“What’s lost as handwriting fades?” asks a NYT article. Apparently, more than anticipated by those who assume that handwriting should no longer be taught in school. Neuroscientists now provide some clues as to why handwriting seems to influence learning in … Continue reading
[…] All humans, short of being afflicted with certain types of organic damage, are born with an astounding capacity to learn, both in the amount that can be learned in one domain and in the variety and range of what … Continue reading
Learning, it could seem, would be much easier, if the brain was designed like a computer:A system that catalogs information, stores it, and allows easy on-demand retrieval.Anyone trying to understand how the brain works does well to keep in mind … Continue reading
Have you ever wondered why we have a test/study, quiz-like format at LearnThatWord? Because it improves retention AND transfer of knowledge into new context. This means, not only do you learn more effectively, remember longer, but you are also much … Continue reading
Today, another exquisite article in the New York Times Magazine, called “Building a Better Teacher.” Decades of educational discussion and crisis remediation attempts have taken us to wondrous lands of ideology, deserts of testing, winding paths of experimental technologies. It … Continue reading
“It takes 10,000 hours of practice to truly master a skill.” This is the much-quoted statement by Professor of Psychology K. Anders Ericsson, Florida State University. His conclusion that experts in a given field have clocked around 10,000 to gain … Continue reading
We have a lot of members who prepare for the National Spelling Bee, so this article about a Vocabulary Bowl held by I.B. Tigrett Middle School in Jackson, Tennessee, was brought to our attention: http://www.wbbjtv.com/news/local/Vocabulary-Bowl-Tests-Students-Knowledge-199199441.html What stood out was the … Continue reading
An estimated 35% of students are so nervous before high-stakes tests that it impairs their performance, says this article from the Wall Street Journal.Great insights on how to best prepare for a high-stakes test from The Wall Street Journal. Did … Continue reading
Check out this little report, in which a neuro-scientist explains that the characteristic of an expert is less mental activity, not more.You become an expert once you gain automaticity around the elements required for expertise.This used to be called memory, but since ideology has piled a lot … Continue reading
He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance. Friedrich Nietzsche