Horses!

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Books of the Week

Over the past few weeks, as she works on her upcoming books, Barb & her Hero Hubby Phil have been traveling the Northeast in their little trailer. (Adventurous friends from Spain are living in the Oakley house this late summer through fall to give their children a semester’s experience in US schools—try to consider doing something like this if it is in any way practicable with your family and career.)  Among the sights Barb & Phil have visited? Read on here….

Reach for your cell phone at your own risk: The cognitive costs of media choice for breaks

This intriguing study cautions against cell phone addiction—just as Cal Newport’s brilliant book Digital Minimalism has warned.   The abstract neatly summarizes the findings: “Since there is steady increase in cell phone addiction, the act of reaching for a phone between tasks, or even mid-task, is becoming more commonplace, without a true understanding about the potential cognitive costs of taking a break in this way as opposed to taking a breakthrough another medium. Methods: This experimental study included 414 participants who completed a cognitively demanding task (solving anagrams) either on paper or on a computer screen. Participants in three of four randomly assigned conditions engaged in a break task (selecting items for a hypothetical shopping list) either on a cell phone, a larger computer screen, or on a paper in the middle of the task. The fourth condition had participants engaging in both halves of the cognitive task with no break. Results: The results show that using cell phone for a break did not allow brain to recharge as effectively as the other types of breaks, both in terms of being able to perform quickly and efficiently in the second half of the task (how long it took to complete), and in terms of performance (how many anagrams were successfully solved in the second half). Discussion and conclusions: As people are increasingly addicted to their cell phones, it is important to know the unintended costs associated with reaching for this device every spare minute. Although people may assume that it is not different from any other kind of interaction or break, this study shows that the phone might be more cognitively taxing than expected.”

At Weber State University in Utah September 18th, 2019

If you live near Ogden, Utah, don’t miss Barb’s talks at Weber State University on September 18th, 2019. More information here.

Keynoting at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas Sep 19th-20th, 2019

Barb will be sharing about active learning and what it really means from a neuroscientific perspective at the Digital Education Summit 2019 at SHSU on Sep 19-20. 

Keynoting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, September 11th, 2019

Perhaps Brazil’s biggest and most important ed-tech conference, FIRE, will be featuring Barb on September 11th. 

In Kazakhstan September 24-28, 2019

Barb will be in Almaty and Nur-Sultan (Astana) speaking on behalf of the wonderful EdGravity team in Kazakhstan. Here are the event links in English and Russian. As always, Barb would love to meet you!

In Moscow, September 30th and October 1st

Yes, Barb will be headlining for EdCrunch, the biggest ed-tech conference in Russia. Don’t miss the extended pre-conference workshop she’ll be giving on September 30th.

In Madrid, October 3rd and 4th, 2019

She’s headlining for EnlightEd, an extraordinary conference that she also spoke for last year. Big hugs in advance to her friends—and new friends-to-be!—in Spain. (Details on more events in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia to come.)

In Kyiv, Ukraine, November 12-17, 2019

Barb is excited to help the wonderful Osvitoria Hub Grand Opening. Stay tuned for more details.

In New York City and Boston, November 19-22

Don’t miss Barb at the Harvard-MIT-Dana Alliance “Learning and the Brain” conference on November 22. She’ll also be at Touro College on Nov 20th, and KIPP Star Harlem on Nov 19th.

Skipping Ahead: In South Korea next April, 2020

Barb is looking forward to sharing at POSTECH in Pohang, South Korea on April 22, 2020.  She has one more day available in Korea on Friday, April 24—please contact Saxton Speakers Bureau at 1300 799 823 or info@saxton.com.au for inquiries.

That’s all for this week. Have a happy week in Learning How to Learn!

Barb, Terry, and the entire Learning How to Learn team

• Get the course recommended text, A Mind for Numbers!
• And Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens. Great ideas for parents, too!
• Follow LHTL on Facebook | Join the private LHTL Hall of Fame group | Follow LHTL on Twitter