Tuesday 2 March 2010

Keep Evolving - your descendents will thank you!

I really liked this line from an advertisement for the Scientific American magazine! To keep evolving, we must constantly respond to change. Which involves both learning and unlearning. For those of you who enjoy living on the cutting edge of change, visit Unlearning 101 for some useful and thought-provoking insights, for example this Powerful Lesson in Unlearning.

Coming back to the Scientific American, I was reading an article, Watching the Brain Learn, by R. Douglas Fields, in which he discusses the research into the changes that occur in the brain as a result of learning a new skill, such as juggling.

You may also enjoy this discussion on the brain and the myth of multi-tasking. Thank you Brain Friendly Trainer.

The journey continued from here to Dr John Medina's site where I found this excellent slideshow, a must for all interested in learning and teaching, as it explains how patterns and emotion influence how we assimilate information and the downsides of divided attention. Two important things I carried in a doggy bag from his blog (there's lot's more, but you'll have to read it yourself!):

1. Words presented in a logically organized, hierarchical structure are much better remembered than words placed randomly
2. Meaning before details - embedding associations between different pieces of information improves retention

Check out the YouTube videos, I especially liked the Death by Powerpoint clip.

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