The Battle over the Butterflies of the Soul

Cheery Friday Greetings to our Learning How to Learners!

Book of the Week

The Battle Over the Butterflies of the Soul: Camillo Golgi, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, and the Birth of Neuroscience, by Wallace B. Mendelssohn, MD. 

One of the more intriguing rivalries in the history of science is that between the Italian Camillo Golgi and the Spaniard Santiago Ramón y Cajal—both of whom received the Nobel Prize for their interlinked discoveries.  Golgi’s staining methods gave Cajal the start of a methodology he refined to help him get a more comprehensive view of neurons.   Both scientists initially published in back-water journals, so it’s no surprise that each at first remained unaware of the other’s work.   This meant that Cajal published studies claiming he had discovered findings that Golgi had already published. The brash young Cajal also wrote Golgi aggressively to challenge his theories—particularly, Golgi’s hypothesis that only a single, large interwebbed “reticulum” of cells was fused to form the brain’s neural networks. History would show Cajal to be largely correct. This short book by Dr. Mendelson describes the development of staining techniques in photography and neuroscience and examines the rivalry between the two scientists. Why was Golgi so stubborn—and wrong—in the face of overwhelming data? This book by psychiatrist Wallace Mendelson comes as close to what we can know today to the answer. 

TED talk by Sal Khan on the extraordinary opportunities presented by ChatGPT

Learning How to Learner and neuroscientist Leif Gibb writes to point out Sal Khan’s fantastic TED Talk. Leif notes: “I found it inspiring and was fascinated to learn about how Khan Academy is giving its tutoring AI the ability to ‘think’ quietly, chatting with itself to perform multiple steps of reasoning.”  And Leif is also correct in observing: “I have no doubt that the principles of Learning How to Learn can also be incorporated into their AI tutor.” Perhaps in a learning mode, Khanmigo might be able to point out key ideas that a student might find worth practicing retrieval with. Or suggest a few jumping jacks for a break when it’s clear a student is pushing the wall with frustration.  Or home in with interleaving exercises when a student clearly needs a bit of extra practice.  We like Leif’s idea! 

Barb in Panama!

Barb will be in Panama speaking at a number of different events from September 15-18.  The three-hour workshop on Learning How to Learn on September 15th is perfect for professionals who want to keep up with the latest in the deluge of change.  The three-hour workshop on teaching on September 16th—Uncommon Sense Teaching: Effective Teaching & Learning, Insights from Neuroscience—will give you a plethora of insights to help improve your ability to effectively communicate key ideas. And if you are interested in changing careers (for example, going into something more technically-oriented), Learning How to Change, September 18th, is ideal for you.  Sign up today, as seating is limited.

Study finds that the human brain reactivates mental representations of past events during new experiences

This super-cool article describes how neuroscience related to movie-making once again reveals fascinating information about how the brain puts together its understanding.  Researcher Avital Hahamy observes: “We developed a new fMRI method to look for replay of past information in the transitions between movie/story scenes. We basically asked—would our brains replay past information that is needed for interpreting a scene we had just perceived?” 

And yes, it does! “We found that the same brain regions that replay spatial information in the rodent brain also replay narrative events in the human brain,” Hahamy said. “In other words, replay, previously thought to mainly support spatial navigation, could also underlie the human ability to make sense of narratives. Moreover, while research in rodents proposed that replay is used to store past events into memory, mostly when rodents rest or sleep, we suggest it can also be used to make sense of the present, on the fly, while events are unfolding.”

All this is eventually going to help teachers all better understand what’s meant by “higher conceptual understanding” in Bloom’s taxonomy.

Clues about how the brain figures out what’s worth remembering

This article by Yasemin Saplakoglu in Quanta shows how researchers are investigating what sparks interest in remembering things.  As we’ve seen before in advertising expert Robert Cialdini’s books Influence and Presuasion, hooking people with anything that catches their interest opens a window that allows you to feed them other information you want to learn.  This approach apparently works for both students and snails.

Insightful discussion with visionaries in math education

Don’t miss this terrific discussion between math professors Anna Stokke and Brian Conrad, of the University of Winnipeg and Stanford, respectively.  Anna and Brian are the real deal–genuine mathematicians who are deeply concerned about the direction of mathematics education in North America.  The pair discuss modern-day applications of math, and Brian gives advice “for parents who wonder what type of math their kids should learn to be ready for a four-year college degree in STEM or other quantitative fields.  Listeners will receive an update on what happened with the California Math Framework since the two episodes featuring Jelani Nelson (Episodes 11 & 12).  As well, Brian Conrad shares examples of the many false or misleading citations he found permeating a 1000-page draft copy of the CMF. The discussion of those findings illustrates how citation misrepresentation can lead to misunderstandings about math and data science among the general public. This episode is a must-listen for parents, teachers, policy makers and anyone with an interest in math or education.”

The Science of Learning

Check out this Substack newsletter by solidly evidence-based educators Dr. Nidhi Sachdeva, an evidence-informed learning designer and consultant; and Dr. Jim Hewitt, a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the University of Toronto. Their goal is to keep you updated on the latest breakthroughs in learning sciences while providing a platform where teachers, teacher candidates, graduate students, and researchers can come together to exchange ideas, share experiences, and deepen their understanding of the science behind effective teaching and learning.  

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

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

• Uncommon Sense Teaching—the book and Coursera Specialization!

• Mindshift—the book and MOOC

• Learn Like a Pro—the book and MOOC

• The LHTL recommended text, A Mind for Numbers

For kids and parents: Learning How to Learn—the book and MOOC. Pro tip—watch the videos and read the book together with your child. Learning how to learn at an early age will change their life!