Informed

"Among other things, studies have shown that a positive attitude can help us cope with stress, improve our overall wellbeing, and even boost our immune system. Recently, researchers have also uncovered evidence that a positive attitude can impact our ability to learn and solve problems."

Imagine for a moment that all human beings had the same IQ but that some of us knew how to tap into it better than others. How would we approach education differently? Here are 25 things skilled learners do differently.

In July, we attended the 11th Annual FENS Forum for Neuroscience in Berlin, Germany. Here's what researchers had to say on gender bias in the sciences.

According to neuroscientist Joe LeDoux, we tend to “better learn and remember those things that have particular, added emotional emphases in our lives, and we have to work harder at recall to retrieve information that has no special meaning.” So how do we use this fact to boost learning in our daily lives?

The secret to making boring work memorable, according to a new study out of UC-Davis, is to harness your curiosity about something you are already motivated to learn.

"As counterintuitive as it may seem, working backwards can give you a much clearer picture of what and how much must be accomplished during each phase of a project. It can also help you identify and avoid unnecessary activities."

"Creativity is often viewed as a quality that a person either has or doesn’t have. Recently, however, there’s been a shift in this way of thinking and new studies suggest that creativity is indeed a skill that we can develop over time."

Researchers at the University of Maryland have found that Virtual Reality can enhance learning and recall by leveraging a person's overall sense of body position, movement, and acceleration.

Racial literacy is a concept developed by sociology professor and social filmmaker France Winddance Twine from her research in the UK with mixed race families. Here's how two high school students are taking it upon themselves to make it part of school curricula.

"Any time you retrieve a memory item, it is an opportunity to re-learn it in a sense, and the information gets re-consolidated. So, if you speak, draw, or use another production effect during forced recall, you further strengthen the encoding and subsequent consolidation.” --William Klemm, PhD, Texas A&M University

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most." --Augusta F. Kantra

Procrastination is rooted in fear of failure and self-doubt. Here are ten ways, based on the latest research, to deal with it and become more productive at school and work.

"These findings suggest that even if a child manifests low effortful control, high curiosity may be associated with more optimal academic achievement." -Prachi Shah, University of Michigan

Educators are uniquely positioned to show students they have a choice when it comes to forming their own identity, and to highlight the many illusions and traps society has laid before them that prevent equal opportunity in their personal and professional lives.

"There are many different ways of incorporating TV shows, movies, current news, and documentaries into your curriculum. If used and prepared well, this can be a great way to grab your students’ attention, start meaningful conversations about a whole host of topics, and show them that a topic is relevant outside the classroom."

Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret speaks about the direct link between brain cell growth, memory, and mood. As it turns out, we can make some very concrete changes in our lives to promote neurogenesis and well-being.
Happiness really is a piece of (blueberry) cake.

Researchers at the University of Geneva have discovered the potentially harmful power of believing that intuitive knowledge facilitates learning. Here's what teachers should aim for instead.

If you can find ways to keep introducing novelty into your learning, it will not only be more enjoyable but also more efficient. Feel like you’re stuck in a rut with your learning? Here are some ideas for keeping things new and fresh.