Page twenty one
The Harvard Medical School (find it on Google) has 10 strategies to improve memory. Some are the same as the Study Guide, but others are extra. Find them on on the Internet
This Archive is reserved for news stories from various sources about topics related to Accelerated Learning, Memory & Study . You can access the story by clicking on the title and the full story by clicking on the associated web address
Transition from High School to University
The Key to Job Search? "It Depends"
Background article on Dyslexia
New doubts about medicating kids
Boys' academic slide calls for attention
Examinations - cramming & sleeping
Transition between High School & University a challenge
According to a recent study conducted by the University of California (LA), more than 30% of students have problems making the transition. Counsellor Melanie Hiler explains why, and what can be done about it.
<http://www.louisvillecardinal.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/06/10/40c7cb777c61f>
Music to the Aid of Learning
Professor Jacquelyn Millman, a language professor at the University of Guam, has been successfully using a method called Suggestopedia, an Accelerated Learning system, to teach the local language – Chamorro.
Bulgarian psychiatrist, Dr George Lozanov, developed Suggestopedia. It is used by the State Department to teach its employees foreign languages.
Dr Lozanov believed that much of the brain’s learning potential can be tapped effectively through music, based on research indicating that the brain absorbs information that is presented rhythmically faster than it does other information.
Based on this belief, Lozanov developed a program of learning by setting it to slow, rhythmic music.
Maybe there was some sense in singing the times tables, which we practiced when we were young.
Students can try blending what they are learning with any soft background music they may play while studying – pacing the material with the rhythm of the music. This is in keeping with the Study Guide that points out that pattern is a key factor in learning and memory.
The Key to Job Search? "It Depends"
Some wise advice from the Harvard Business School - searching is an Art not a Science. http://workingknowledge.hbs.edu/tools/print_item.jhtml?id=1462&t=organizations
New Doubts about Medicating Kids
Personal tragedies and scientific evidence
are combining to call into question the use of some antidepressants on children
and teens. Pressure is mounting to ban or curtail their use. (see
page 13,
Stress & Study, and page 24, Drugs & Memory, in this memoryskills website)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0205/p14s01-stss.html
Overwork, uncertainties, global terrorism, financial instability, lack of adequate resources all contribute to adult stress. Children, too, are stressed. And since children do not exhibit stress in the same way as adults do, this is often overlooked.
For the very young stress may result from constant change or lack of predictability. For older children, the pressure to achieve in school, sports, or socially is a common source of stress.
Parents play an important role in helping children manage the inevitable stressors in their daily life.
[also see pages 13 & 18 of this Web, and Appendix 1 of the Study Guide}
Boys' academic slide calls for attention
[This is for the attention of teachers, parents, and student mentors. From my experience much the same situation applies in Australia]
The Southern Regional Education Board in the USA studied 26 states, 1000 high schools, and interviewed 40,000 students – male and female. The difference in attitude and learning between boys and girls was alarming – significantly fewer boys valued education than girls. Some of the reasons given were: Schools let boys off the hook in reading; Parents don’t stress the importance of boys’ education; Schools don’t ensure that boys graduate; Society writes off ‘average’ students.
The report pointed out that this deep-seated malaise about learning not only hurts the boys, but also the nation – because they are the nations future!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-12-22-our-view_x.htm
EXAMINATIONS – CRAMMING & SLEEPING!
A Princeton Review study found students drank copious amounts of coffee (caffeine) to get them through the final exams. They also used other stimulant drinks to keep them awake while they crammed.
But many professors at the University of Southern California said such techniques were not necessary, and the best solution was preparation throughout the semester. One said students should avoid procrastination, and another emphasized that they shouldn’t leave studying until the last minute.
You can learn more about these approaches in the Study Guide, and also on page 7 of this web.
‘Screen-agers’ and the perils of information overload
Unfortunately, this article, by David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times, was only available on the open web for three days after publication. As I believe it is important I have provided an overview.
Professor Douglas Ruskin of New York University has coined the term ‘screen-agers’ to convey the depth to which children from pre-school age upwards are inundated by the media.
Ruskin points out that young people risk media illiteracy; that they use the media primarily for entertainment and recreation, not for information and education.
Teaching media literacy is, in a sense, teaching critical thinking, and it should start early with simple activities in pre-school. Media literacy should be incorporated into the teaching of other existing subjects.
This report draws attention to the importance of teachers, and parents by default, teaching students discrimination, and how to approach the media by asking themselves 5 key questions about what they are viewing or reading.
1. Who created the message?
2. What techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. What lifestyles, values and points of view are presented by or omitted from the message.
4. Why was the message sent?
5. How might different people understand the message differently from me?
Ms Elizabeth Thoman, who founded the Centre for Media Literacy in Santa Monica, California, says, ‘The Internet has changed our understanding of how kids are learning, in every sense of that term, and now, instead of parents worrying about their kids watching too many commercials on TV, etc…there is this much larger issue of all the images and messages that come pouring over the Internet… If we could teach kids to routinely apply these questions to every message that comes to them, they would be much more sophisticated and understanding – and empowered – because they would be able to make distinctions and judgements about their lives and the world around them”
Also refer to page 23 of this website - 'Truth & Memory'
9 Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing your Career
The following is from the Harvard Business School: act; then reflect; flirt with yourself; live the contradictions; make big changes in small steps; experiment with new roles; find people who are what you want to be; don’t wait for a catalyst; step back periodically but not for too long; and seize windows of opportunity.
You can find the expanded strategies on the following web address:
http://workingknowledge.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=3312&t=career
From ABC Science.
This is the record of a discussion between Natasha Mitchell from the ABC, two teachers, a Consultant, and a Professor.
‘One principle of brain-based learning is, who-ever is doing the talking is doing the learning. So the more children talk, the more they’re going to learn.’
Read this interesting article in conjunction with the Study Guide, where it suggests that when the student becomes the teacher, learning is accelerated and consolidated – and read the web pages 6, 8, 19.
(unfortunately this interesting article no longer seems to be available on the ABC website, but the basic principle has been left for you to note)
Updated Feb 2008
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