memory

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/28/memory.research/index.html

I just read this article on the CNN website and I thought it was timely. Interesting research.

chapter 3

Chapter 3 discusses attention and consciousness. Attention is defined as the mental activity that allows us to absorb a finite amount of information from our senses and memory. It includes different attention processes such as divided attention and selective attention. Consciousness includes people's perceptions about the world an our thoughts, images and feelings.

When reading about orienting attention and the attention required for visual search, I related this to my experience with my husbands grandmother. She had suffered a stroke, the doctors felt she had actually probably had several smaller strokes too, but she experienced the the parietal damage they mention in the text. She could not see food on the right side of her plate. My mother in law cared for her for a long time and she would have to help her with meals because of this.

I am not sure if there is anything I am unclear on, as the reading was very interesting. Perhaps offering some additional information on ADD students would have been helpful in this context. Maybe offering information on the brain processes of students with ADD and how to work best within their abilities.

I apply this knowledge in my own work in that when I am focused on school work, I cannot divert my attention to something else and produce quality work. (Like trying to do homework on a snow day when everyone is home!) The same holds true for my son when he is doing his homework - no tv and no video games on while doing homework because they divided his attention from the task at hand.

The text offers several resources and studies to provide validity to the information. The amount of research on the brain suggests well studied subject, although I believe there is still much to learn. I once read somewhere that we only use a fraction of our brain capability. And we all know how difficult it can be to multi-task....no we have science to back it up.

The information on attention and consciousness is important in that we should have an understanding on these processes to better serve students in the classroom. It is also important to understand how we as individuals process stimuli to further our own education too.

I would use this information when teaching to better understand the needs of students who struggle with ADD. Trying to understand what could be happening in their brains during instruction and how to best meet their learning needs.

Again, I am not certain about a response to the final question regarding accomplishing the same thing in a faster or cheaper way. In relation to scientific research and understanding the brain, I think it is important to continue learning all that we can.

art collection

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/01/23/arts/0123-RAPH_index.html

I was just looking at this collection on the nyt website and was thinking about how we perceive art. It is a beautiful collection and I thought others might enjoy.

chapter 2

Chapter 2 provides insight on theories of visual and auditory perception. It discusses how our perceptions as humans utilizes previous knowledge to interpret stimuli. It offers information on how we rely on visual and auditory stimuli to make sense of our world. I found the information on face perception to be extremely interesting. Throughout the chapter I often thought of how babies must perceive their surroundings such as their mother's face or sound of her voice. Interesting.

While reading the chapter, I was thinking about my previous experience with the brain and how it functions. It has been a few years, but in my AP class we talked about the different parts of the brain and how neurons work together. I have also done some reading on the effects of exercise and the brain.

I guess a point I am not clear on would be why some people rely more heavily on the visual aspect of learning and why others may not require that stimulus as much.

If I were in a teaching environment, I would use this information everyday. From how I design my lesson to how I arrange the learning environment. Am I communicating the information in a way that is easily perceived by my students?

I think the author provides adequate evidence, through a variety of sources, that lends to its credibility. I think we do use many cues in our perception processes.

I would use this information with all types of students. I would hope to identify which students rely more heavily on visual stimuli and meets those needs appropriately.

I am not clear on how to achieve the same thing faster, cheaper or better?

checking in

Just checking to see if this works. Never created my own blog before. Looking forward to hearing from everyone as the semester progresses.
Jenn