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iPhone app used to conduct psychology study. The ubiquitous nature of smartphones today can make conducting research studies easier.

It's been said that a wandering mind I think lead to innovation (because it allows the mind time to connect dots). Maybe a better title would have been "Distracted mind not a happy mind" ?

"Gaming will probably progress to the point where the player's mind will control and communicate with the gaming station. Perhaps transmitters will communicate back and generate gaming experiences in the player's mind without requiring a screen."

Here are just a few topics that we will cover… 1. Brain-machine interfaces to control computers, exoskeletons, robots, and other devices with thought alone; 2. Mind-reading devices that will project the conscious contents of one's brain onto a screen as if it was a movie; 3. Devices to enhance intellectual ability and to increase concentration; 4. Devices to enhance creativity and insight; 5. Mechanisms to upload the mind to a machine, thus preserving it from bodily decay and bodily death.

How new tools can be controlled with one's mind

The MIND Research Institute has developed software & games to teach math without use of language. Language is thought to be a barrier to math for many students.

Taking the math out of language provides access for students who have linguistic barriers to learning.

Mind mapping is the process of using visual diagrams to show the relationships between ideas or information. Its popular uses include project planning, collecting and organizing thoughts, brainstorming and presentations - all in order to help solve problems, map out resources and uncover new ideas.

AI seems like a distant dream. Mind holds too many secrets...at least mine!

Truly great discussion with some great minds all focused on not simply how to reform education, but how to look at a real transformation of what it means to educate in the 21st Century.

Just thinking about Professor Dede's experience with the Bush Foundation, I found this interview with Jeb Bush interesting. He talks some about the Bush Foundation's recent Education in Excellence conference and what kinds of issues are at stake for education reform to stick. Obviously a little bit political, but not too much. Building on some of the previous posts, politics does impact change in education so I think it's important for us to keep these things in mind.

This is mind-blowing, Jeff. It certainly speaks to the natural curiosity of children and the human capacity to learn, given resources and opportunities. Although I agree with the NETP about developing a strategic approach to tech implementation, I guess we should keep an open mind to the possibility that the technology can precede the strategy (and definitive research data) and still add value to a learning environment. After all, some inventions go on to serve unintended purposes that sometimes prove more useful than its original intended purpose. Who would have thought Ethiopian children could figure out how to hack tablets? Major props to them because I still have yet to figure it out. Thanks for sharing the article, Jeff.

Sugata Mitra would be proud!

http://www.ted.com At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Hi there Hongge, thanks for sharing this amazing video. He's managed to bridge certain key technologies and made them more intuitive for the daily user. It's great that he's made it open-source too! Maybe we could pay a visit to MIT to check it out? I wonder though, whether such a device would in the future not only project thoughts and programs but also capture user data and begin to 'suggest' or advertise certain things to you. Scary but the potential is enormous. Again, thanks!

Thanks, Matthew. That video was actually filmed three years ago (yes, even before iPhone 4) and I wonder if Pranav is still at MIT Media Lab. Maybe Karen knows more about him and could make an introduction for us? Machine learning and personalizing content for us is already happening. Personally, I like the idea of personalized content simply because nowadays we can be so easily info-overloaded. It is quite normal for CEOs and political leaders to digest pre-screened/selected info by their secretaries and/or advisers, right? And Google has been doing this for advertising to consumers. I don't mind the right ads appear at the right time when I need the product or service. What really strikes me about Pranav's idea is that it reminds me about the movie Inception, where you can transplant an idea into someone's mind and the distinction between reality and the virtual world is so blurry.

Here's video examples of some of the MIND Institute's games... I'm not sure how the reveal of locations behind the iPad really come into play... SURELY they could have come up with more functional examples that relate content to real life?

Can you think of more functional & relative locations to showcase?

This article shows the dark underbelly of the educational policy world as it relates to technology. As schools are increasingly adopting online learning models in classes, companies are predictably lining up to get money from the movement. However, there are many companies who are taking it a step further and lobbying for policies that do not have children's best interests in mind and which operate under the simplistic and misguided assumption that "schools will not need teachers once computers become good enough." It should give us pause to consider what needs to be done in these early stages to prevent the edTech movement from falling into the wrong hands and killing our schools.

A professor of logic and metaphysics suggests that IPods, BlackBerrys, and laptops can be seen as extensions of our minds -- "bio-external elements in an extended cognitive process."

Computers reading our minds. 

Todd Oppenheimer, author of The Flickering Mind, on teaching real world computer skills.

Basic but a good refresher on the maverick mind of futurists in business