Teaching with your brain, not against it.

As well all do, I have some issues with high school education. Or perhaps education in general. It seems time and time again I'm unlearning as an adult the things I learned as a child, and having to deconstruct and reconstruct the habits I created as a result of what I learned.

Specifically, now, I'm going to complain about what we're taught about studying and writing. And I'll relate it to the book, since that's the entire purpose of this blog post for 8010, right?

First I'm going to complain about note-taking and pre-writing. Honestly, they accomplish very similar things - a collection of ideas in a coherent manner. But we're taught to organize notes in an outline fashion, beginning with roman number I, then capital A, then number 1, then lower-case a, etc. This is also how we are supposed to outline our writing - which, I would argue, should be the last step of brainstorming for writing (though it is necessary to develop structure, I will grant you that).

Problem is, this isn't how our brain works. Our brain thinks in associations. When you conceive of an apple, your brain doesn't have a separate construct for an apple, but defines it in relation to other constructs: the color red, the circular shape, the category of fruits, as a form of nourishment, with a specific taste, growing from a tree, etc. Honestly, an apple is not an apple without these things.

And most of those associations were positive associations. We also think just as quickly in negative associations. Example: If I say happy, the first thing to come to mind is.... Here, most people say "Sad" (every once in a while an optimistic person will say something like 'hugs', which immediately ostracizes them from a predominately pessimistic populace). The only thing we don't do is think in disassociation. You don't think of bicycle when I say apple, unless you have a particular fondness toward riding bicycles while eating apples.

So...if we want to work with our brain, we need to organize our thoughts with associations. This is mind-mapping, or web diagrams. Of course, high school taught us this - but it wasn't nearly emphasized (for me) as the structural outline. I've found, working with students, that this is a great way to organize notes, brainstorm for essays, and even provide a coherent structure for outlines of lectures from professors who digress with a plethora of anecdotes.

Allyn and Bacon mention this as a form of pre-writing. I consider it an essential form, because you are literally transferring the ideas from your brain and the purest form. From this you can translate them into the '5 paragraph' essay format at your convenience.

The second complaint is with studying and working, particularly the length. Our culture emphasizes cramming the night before, and while teachers usually agree that cramming is bad, they merely stress that waiting until the last minute is bad. You can still study in large chunks - just don't do it the night before the test.

Research shows that the most efficient block of time for studying is actually only 20-30 minutes. After this, a five or ten minute break can greatly enhance continued focus, interest, and motivation. Even in writing, when we fear to lose our rhythm, research shows that the break after a half hour only keeps productivity high enough to offset the time spent in a break. And when reading 400 pages of Freud at 11 pm, this is even more critical.

In light of this research I particularly agree with Boice's suggestions to take 'pauses' in the Nihil Nimus philosophy. In writing, studying, class preparation, factory work, driving at night, and especially marathon running a little break provides huge returns.

Peace.
jds