Group+One


 * Chapters 3 and 4**


 * We discussed the effectiveness of Zull's anecdotal stories; they helped us understand his research better, even though he may have presented oversimplified, stereotypical characters.
 * We identified with and discussed the //Information vs. Understanding Age// and what the means for us as teachers; being aware of many of our students' culture of passive television watching, just like Hamilton.
 * The struggle to find the balance between teaching through play vs. teaching for content knowledge; pleasure vs. fear, the basal structures vs. the amygdala, control vs. lack of control, choice vs. lack of choice, intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation - the struggle for balance in teaching!
 * The power of the amygdala and the power of fear shutting down a student's learning opportunities - ways to assuage this fear through engaging learners, smiling, and providing opportunities for movement.
 * Our society's emphasis on extrinsic motivations and rewards.

Notes from Thursday 7/9


 * We started our discussion by talking about the important role of the hippocampus as the ultimate integrator in the brain. The hippocampus is responsible for taking the bits and pieces of our memories and putting them together in 'episodes'.
 * We also talked about explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious) memories and the breakdown of explicit into the categories of semantic and episodic.
 * False memories was the subject of a lively discussion and we came to the conclusion that the hippocampus can be at the heart of our false episodic memories because it fills in plausible, but not always correct, details to create a complete an episode.
 * Sensory competition was a big topic for as well, and we discussed how it makes sense because our brains are constantly taking in more information and it would be overwhelmed if it went through the learning cycle each time. Intrinsic motivation also came up in our discussion about sensory competition and we decided that intrinsic motivation would often help one sense win out over another.
 * We found it interesting that the amygdala bypasses the sensory cortex and creates an immediate physical response.