Saturday, December 05, 2009
Right Brain Thinkers on Facebook
Click on the title above to see what they're doing on Facebook.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Zoidge: weird combinations of nothing important
Click the title above for a quick dose of "zoidge."
Monday, September 28, 2009
Non Equilibrium Thermodynamics: a New Model for Teaching
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Follow me on Twitter
Question: Is it possible to have "tweets" feed directly into the posting section of a blog - via an RSS feed? I know you can easily run an RSS feed over to the side bar. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Important Trend Against NCLB and Standardized Testing
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The "Creative Class"
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Game Focused School to Open in New York - Fall of 09
Any plans to open a school out west?
New York to open game-focused school this fall
Shared via AddThis
Monday, August 24, 2009
Is conceptual thinking catching on?
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Games May be the Key for Teachers
"What if every type of learner, every student would find a niche or a unique way to demonstrate their understanding of the material? Since this was a world history class, they would have to learn history, geography and some 40 chapters of a textbook. Could this be accomplished by playing a game?"
You can read the story of Global Challenge here.
Thanks to Brent Pottenger and Brian Geremia at Academic Impact for their encouragement and support of this article, Mike Powers for his on-going “technical support” - and Britt Easterling and Katie Murphy for their feedback and enthusiasm. Special thanks are also in order for family and friends.
I also appreciate the help with editing and guidance provided by Colleen Belcher and Ben Ilfield at Sacramento Press
Friday, August 21, 2009
More Companies are Allowing for Creative Time
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Right Brain Meetings
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The New Economy and the Right Brain
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Check out the new Global Challenge website!
Why post this on Right Brain World? If you’re a right brain student, it’s sometimes easier and more interesting to learn through projects. During the playing of Global Challenge, it's often important to be a big concept thinker. Your vision or understanding of where things are headed could help guide students who do not see things in this way. Left brain students are sure to thrive too, since their keen skills in analysis are necessary to getting many things done in the game. You'll quickly find out how much the two "hemispheres" need one another.
Here’s a quick analysis:
Right brain students will see historical patterns, put together creative plans, help create team logos, theme music, design currency, formulate plots, or interpret the behavior of other players.
Left brain students will enjoy calculating strategies based on per capita incomes, put together spread sheets to keep track of money, points, armies, teams, facts, etc. They will help in providing the much needed order and structure to keep the game moving forward.
The great part about this game, honestly, is that there is something for every type of learner.
If you’re a creative teacher, you’ll be free to integrate the arts. Have your students create theme songs, design team logos or a new look for the classroom itself. If you’re into the idea of integrating technology, then you may want to find creative ways to use Facebook or Twitter, create a class blog or wiki. It’s all up to you. Global Challenge will provide you the overall framework – and you can take it from there.
I hope you will give it a try.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Creativity Test
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Right brain will steer you through chaos
Monday, July 27, 2009
Jill Bolte Taylor and Her "Stroke of Insight."
Monday, July 20, 2009
Why do we give standardized tests to "right brained" people?
In other words, is it fair to give right brain people left-brain oriented IQ tests and college entrance exams like the SAT?
Thus, the new study shows that basic differences in brain activity between creative and methodical problem solvers exist and are evident even when these individuals are not working on a problem. According to Kounios, “Problem solving, whether creative or methodical, doesn’t begin from scratch when a person starts to work on a problem. His or her pre-existing brain-state biases a person to use a creative or a methodical strategy.”
Take a look at this last line. One way to interpret this is that a right brain person taking a standardized test will naturally try to be creative in answering a question. The only problem is that on many of these problems, it’s not necessary and will probably slow you down!
Solution: begin work on creating a whole brain standardized test or consider giving different types of tests to people who classify themselves as “right brained.”
Source: posted by Rebecca Sato on The Daily Galaxy (link is on the title of this post).
Study: Kounios, J., Fleck, J.I., Green, D.L., Payne, L., Stevenson, J.L., Bowden, M., & Jung- Beeman, M. (2008). The origins of insight in resting-state brain activity. Neuropsychologia, 46, 281-291.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Will Wright Talks About Games and Education
Monday, June 29, 2009
It's Time to be Inventive
"Therefore, the country that uses this crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative — and endows its people with more tools and basic research to invent new goods and services — is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road."
Read more here.
Thanks to Lincoln Rolls for the link.
Friday, June 26, 2009
The type of wood is really important
I once apologized to a group of people, but was standing next to a stainless steel counter top.
Other options:
1. Showing gratitude next to a cedar desk...
2. Feeling shameful in a tile kitchen...
3. Expressing remorse near a laminated board room table...
4. Displaying sympathy next to an outside stucco surface...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Struggles of a "Knowledge Worker"
Matthew Crawford on the Colbert Report
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Response to "Intelligence Augmentation"
The following was submitted by Sue at SBW Design.
If "making you smarter" can be twisted to "preventing you from becoming dumb," check this out:
Then go Indian for lunch!
Speaking of Medications
Word of the Day
I'd ask the people over at Safeway, but that's a "super market."
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
"Intelligence Augmentation"
Additionally, I’ve now seen two articles (in The Atlantic) on whether Google makes us smarter or dumber, but I’m curious to know if there are any good articles out there on whether Google can also make us more creative. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Star Trek and the DSM IV
Let me explain. In the 20th and part of the 21st centuries ADHD, autism, bi-polar disorder, OCD and depression were all stigmatized. If you had such a disorder you may have been accommodated in the classroom, but not accommodated at work. Without the proper treatment, you were often not able to work at all. Life was hard. People didn’t always value your hidden abilities. But people were beginning to realize that if you had such an “illness” there was often a hidden talent or skill.
Some examples:
Bi polar: Great energy, new creative insights…
ADHD: Ability to hyper-focus, creative…
OCD: Intensity, deep thinking, persistence, etc.
So, the message to the writers of Star Trek is this. You’ve done a good job of advancing the cause of equal opportunity. Now, it’s time to take this one step further and advance the cause of people with “disorders.” In our time they still call this mental illness. In the future, it may have a different name.
Note to J.J. Abrams. I’m hoping you will explore this possibility for the next Star Trek movie and will consider hiring me to write the screenplay for this. I’m out of work… and would love the opportunity.
Photo credit: http://tinyurl.com/qw9nwa
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thinking Creatively in 21st Century Schools
Also, you should take a look at the writing of this student. He writes well about the importance of project-based learning.
Oh... and if you're looking for a way to put these concepts to work in your school, I'll have to quote the Video Professor and say "try my product."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Concept Behind Succesful Websites
The principle behind this is that people tend to have pride in things they own, or products that they have contributed to. No doubt this will be true in the classroom too. There is no “ownership” in reading a text book and answering the questions at the end of each chapter. But, if the student knows they can use this information to create something – like a blog or website, or contribute to a class wiki, they might just read the information.
I think the same goes for teaching too. If your principal or department chair were to write out your lesson plans and, therefore, take away your creativity, how many of you would be 100% motivated to carry that out? I believe sites like eHow are doing well because people can both make and see their contributions. It’s interactive. You can see the results almost immediately.