"The brain, it seems,
does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and
encountering it in real life;.." -- Annie Murphy
Paul
A recent opinion piece in the Sunday NY Times reported on brain
research that suggests reading about an experience is almost the same as the
experience itself. This is an intriguing finding, but it raises
questions. If true, what are the implications for firsthand learning,
which in most cases involves significantly more time and effort than simply reading
about an experience? Is there evidence that direct encounters with the
real world produce learning that is in any way better than watching movies or
reading books?
The piece is available at the following URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=all
Please feel free to comment and review other ideas at: http://firsthandlearning.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
The value of learning from direct experience
Kudos to Bill Rogers, Director of Out-of-School Programs for spotting this article in Science News. It describes research that provides hard evidence of the educational value of firsthand learning.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335907/title/Skateboarders_rock_physics
What other evidence exists? Please post your comments and suggestions.
http://www.sciencenews.org/
What other evidence exists? Please post your comments and suggestions.
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