energizing Brain Breaks - What are Energizing Brain Breaks? - 124 views

  • s love them. Why do they love them?  Because they are fun and make you laugh.  They also challenge your brain.  Energizing Brain Breaks help you to cross the mid-line of your body which helps both sides of your brain engage.  It is suggested to use an Energizing Brain Break every 30 minutes with your class or audience.  You can imagine a class of students sitting most of the day.  Energizing Brain Breaks help student to stand up and be active every 30 minu
  •  
    OMG I love this!
Christina Johnson

Online NewsHour: Research Indicates Teen Brains Work Differently Than Adults -- October... - 43 views

  •  
    Do you think Shakespeare understood in some way that the adolescent brain may not be as strong at decision making as an adult brain? View the Film "Teenage Brain" Online NewsHour with Jim Leher. Think about the possible implications of this research.
David Sladkey

Giving Away 1000 Energizing Brain Break Books - 83 views

  •  
    We are going to give 1000 Energizing Brain Breaks books away to needy schools. Schools that have a free or reduced lunch program of 40% or more qualify to get the books. See below for more details. 25% of the profits of Energizing Brain Breaks Book are going to underprivileged schools. We have given over 1000 books away to schools all over the United States. We need to give another 1000 away. We will give 25 books (a $375 value) to each school that meets the criteria. There will be no shipping and no cost involved. All you will need to do is fill out the form and send it in to get the books. Energizing Brain Breaks are 1-2 minute brain and body challenges to help your students refocus in class. More info at www.energizingbrainbreaks.com
Keith Rowley

Mindfulness meditation benefits and changes brain structures in 8 weeks - 2 views

  • In a study published in the January 30 edition of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers concluded that an eight week mindful meditation practice produced measurable changes in participants' brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. This is the first study to document meditation-produced changes in the brain's grey matter over time.
  • Previous research has documented structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation. These brain changes included thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with the integration of emotions and attention. However, earlier studies were unable to document that those brain differences were actually caused by meditation.
  • mindfulness meditation (which focuses on nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind)
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • significant improvements in the meditators' stress levels compared with pre-participation responses -- and reductions in stress also were correlated with decreased grey-matter density in the amygdala, part of the brain which is known to play an important role in anxiety and stress.
  • ncreased grey-matter density in the hippocampus (an area of the brain known to be important for learning and memory) and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.
  • guided meditation
  • http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~lazar/
Jac Londe

Brain-Art Competition 2011 - 37 views

  • The Brain-Art Competition
  • In order to recognize the beauty and creativity of artistic renderings emerging from the neuroimaging community, we are launching the first annual Brain-Art Competition. Countless hours are devoted to creation of informative visualizations for communicating neuroscientific findings. This competition aims to recognize the artistic creativity of our community that often goes unappreciated in the publication process.
  • We are inviting researchers to submit their favorite unpublished works for entry.  Both team and single-person entries are welcomed. The competition will have four award categories: 1)Best 3-Dimensional Brain Rendering 2)Best Representation of the Human Connectome 3)Best Abstract Brain Illustration 4)Best Humorous Brain Illustration
Brianna Crowley

The Neuroscience of Your Brain on Fiction - NYTimes.com - 6 views

  • The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated. Keith Oatley, an emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto (and a published novelist), has proposed that reading produces a vivid simulation of reality, one that “runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.” Fiction — with its redolent details, imaginative metaphors and attentive descriptions of people and their actions — offers an especially rich replica. Indeed, in one respect novels go beyond simulating reality to give readers an experience unavailable off the page: the opportunity to enter fully into other people’s thoughts and feelings.
  •  
    Science is supporting the idea of descriptive, narrative passages as providing different brain stimulation from simply nonfiction or informative reading. 
Howard Rheingold

Discovering How to Learn Smarter | MindShift - 100 views

  •  
    Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck conducted the groundbreaking research showing that praise intended to raise young people's self-esteem can seriously backfire. When we tell children, "You're so smart," we communicate the message that they'd better not take risks or make mistakes, lest they reveal that they're not so smart after all. Dweck calls this cautious attitude the "fixed mindset," and she's found that it's associated with greater anxiety and reduced achievement. Students with a "growth mindset," on the other hand, believe that intelligence can be expanded with hard work and persistence, and they view challenges as invigorating and even fun. They're more resilient in the face of setbacks, and they do better academically. Now Dweck has designed a program, called Brainology, which aims to help students develop a growth mindset. Its website explains: "Brainology makes this happen by teaching students how the brain functions, learns, and remembers, and how it changes in a physical way when we exercise it. Brainology shows students that they are in control of their brain and its development." That's a crucial message to pass on to children, and it's not just empty words of encouragement-it's supported by cutting-edge research on neuroplasticity, which shows that the brain changes and grows when we learn new things. You, and your child, can learn to be smarter.
Roland Gesthuizen

Daphne Bavelier: Your brain on video games | Video on TED.com - 61 views

  •  
    Who Knew!
  •  
    "How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly, multitask. Daphne Bavelier studies how the brain adapts to changes in experience, either by nature or by training."
Kenuvis Romero

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism - Multiple Microvascular and Astroglial 5-H... - 0 views

  • Physiologic and anatomic evidence suggest that 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) neurons regulate local cerebral blood flow and blood-brain barrier permeability.
  • capillary endothelial cells exhibited mRNA for the h5-HT1D and for the 5-HT7 receptors whereas microvascular smooth muscle cells, in addition to h5-HT1D and 5-HT7, also showed polymerase chain reaction products for h5-HT1B receptors. Expression of 5-HT1F and 5-HT2A receptor mRNAs was never detected in any of the microvascular cell cultures. In contrast, messages for all 5-HT receptors tested were detected in human brain astrocytes with a predominance of the 5-HT2A and 5-HT7 subtypes. In all cultures, sumatriptan inhibited (35–58%, P < .05) the forskolin-stimulated production of cyclic AMP, an effect blocked by the 5-HT1B/1D receptor antagonists GR127935 and GR55562. In contrast, 5-carboxamidotryptamine induced strong increases (≥ 400%, P < .005) in basal cyclic AMP levels that were abolished by mesulergine, a nonselective 5-HT7 receptor antagonist. Only astroglial cells showed a ketanserin-sensitive increase (177%, P < .05) in IP3 formation when exposed to 5-HT. These results show that specific populations of functional 5-HT receptors are differentially distributed within the various cellular compartments of the human cortical microvascular bed, and that human brain astroglial cells are endowed with multiple 5-HT receptors. These findings emphasize the complex interactions between brain serotonergic pathways and non-neuronal cells within the CNS and, further, they raise the possibility that some of these receptors may be activated by antimigraine compounds such as brain penetrant triptan derivatives.
David Sladkey

Energizing Brain Breaks help students focus - 105 views

  •  
    This site has video examples of students taking "Brain Breaks" in the middle of class. "Brain Breaks" help students to focus in class and also they are fun and engaging. Many of the activities cross the midline to help engage both sides of the brain.
anonymous

Energizing Brain Breaks - What are Energizing Brain Breaks? - 100 views

  •  
    Brain Breaks are excellent for students to get refreshed in just 1-2 minutes. Students of all ages are being helped by having a Brain Break every 30 minutes. Teachers are seeing the need to give students a little break to help them refocus. The DVD has 50 videos of students in action doing Brain Breaks. The DVD follows the Energizing Brain Breaks book page for page. There is also a link to http//brainbreaks.blogspot.com which has many video examples available.
Marsha Ratzel

Myth-Busters: It's not what you don't know that concerns me. It's what you know that is... - 122 views

  •  
    Simple techniques to engage the student's brain power.
Holly Barlaam

The Whole Brain Atlas - 2 views

  •  
    Collection of images of the brain. Includes normal brain anatomy, stroke, tumor, degenerative diseases, inflammatory diseases.
Jac Londe

How the brain makes memories: Rhythmically! - 7 views

  • How the brain makes memories: Rhythmically!
  • "Our work suggests that some problems with learning and memory are caused by synapses not being tuned to the right frequency."
  • "To our surprise, we found that beyond the optimal frequency, synaptic strengthening actually declined as the frequencies got higher."
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Their research also showed that once a synapse learns, its optimal frequency changes. In other words, if the optimal frequency for a naïve synapse -- one that has not learned anything yet -- was, say, 30 spikes per second, after learning, that very same synapse would learn optimally at a lower frequency, say 24 spikes per second. Thus, learning itself changes the optimal frequency for a synapse.
  • the findings raise the possibility that drugs could be developed to "retune" the brain rhythms of people with learning or memory disorders, or that many more of us could become Einstein or Mozart if the optimal brain rhythm was delivered to each synapse.
Holly Barlaam

Brain U - 86 views

  •  
    lots of lessons related to the brain and the nervous system. Addresses topics such as how neurons fire, addiction, memory, brain dissection, and much more.
1 - 20 of 283 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page