Thursday, December 14, 2006
Get Smart Get Smarter
Are you smart? Can you get smarter? If you say "yes" to being able to increasing your intelligence, then you are not only right but you will get smarter. At least, that's what rearch from Aronson, Fried and Good shows, as discussed in Psychology Matters.
This research dates to 2001. There's also a reference to a paper in Psychological Review from 1988. That's a thirteen year spread. What's really truly astounding about all this is that none of this is really new information. I've been saying this from the beginning of my days as a college teaching assistant.
When I found that "my" students were having difficulties learning, I went to the psych and education journals section the campus library and studied every thing that I could about learning methods and the psychology behind them. I came to this exact same conclusion in 1984, when I first started helping fellow classmates, just before I became a teaching assistant.
I applied the same principles to help a young friend who was dyslexic and very angry that all the authority figures in his life (teachers, principles, etc.) said that he'd never be able to learn. And I helped him prove them wrong, if only for himself. He was in fact an incredibly bright 21 year old but was swayed by the tough streets, living in the Jane-Finch corridor of Toronto.
I proved it over and over again with my students. One young, very shy girl from a Muslim country would talk to me with her head down, a part of her culture. I found that she was incredibly bright and just needed someone to tell her this. I don't remember my exact words, but I told her to look within herself and find what she was capable of. The net result was that she became my number #2 student, and her changed, outgoing nature resulted in so many requests for dates that she had start turning guys down. My number #1 student that same semester was another shy, mousy girl who, when she realize how intelligent she was, changed her major to the same program as mine (computer science) and won awards afterwards.
People don't hear enough that they are smart. My father, decades ago, handed me a copy of Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends And Influence People, which changed my life. In it somewhere, Carnegie wrote that if any person was right 50% on any day of their life, they could make a million dollars that day on Wall Street. And yet, people feel that they are stupid because they were wrong about one thing. You are not your mistakes. And as the above-mentioned study shows, believing that you are capable of increasing your intelligence, that it is changeable, is enough in itself to increase your intelligence. Sounds kind of metaphysical, but then, maybe it is.
(c) Copyright 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://hacking-knowledge.blogspot.com/
This research dates to 2001. There's also a reference to a paper in Psychological Review from 1988. That's a thirteen year spread. What's really truly astounding about all this is that none of this is really new information. I've been saying this from the beginning of my days as a college teaching assistant.
When I found that "my" students were having difficulties learning, I went to the psych and education journals section the campus library and studied every thing that I could about learning methods and the psychology behind them. I came to this exact same conclusion in 1984, when I first started helping fellow classmates, just before I became a teaching assistant.
I applied the same principles to help a young friend who was dyslexic and very angry that all the authority figures in his life (teachers, principles, etc.) said that he'd never be able to learn. And I helped him prove them wrong, if only for himself. He was in fact an incredibly bright 21 year old but was swayed by the tough streets, living in the Jane-Finch corridor of Toronto.
I proved it over and over again with my students. One young, very shy girl from a Muslim country would talk to me with her head down, a part of her culture. I found that she was incredibly bright and just needed someone to tell her this. I don't remember my exact words, but I told her to look within herself and find what she was capable of. The net result was that she became my number #2 student, and her changed, outgoing nature resulted in so many requests for dates that she had start turning guys down. My number #1 student that same semester was another shy, mousy girl who, when she realize how intelligent she was, changed her major to the same program as mine (computer science) and won awards afterwards.
People don't hear enough that they are smart. My father, decades ago, handed me a copy of Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends And Influence People, which changed my life. In it somewhere, Carnegie wrote that if any person was right 50% on any day of their life, they could make a million dollars that day on Wall Street. And yet, people feel that they are stupid because they were wrong about one thing. You are not your mistakes. And as the above-mentioned study shows, believing that you are capable of increasing your intelligence, that it is changeable, is enough in itself to increase your intelligence. Sounds kind of metaphysical, but then, maybe it is.
(c) Copyright 2006-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://hacking-knowledge.blogspot.com/
Monday, December 11, 2006
Welcome To Hacking Knowledge
This weblog is about learning, whether for improving grades in college or learning after the fact. There'll be discussions of study tips, learning methods, visual aids, mnemonics and whatever else you need for a toolbox for improving your knowledge.
It's said that the human mind only uses about 5-10% of its capacity. This blog is about changing that, for those who are interested. Many of the techniques I'll discuss here come from many years of studying how people learn and actually applying to the students I interacted with as a college teaching assistant, as well as a corporate trainer. Other methods will presented will be references to other websites, to balance out my own experience and theories.
I hope that you'll be back to read what's presented here. Comments are turned on, and if you have questions or comments, feel free to participate.
It's said that the human mind only uses about 5-10% of its capacity. This blog is about changing that, for those who are interested. Many of the techniques I'll discuss here come from many years of studying how people learn and actually applying to the students I interacted with as a college teaching assistant, as well as a corporate trainer. Other methods will presented will be references to other websites, to balance out my own experience and theories.
I hope that you'll be back to read what's presented here. Comments are turned on, and if you have questions or comments, feel free to participate.
