Teach the Brain Forums

Is there such a learning by the name of just plain ole "instinct". Well, I am convinced that there is and we know that animals etc. do things many many things instinctively. For a good example: How do ducks and other birds navigate through the air for long distances and back? Do they have an internal compass, well sort of....Are these what we call underpinnings or substrates....whatever.......instinctual has been the word we have used for a long time.

Humans also do many things that are instinctual and we can learn instinctually. I wonder if this is nondeclarative learning or implicit learning? Whatever we call it, humans have a great deal in common, instinctually. When we are angry we get mad....and we have substrates for that....but do we have a substrate for reasons that cause mankind to be angry enough at each other to kill one another. Yes, we seem too. Poverty is one of them. Injustice is another. Just going down this line of reasoning is like opening the wounds of the soul.
Best,
Rob

Hi Rob
Another term for this, could be intuition?
Though an example of what you are raising, is perhaps what is termed Number Sense? Where babies are able to do what is called Subitize, where they able to identify quantities up to from 3 to 5.
Where they have an intuitive sense of 'two-ness, three-ness, four-ness'.
So that 3 items are instinctively recognised as 3.
Not counted.
Once a child attaches a linguistic label to three-ness, it becomes declarative.
Though prior to this, I would suggest that it not declarative?
Yet does this mean that it is Non-declarative?
Where it was learnt through sensory exposure?
Or perhaps it was just activated by sensory exposure, and was already there?
I sense a 'chicken and egg' question here?
I would add that a deficit in number sense, is a sub-type of Dyscalculia.
Geoff.

Rob, I must also reply to your statement:
"Now one of my students has the option of writing or word processing his mid term exam or 'painting his mid term exam with water or oils to bring out any nondeclarative learning assessment that he finds profoundly unconscious'....it will be fun to see what he comes up with."
Where you in fact raise a most interesting question in relation to Visual Arts?
Where if you look at the evolution of the Visual Arts over the past century, the issues of Declarative and Non-declarative are of particular significance?
Where you could in fact identify different Art Movements in terms of their declarative and non-declarative approaches?
Yet within the Creative Arts, we also this thing called creativity?
Which whilst it utilises declarative and non-declarative memory, is neither?
Where I would conclude that creativity is Working Memory?
Or does it simply utilise working memory, and is external?
Though I would suggest that they are one and the same?
Geoff.

Hi Geoff, Your points are well taken and again seem to bring us to the points of sensory learning;(in part).
I am very interested in the built-in navigation systems that seem to be innate in the migration of birds. Do we [humans] have any similar type system just obfuscated in the form of something else? Why do dogs have such a keen sense of hearing and smell? These seem to come as standard equipment. Our standard equipment has been sort of taken for granted and now maybe, just maybe we are beginning to take a closer look. I believe this points directly to experiential learning being our natural focus of human learning. Which in turn, of course takes into effect our sensory learning system foremost.

I am also most interested in the systems analysis of our world environment and life's behavior changes caused therein.

Good to hear from you Geoff. Trust you had a very happy Thanksgiving.
Be well,
Rob

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Hi....I retrieve the following URL Stroop's Test online November 14, 2005.
URL:http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/ready.html

Enjoy,
Rob

Hi,
Retrieved an interesting url from the internet regarding: How Your Brain Works...11-27-05
URL: http://science.howstuffworks.com/brain.htm/printable
Best,
Rob

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the link, I will put it up under our resources section on the main website, this is useful.
OECD Brain and Learning Web Editor

Good Afternoon,
We are all reviewing the anatomy and the functions of the brain which takes us to many parts of the body since we are born with a sensory system...I am very interested in the thalamus and other organs...this is a good URL retrieved November 30, 2005 from the internet...Take you time and enjoy.
Best, URL: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...8%26sa%3DG
Rob

segarama Wrote: Good Afternoon,
We are all reviewing the anatomy and the functions of the brain which takes us to many parts of the body since we are born with a sensory system...I am very interested in the thalamus and other organs...this is a good URL retrieved November 30, 2005 from the internet...Take you time and enjoy.
Best, URL: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...8%26sa%3DG
URL: http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/zuker.html
Rob

Good morning....We know that it is important to reflect on our learning and to approach the same learning from different angles...this helps memory and learning. I have retrieved the following url from the internet 12-1-05 on the sensory system...and you might enjoy the review and reflection.
URL: http://www.hhmi.org/news/zuker4.html
Be well,
Rob

Good evening...

We will really need to know as much about the anatomy of the brain as possible...this url is excellent and retrieved December 1, 2005 from the internet.
Best, URL: http://www.sirinet.net/~jgjohnso/brainpics.html
Rob

segarama Wrote: Good evening...

We will really need to know as much about the anatomy of the brain as possible...this url is excellent and retrieved December 1, 2005 from the internet.
Best, URL: http://www.sirinet.net/~jgjohnso/brainpics.html
Rob

Hi ,

Could it be that we sometimes try to present materials for students to learn when they are simply not interested....so then do we have a learning problem or a lack of interest problem. Sometimes I think that students learn better when given the parameters of a challenge and let them go at it...but how would we quantify their activity. That is suppose to important....since I was once told by a family from the UK that we spent too much time testing and too little time with their sums.....[I was principal of an international school in Zambia]
Be well,
Rob

segarama Wrote:Hi ,

Could it be that we sometimes try to present materials for students to learn when they are simply not interested....so then do we have a learning problem or a lack of interest problem. Sometimes I think that students learn better when given the parameters of a challenge and let them go at it...but how would we quantify their activity. That is suppose to important....since I was once told by a family from the UK that we spent too much time testing and too little time with their sums.....[I was principal of an international school in Zambia]
Be well,
Rob

Hi again ,
Actually I believe that we try to present materials to students when WE are not interested.
Be well,
Rob

segarama Wrote:Hi again ,
Actually I believe that we try to present materials to students when WE are not interested.
Be well,
Rob

Hi, We know that to learn and to foster a good quality of life that our neurons must be in good shape. There is great progress being made in demyelination diseases. The oligodendrocyte [glial cell] is myelinating a diseased myelin covering of an axon of a [neuon]. It is exceptional so please watch carefully.....retrieved from the internet several time but again on Dec. 5th 2005.
URL: http://webk.uk.ask.com/redir?qsrc=2004&q...lin.org%2f
URL: Continue on with this page....to the next and you will see normal communication with the myelin intact and another with demyelination and communication flow seriously obstructed.

Best,
Rob

December 5, 2005

Good Evening
I wanted to remind those of you who are interested in joining as a new member of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society, should think about doing so soon. I have enclosed a hyperlink below for your convenience. The reason that I am a member of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society is that I am a teacher, not a scientist and I want to be sure that what I teach is accurate. This organization is cutting edge, and possesses a great deal of integrity and trust. This has no effect on what we are doing now with OECD and teach-the-brain forum [we will continue to bring our thoughts here to share and refine]. Some members of OECD are also members of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society.
As you can see here at our forum, it is necessary to learn a requisite about of neurobiology and other sciences to stay current and I believe we are doing that. It will not be hard and we can learn it as we go.

Stanford University just announced classes in biology for non science majors. The thrust behind this, is a credible need to deliver the best educational programs to our students in all grades.

I trust our excellent Board, Officers, and Advisors to IMBES [International Mind, Brain and Education Society]. They have a proven track record.
Be well,
Rob
URL: http://www.imbes.org/

Hi,
Retrieve from the internet 12-10-05.
Be well,
Rob
URL: http://www.thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_..._peu.htm#2

Hi

We have discussed our senses several times but we need to remember that this is a major major point in learning. I retrieved the Howard Hughes Medical Center URL from the internet 12-12-05.
URL: http://www.hhmi.org/senses/
Good reading,
Best,
Rob

Good Afternoon,
I found a very interesting slide show on the basics of neurons and synapses...it is a good refresher....retrieved from the internet 12-20-05.
Be well,
Rob URL: http://users.ipfw.edu/abbott/120/NeuronP...napse.html

Good day everyone , December 29, 2005

On December 26, 2005, the calendar indicated a birthday for a very special person to me [my wife, Sandy]. We had a very special day planned. We planned to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado for two nights and just enjoy each others company along with the enchanting milieu of the Del....beach, and pacific ocean and the wonderful people from all over the world.

I wanted this particular birthday to be a change of pace so instead of ordering flowers for Sandy, I started early in the morning shopping for a very nice vase that would be excellent for the occasion. I wrapped the vase and put it in the back of the car and we headed for the Hotel Del about 11:30 a.m. As we drove the short 30 minutes to the hotel, I looked for just the flower shop that would do justice to the moment and the vase.

Actually I didn't find the exact flower stand until we arrived at Coronado, but there it was standing alone on the corner of the street. We stopped the car and I mentioned to Sandy that this is a little surprise that we were were going to experience. She didn't know that I purchase a new vase earlier in the morning and that it was in the back of the car. She unwrapped the vase...and we walked to this little corner flower shop. I had also come upon some beautiful polished pebbles to put in the bottom of the vase to keep the flowers separated if we wanted to do that. We spend about 45 minutes picking out flower by flower and the lady at the little shop became so excited and involved in what we were doing that she wanted to help by offering advice on placement of the flowers; one by one. We chatted about each little flower as we held it in our hands prior to placing it in the vase. About 45 minutes later we had the beautiful bouquet of individual flowers secured to the vase by the beautiful polished pebbles. We drove the short block or two from the flower stand to the Hotel Del Coronado where we chatted and enjoyed the experience and placement of each little beautiful flower.

Not to damper a wonderful birthday with a discussion of learning and memory, but this was truly experiential and very profound. We knew where each different flower was placed within the blended hue of the presentation. We discussed the flowers with natural alacrity and knew how many roses and other types of flowers were there without even requesting a counting mums, roses, etc.

This was truly a sensory experience [experiential] of the most beautiful kind. Our discussion about the flowers and every detail brought in Vygotsky and Lewin and Kolb's reflectiveness. The underpinnings and substrates of love were ensconced within the neurobiological substrates of experiential senses of the body that communicated throughout entirely neuron by neuron and negotiating the synapses with subtle ambience. I am please to report that a sufficient number of neurons and synapses also enjoyed the experience.
Best to all ,
Rob
Happy holidays to all of you .....

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Last edited by segarama : Today at 07:51 PM.

January 3, 2006

Good Evening,

My students are adults working on their masters degrees in education and psychology. Tonight I really thought long and hard about the assessment of their learning. Much of the material that I teach in Understanding Learning in the Mind, Brain and Body is non-declarative learning (unconscious) and experiential. You asked how can that be given the
title of the course...well trust me, it is.

Does that mean that the assessments must be both in non-declarative form and declarative form? I think so since what I am looking for is whether or not the student understands the material and if the material is important enough to be assessed then I would be looking for long term memory along with the deep understanding.

I think we are making some good progress both in the learning and the assessment of the learning.
I would be very interested to hear any comments on this.
Be well,
Rob

January 9, 2006

If we develop an educational culture of LIFE LONG LEARNING, what does that do to our public and private education system...in terms of curriculum...anything?
Best,
Rob

January 10, 2006

It seems to me that when human emotions are involved during learning experiences that several out comes might be expected. First of all emotions tends to mean amygdala in the brain...not always but frequently ...when the amygdala is involved the out comes of learning might be commensurate with activities and other perforce behavior that release 'the adrenlin or flight-fight response...no telling how many other things. Any way high emotions and too low of emotions will affect learning.
Best,
Rob

January 11, 2006

We must look at the sociocultural perspectives that affects a biological-inclination to learn. The will to learn is there [inclination]. But the biology must be operating well to do just about everything including learning. I am speaking directly to the sociocultural environment....specifically [poverty].

A strong inclination as one might have, cannot over come starvation and extreme poverty. Oh yes, the biological-inclination to learn is still there, but the body including the CEO brain cannot function with malnourishment and unacceptable health. Think about it.
Be well,
Rob

Good morning 1-15-06

Interesting piece of information about teaching and learning has just gave me 'pause for thought'. The article source is Bristol University. This article [Teaching ants: First demonstration of 'teaching' in non-human animals] was retrieved from the internet 1-14-05.[Scientific America]
Be well,
Rob URL:http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=...ref=nature

Good morning... January 16, 2006
Thought you might enjoy this particular url retrieved from the internet 1-16-06.
Enjoy,
Rob
URL: Click here: http://brainalicious.com/index.php?lang=...question=2

Good day ,

January 17, 2006

If we increase substantially the hours that pre-school and kindergarten children log in at school, are they learning more....or are they learning less. We must be sure that if we increase the hours of formal instruction that the curriculum ladder is up against the correct wall before we begin climbing it [so to speak]. The demand for longer hours at school for pre schoolers did not come from originally from educators...it came from parents who demanded more child care at the expense of the schools....oh they paid ....so they could work ....our economy demanded it...or did it.

My concern is the natural inclination to learn is being obviated by structured time. Creativity is being scheduled during the day....well....let us take another look at where we are going. I retrieved the following url on the internet. [January 17, 2006]
Be well,
Rob Url:
Freedom: A Villanelle Variation
--inspired by Huckleberry Finn

A small child runs with speed
through the scenes of life. Racing time,
he never stops to question that innate need.

That small child, grown tall from greed,
still has that faded glitter in his eye
of a small child. He runs with speed,

Failing to cultivate that tiny seed
that lies dormant in his mind.
He never stops. To question that innate need,

to remember the exhilaration felt when one can lead,
escapes with every audible, adult sigh
that masks a small child, still running with speed

through his mind, without heed.
Why can't that child and that seed die?
He never stops. The question, that innate need

burns strong in the back of his mind. A seed,
once planted, only needs time.
A small child runs with speed.
He never stops to question that innate need.