My natural rhythms are in cycle with the school calendar. January 1st takes a back seat to my new year, which gets ushered in with the month of September when there is crispness in the air that gradually shakes off the slower, more relaxed pace of summer.Conveniently, my career in teaching meshes with my natural cyclical year. And as this year draws to a close, I am re-energized by the pace of summer, knowing that anything may pop in to my mind as I engage in activities not directly related to school. But before that happens, I’d like to reflect on this past year, in particular as it was my first year of blogging about the brain.
My interest in the brain stems from wanting to better understand both how to make school more palatable for students, and professional development more meaningful for faculty. To that end, I began my Neurons Firing blog in April, 2007, have been doing a lot of reading, and been attending workshops and conferences, including Learning & the Brain.
If you agree that our brains are designed for learning, then Continue Reading »
First full day of the 3-day conference, some highlights from the panels I attended (a small fraction of the incredible variety offered):
UPDATE (October 8th, 2007): you can find a full write-up of my impressions of the 3-day conference at 10 Highlights from the Aspen Health Forum and a very timely post on The Alfred Nobel legacy: 2007 Nobel Prizes.
- 2 Nobel Prize Laureates (Peter Agre, Michael Bishop), talking about their lives and careers trying to demystify what it takes to be a scientist and to win a Nobel Prize. Both are grateful to the taxpayers dollars that funded their research, and insist we must do a better job at explaining the scientific process to society at large. Both proud of having attended small liberal arts colleges, and having evolved from there, fueled by their personal curiosity and unpredictable, serendipitous paths, into launching new scientific and medical fields. Bishop lists a number of times where he made decisions that were considered "career suicides" by some mentors and colleagues, and mentions "I was confused" around 15 times in 15 minutes. Demystifying, and inspiring.
- Some of their policy recommendations to improve the development of good scientists Continue Reading »
