Multitasking is a big part of the modern world. People are constantly doing two things at once; they send emails when they are spending time with their loved ones, they work out while texting a friend and they cook while they check Facebook.
However, all of this multi-tasking is bad for your brain. Recent studies have found that multitasking increases the production of cortisol, a stress hormone, and adrenaline, which can overstimulate the brain. This can cause a “mental fog” that makes it hard for you to concentrate or focus.
I think I’ve mentioned how bad multitasking is for you before. For myself, I’m becoming a fan of the Pomodoro technique, where you have a time and focus on work for a set number of minutes. It works well for me.
However talented, no one is a natural-born teacher. Honing the craft takes significant care and effort, not just by the individual, but also by the school at large. Though experience does matter, it matters only to the extent that a teacher — regardless of how long he or she has been in the classroom —…
Since we all use technology to learn, communicate, and create every day outside of classrooms, our students need opportunities to practice while they are still in our schools. Whether you are a parent or a teacher, look for a few key opportunities for your learners to use technology as an integral part of their educational…
I was recently at a conference about the social and emotional needs of children today. While much of what I heard reinforced what we were already seeing as a campus, it was fascinating – the idea many children today are unaware of how to communicate effectively, show and understand empathy, understand their feelings regarding shame,…
To learn new things, we must sometimes fail. But what’s the right amount of failure? New research led by the University of Arizona proposes a mathematical answer to that question. Educators and educational scholars have long recognized that there is something of a “sweet spot” when it comes to learning. That is, we learn best…
Dust off those Bic ballpoints and college-ruled notebooks—research shows that taking notes by hand is better than taking notes on a laptop for remembering conceptual information over the long term. The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Source: Take notes by hand for better long-term comprehension I…
