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.
I’d suggest that happiness for students might arise from challenge, from hard work fairly rewarded, or from the acquisition of new skills. But there is of course a quicker route: you keep students happy by not failing them. And then – surprise! – when they graduate they are not literate, or numerate, or knowledgeable enough…
Caffeine increases the ability to focus and problem solve, but a new study by a University of Arkansas researcher indicates it doesn’t stimulate creativity. Source: Caffeine Boosts Problem-Solving Ability but Not Creativity, Study Indicates | University of Arkansas The stereotypical image of the author writing in the local coffeeshop fueled by coffee and scones may…
Since Pearson is now working on an AI tutor to go along with its worksheets, I expect many politicians and school admins who rise and fall on test scores will buy in, and robots will indeed come into schools. Self-driving classrooms … Source: Why robots make the best teachers The dark side of robotics teachers.
Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What’s more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve…
A subtler factor arose as an unexpected side effect of the introduction of “productivity-enhancing” networked personal computers to professional life. As the economist Peter G. Sassone observed in the early 1990s, personal computers made administrative tasks just easy enough to eliminate the need for dedicated support staff — you could now type your own memos using…
