Blogs

Mind and Brain Interest Committee - Brookline High School

Two interesting recent articles on education that get even more interesting when read in relation to one another and in broader contexts ....

How to train the aging brain, NYTimes Education Life, 29 Dec 2009

"Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education ... Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different."

Thinking is a basic function that occurs almost involuntary millions of times a day. However, there is vast scientific research that goes into understanding the basic functions of how and why we think the way we do.

In recent years, authors have taken different approaches to understanding the science of thinking, and what factors frame our thought processes. In 2005, Malcolm Gladwell authored Blink, a critical and public success, and used rapid cognition as a platform for using the human mind and its decision making process.

Scientists, physicians, and patients use metaphors to understand the complex condition called cancer.  These metaphors direct the process of research and treatment.  It is sometimes useful to make explicit existing metaphors and their problems and to suggest new metaphors that might overcome them.  Thinking of cancer in evolutionary rather than military terms offers new possibilities in connection both with research and treatment.

Cancer as a Metaphor:

Hello all!  I am going to update you on the progress of how I used Brain and behavior and the Inquiry institutes in my classroom.  We started the year with Inquiry and learning about boxes within boxes.  My students were able to play and explore using their own senses and try to make sense of what they were trying to make sense of, the science curriculum.  I am going to upload pictures which help explain what we did!