Maintaining a Healthy Balance in the Brain

piggy submitted, created time 2 months 1 week (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Imagine the chaos if all traffic lights suddenly went red in a city. The same can apply to the brain, which needs a regulated flow of information to learn and make memories. New research published in the 31 October issue of Cell unveils how a neural stop signal goes askew in neurofibromatosis, one of the most common genetic causes of learning disabilities in humans.

Neurofibromatosis typically produces fibrous lumps in nerve fibers, some of them visible on the skin

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Real-world examples don't help students learn mathematics

Darkfrog submitted, created time 8 months 1 week (www.nytimes.com)

This study, performed once on college students and once on eleven-year-olds, suggests that students do NOT learn mathematics better if their lessons are peppered with real-life examples--the conclusion seems to be that the students remember the illustration, whether it's a train or a cup or a ski slope, instead of the underlying math. The study seems to recommend that teachers approach mathematics from principle only. This finding contests the long-held idea that familiar, colorful illustrations help students learn otherwise dull subjects

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: memory.learning education mathematics cognition