First, some of my favorite blog carnivals we contributed to this week: Grand Rounds, HR, Education, Law, Carnival of the Green.

2 very interesting news pieces (the second one, including fun brain teasers):

1) With a fresh grasp on – and label for – an academic block, some slow achievers are eager to return to school (Boston Globe)

Quote: “Turns out Ellie has a problem with working memory, a term used to describe the ability to retain information from the top of a page to the bottom. Working memory comes under the umbrella of executive function, a thinking skill that refers to the tasks executives tend to excel at, such as prioritizing, organizing, and mentally shifting information around. It’s a skill that develops progressively, starting in the elementary years and continuing into adulthood…If you’ve never heard of executive function, brace yourself. It’s bursting onto the educational scene.”

Comment: Great article. We covered this in detail in an essay last year: Cognitive Neuroscience and ADD/ADHD Today.

2) Want a job at Google? Try these brainteasers first (CNN)

Quote: “Seemingly random questions like these have become commonplace in Silicon Valley and other tech outposts, where companies aren’t as interested in the correct answer to a tough question as they are in how a prospective employee might try to solve it. Since businesses today have to be able to react quickly to shifting market dynamics, they want more than engineers with high IQs and good college transcripts. They want people who can think on their feet.”

Comment: What are those companies (Google, Microsoft, Amazon) after? Employees with good Executive Functions. You can try some of the fun teasers in the article. For more context on what those are Read the rest of this entry »