When we think, remember, imagine and mentally rehearse interpersonal encounters, emotions dominate the contents and determine the directions that our thoughts will take. At any given moment, what we pay attention to and what we choose to ignore are driven by emotions. Memory gives us a personal past
Posts by Kenneth Wesson
The Magic of Learning Language
Language is one of the most crucial competencies mastered by the human brain, although learning to speak has the appearance of an ordinary phase in child development. Virtually any person can learn one or more of the 6,000 languages spoken today. Our 100 billion networked neurons actively seek external auditory stimuli in order
Revolutionizing How We Teach Reading: Reverse Direction Decoding
Phonics is the popular reading strategy commonly taught in preschool, primary and upper elementary grades, and sometimes still in middle schools. However, shouldn’t any technique used repeatedly for almost 10 consecutive years with only modest success warrant some suspicion? Worst of all, the word
Learning and Memory: How Do We Remember and Why Do We Often Forget?
Are memory and recall really so complicated? The bigger question is, “How do we remember and why do we often forget?” Like health, everyone’s memory is impacted by an infinite number of variables that can lead to a wide range of outcomes depending upon the circumstances. Familiarity with those conditions and the
A Primer on Neuroplasticity: Experience and Your Brain
Parents and educators are among the most voracious consumers of the latest research about the brain, searching for strategies to enhance learning and brain development. They are finding a wealth of new answers. Discoveries from the field of neuroscience are reported in the media almost daily.
The STEM Branches Out: Preparing for the Jobs of the Future
In 1900, the average age at which employees exited the workforce was 47, which was coincidentally the average lifespan. It has been predicted that by 2020, workers will begin their careers at the average age of 23. They will change careers five to eight times over the course of the next four decades.
Education for the Real World: 6 Great Ideas for Parents and Teachers
A renewed national focus on learning is vital to our future. “Brain considerate” home and school learning environments seek to soften the artificial academic borders that were initially created to make instruction and testing less complicated, making learning more difficult in the process.
Brain-Sight: Can Touch Allow Us to “See” Better Than Sight?
Which of the following procedures do you think would produce the most accurate representation of an object: tracing the object; looking at the object while drawing it; or, with your eyes closed, touching and feeling the object and then drawing it, without having ever seen it? Most educators and parents
Building a Better Brain: Understanding How We Learn
If you are a teacher and it is your job to open minds, shouldn’t you know how the brain works? If you are a parent, wouldn’t an understanding of brain development provide useful insights into successful child-rearing? As the proud owner of the most complex object in the entire universe, understanding
Summer Study: Tips for Parents and Educators
American students continue to fall behind their counterparts in the rest of the industrialized world in mathematics and science, according to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Our high school reading and writing scores produce similar downward trending data. What can we do?
Has Standardized Testing Run Its Course?
The human brain is the most multifaceted biological puzzle in the known universe; consequently, it is enormously difficult to simultaneously assess the knowledge, skills, and content understanding of large quantities of individuals with standardized testing alone. Regardless, for the past decade and a half
Brain-STEM: Using Interdisciplinarity to Improve Our Minds and Our Schools
Students beginning kindergarten this fall will likely retire around the year 2080. An unpredictable world awaits them. How do we prepare our children for the future, with such an uncertain economy and rapidly evolving technology? According to Microsoft CTO Cameron Evans, current educational approaches were designed to prepare students