Mistakes were made (but not by me): book overview

Tavris, C. & Aronson, E. (2007) Mistakes were made (but not by me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts.

This is an interesting book for educators to read. Some of the ways we go about justifying our decisions, whether good or bad, have implications for how we could approach understanding learning. After all, learning is one way we overturn some of our core beliefs, adopt new ways to understand and perhaps better ourselves and learn how to empathise with others.

Good examples from studies in psychology are used, although many of the studies reported involve the ubiquitous research participant, the American college student.

Topics covered include cognitive dissonance and why we indulge in self-justification. The reasons why we become enmeshed in vicious and virtuous circles are introduced and discussed. The pyramid of choice is also introduced as when a moral stance is initiated, two people who originally take on similar views, move to be far apart once they start to self-justify their moral choice.

Prejudice and biases, how we form them (indeed bias is one of the first things we use to make decisions through ‘confirmation bias’ and ‘naïve realism’) and how to counter are discussed in chapter 2.

The way our memory is ‘selective is the topic for chapter 3. Our memory is not a video recorder but filters the information to make sense. Hence, biases and stereotypes creep in and we are prone to suggestions and selective about what we chose to remember.  The perils of ‘imagination inflation’ are revealed through examples of people who genuinely believe that they survived concentration camps as a child or were abducted by aliens.

Chapters 4 to 7 continue the main theme, using examples from science and clinical diagnosis in chapter 4, law and order (including difficulties in overturning judgements even when alleged perpetrator is found innocent) in chapter 5, marriage and love in chapter 6 and war and peace in chapter 7. Chapter 8 discusses why it is so difficult for us to own up to mistakes and to change our beliefs, switch allegiances, move to a different way of seeing the world or to use other or new points of view. However, being able to recognise and then say ‘I made a mistake’ plus correct what our preconceptions have wrought is truly the mark of being a good person.

The books is pitched at an American audience as most of the examples, especially the political ones are drawn from American politics. There are comprehensive endnotes and an index but no list of references.

Overall, the book is worth a read as it brings up topics many of us would rather not face up to. A thought provoking book which draws on neuro psychology and contemporary examples to illustrate it's message. We need to be aware of our weaknesses and challenge our biases through careful, critical thought. 

The rational animal - book overview

The rational animal: How evolution made us smarter than we think a book by D.T. Kendrick & V. Griskevicius (2013) published by Basic Books.

This book promotes an interesting concept within the discipline of evolutionary psychology. The core argument is that we have 7 personalities, driven by evolutionary ‘instinct’ sub-consciously driving the decisions we make and the ways we approach our lives.

The 7 subselves are:

Self-protection – the night watchman

Disease avoidance – the compulsive hypochondriac

Affliation – the team player

Status – the go-getter

Mate-acquisition – the swinging single

Mate-retention – the good spouse

Kin-care – the nurturing parent

The chapters than work through each subself and how our beliefs and perspectives are coloured by the way in which each subself organises the world. Each chapter has a snappy title and lays out the argument with contemporary and historical examples.

The last chapter recommends 3 lessons to cope with being a rational animal. These are:

Don’t assume other people are morons; rational self-interest is not in your self-interest; don’t leave home without consulting your other selves.

The book has notes for each chapter organised according to topics (which I really like), a comprehensive references section and index. Overall, an accessible but slightly over-hyped introduction to the concepts of evolutionary psychology. The book summarises some of the traits that have evolved through various socio-cultural and socio-material influences over the long history of humankind. Some of these traits are useful to our present lifestyles but other may impede or cause dissonance with current societal forces.

All in, an interesting read illustrating how emergent theories on evolutionary psychology is applied to explaining why and how humans react to various inputs and circumstances. There is a danger of the concepts in the book becoming enshrined in 'pop' psychology as although the authors provide compelling examples and conclusions make sense, the overall direction of the book seems to be to 'sell' the concept. So read with caution. However, the book is written in a clear, readable prose and provides a good introduction to precepts of evolutionary psychology.

The need to use findings from neuroscience with caution

Three books on why recent neuroscience discoveries need to be treated with caution.

First up, Kluge: the haphazard construction of the humanmind. An accessible 2008 book for laypeople by G. Marcus published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Kluge promotes the idea that the development of the human brain through the process of natural evolution has produced a kluge. In engineering speak a kluge is a put together, sometimes inelegant, solution to a problem that works. So our brains have many quirks, making things like our memory system suspect (i.e. eyewitnesses cannot be relied on), our decision making systems fraught with bias and even the way we use language is filled with inconsistencies. The human body has several kluges arising from the evolutionary pathway from four legged mammal to two legged homo. So the brain is no exception.

The book is a short read of just over 150 pages. There are 8 chapters, with the first chapter providing a thought provoking overview of why the brain can be viewed as a kluge. The next 6 chapters cover a myriad of examples in support of the thesis including memory, belief systems, how we make choices, language development, our need to put pleasure before all else and the existence of ‘brain breakdowns’ in the form of mental illnesses and susceptibility to addictions.

Last chapter brings concepts together and recommends 13 ways to become better thinkers:

Whenever possible, consider alternative hypothesis; 

Reframe the question;

Remember always that correlation does not also equate to causation;

Check the size of the sample;

Anticipate own impulsiveness and precommit;

Don’t just set goals, make contingency plans;

Try not to make decisions when tired or stressed;

Weigh benefits against costs;

Imagine your decisions will be spot-checked;

Distance yourself;

Be aware of the vivid, personal and anecdotal;

Pick your spots;

Try to be rational.

Second book, Brain washed: The seductive appeal of mindlessneuroscience (2013) by S. Satel & S.O. Lilienfeld

Warns of the generalisation of neuroscience research, especially in politics, marketing and psychology / psychiatry (from studies of addition and brain diseases). In particular, explains how fMRI works. The images look very pretty but the colours refer to oxygen activity in a brain not actual ways in which neurones form connect or form connections. So, one needs to be very cautious about applying information from any form of brain imaging or brain activity measurement. We know too little about how the brain actually works but only have  guidelines to areas related to certain physical and cognitive activity. The role of neurotransmitters also not quantifiable through present means. As the brain works not only through neuro-activity but also through a whole host of bio-chemical triggers, dampeners etc. it is premature to use studies of the brain, to predict how someone reacts to stimuli through recording images of the brain.

The third book, The future of the brain: The promise and perils of tomorrow’s neuroscience (2006) by S. Rose. Covers the evolutionary development of the brain. Balances the emerging understandings we are deriving from recent neuroscience discoveries and cautions of how our learnings are still relatively new. This book melds some of the understandings I have gleaned from previous readings. The evolutionary development of the brain is summarised succinctly. Then aspects of neurophilosophy are discussed through chapters on becoming human, becoming a person and having a brain, being a mind. The prose is pitched at the level of a layperson with some understanding of neuroscience. The last chapters discuss the implications of current understandings are the need to be continually aware of the implications on social order and ethical and legal complications.

The problem of the soul: book overview and reflections

Owen Flanagan (2002) The problem of the soul: Two visions of the mind and how to reconcile them, published by Basic Books.

My meanders through neuroscience, neuropsychology, neurophilosophy and evolutionary psychology has led to some confusion as I wrestled with relativism, dualism, navitist, empirist etc. In short, exposure to a range of viewpoints and difficulty in weighing up the arguments from each perspective.

So, Flanagan’s book brings some relieve although no sure answers, and I accept there never will be. Life is a journey made exciting by meeting ongoing challenges. My present short term goal is to find some answers to whet my intellectual curiosity and to form a ‘to do’ list for my own learning. A bonus if some of this new learning merges with my academic work but I am not too fussed at this stage as all the new learning is challenging some of my belief systems and causing me to reassess things.

Back to Flanagan’s book, written in clear, accessible language. Some familiarity with how philosophical texts are laid out is helpful but the argument is signalled through the book and not obfuscated by dense text. The preface spells out the objective of the book and lays down foundation for understanding the two viewpoints – scientific and humanistic. Flanagan also used pertinent parts of his biography as a lapsed Catholic and academic, to illustrate important points through the book, modelling the good use of analogies to assist the reader to make their own meaning from the concepts explored in the book.

Flanagan introduces the ‘dualism’ way of understanding body and mind prevalent in Western thought and philosophy for two millennia. He argues that the scientific approach is now ascendant as the approach is starting to supply empirical explanations of how the brain works. Yet the humanistic and theological approaches also have some contributions.  The book discusses the ‘dualism’ between science with its logical, empirical study of the brain and how it works and the question of where then is the soul? If the brain is also the mind, then where is consciousness, free will and our identity? Does free will exist when we make decisions based on connections between our neural networks as triggered responses (neurotransmitters, hormones etc) and ‘conditioned’ responses? Does Ryle’s ‘ghost in the brain’ exist? Who and what are we as in ‘where is the I’ in the brain? 

Six chapters work through what makes us human covering the mind, free will, permanent persons, natural selves. The last chapter ‘ethics as human ecology’ discusses the implications of accepting the idea that science and the image of the mind in humanism and theology have common frameworks. In particular, the concept of freewill is possible regardless of whether accessibility to freewill is explained via scientific or humanistic / theological reasoning. However, the caveat is our brains are not designed to be rational due to its evolutionary development.

All in, a worthwhile read which is pitched at the right level for someone with sufficient curiosity and background to persist through the many concepts. I enjoyed the book as it provided a cogent discussion from the neuroscience and philosophical / religious points of view and provided sufficient space for the reader to weigh the evidence and come to their own conclusions. After all, that is why we have a mind :) There is a need to be open to various viewpoints and to come to some resolution in one own's mind frame. Flanagan's book provides an example of writing that expands the reader's horizons without dogmatic flogging of one perspective. The book recommends respect for each approach towards understanding what makes us who we are. 

The brain and the meaning of life - book overview

Thagard, P. (2010). The brain and the meaning of life. Princeton University Press.

A prosaic book compared to the other books read so far this year in neurobiology, neurophilosophy and neuropsychology. As such, a pragmatic read for those who want to get to the knub of the matter and form a framework for their own understanding of the subject. Research from various disciplines are brought together to explain why we should abandon our concepts of soul, free will and immortality.  Alternatives are offered through recent findings in brain science to provide foundations for morality, reality and the meaning of life. This cartoon provides an apt illustration of how we 'overthink' when compared to our animal friends.

This book revolves around the theme of ‘why we live the lives we live’. It provides a good overview of how recent advances in neuroscience have changed the way the world is viewed. Importantly, the concept that individuals are made up of their physical brain and mind. Once the physical body dies, so does the brain and mind. So why are we here then? and what is our purpose in life?? Thagard argues that it is us that builds our reality, therefore  through our work, love and play, we express what we stand for and who we are.

The book is a good ‘textbook’ introduction to some of the complex ideas presented by other authors exampled by the Churchlands, see blog earlier this year. Thagard’s writing swings towards to academic but is made accessible through the use of analogies and examples.

There are extensive notes provided from each chapter, a glossary of neuroscience and philosophical terms, 15 pages of references covering the salient readings in the field and an index. Therefore, the book provides a good source for people seeking an introduction to the subject.

Into a silent land - book summary

Broks, P. (2003) published by Grove Press.

Paul Brok's Into a silent land is a short book with an almost fiction writing style introduces many of the concepts discussed in previous post on neurobiology and neuroscience using examples from the authors’ work as a neuropsychologists.

The book has attained various awards for its ability to use narratives of human nature, to illustrate the current understanding on how the brain works. The author is also not adverse towards calling to attention the large areas of research still required before humankind can hope to understand some of how the brain works. He also does not shy away from the fact that much of his work is difficult to explain and the underlying premise of what works or not with regards to care of his often badly damaged patients, is still an ongoing work in progress. There is still the need to do so much more study within the area of neuroscience.

The stories in each chapter enlighten the reader on some of the important discoveries of how the brain works. Each chapter provides a story or two about one of Broks’ patients to illustrate our emergent understanding of how our brain works. The stories of each patient are recorded sensitively and provide examples of various brain functions.  Brok’s reflections on how he is able (or not) to assist the patient tells us much about the ethical decisions all clinicians must face on a day to day basis. How to assist patients when there seems no cure in sight. Brok's empathy and consideration for his patients comes through, modelling considered practice for young neuropsychologists. The last chapter recounts Brok’s own experiences in dealing with his wife’s illness. An appropriate closing with the message that we all have to deal with issues related to our emotions.

There is no reference listing as such but nine pages of recommended reading. Some of which I will explore. Beginning with the 10 or so books recommended on the topic of ‘consciousness’.

I enjoyed reading this beautifully written work. The stories and difficult concepts are merged together, providing a satisfying read. Of note is the opportunity to learn and understand more about the inner workings of a neuropsychologist, how they come to think through their decisions for patient treatment and the depositional traits required to maintain professional integrity and practice in a difficult and challenging field. The structure of the book also provides an example of how to merge narrative with fact to produce a book in the non- fiction genre that appeals to the general reader. We learn more when we are able to humanise the difficult.

Touching a nerve: the self as brain - book summary

I came to this book via other readings and purchased the ebook version via Amazon. The field of neurophilosophy is the topic of this book by Professor Patricia S. Churchland 2013 book published by Norton. Professor Churchland and her husband have written several books arguing for the application of the neurophilosophical approach towards understanding how the brain works. A short youtube clip provides introduction to her work and a UCTV youtube clip presents discussion of the book ' touching a nerve'. A critique and book review found here.

In this book, Professor Churchland writes an accessible book for the layperson trying to understand mind / brain and self. Her stance is that her brain and herself cannot be envisaged separately, one is bound to the next and to understand the brain and the self requires not a dualistic metaphor but a holistic approach.

‘Sometimes neuroscience knows more about myself then I do’! Brain scans only go a short way towards contributing to our understanding of how the brain works. As each part of the brain is activated, various other interfaces are also engaged, all of the interconnections are idiosyncratic to each individual. Hence, difficult to generalise across to all humans the result of brain scan studies. Much of decision making is unconscious, how can we say we have control when so much of how we think occurs subconsciously?!

Argues for a need to change how we approach understanding how our brains work and contribution to who we are. Uses examples (Galileo, Harvey’s discovery of how the heart works and Semmelwies work to have doctors wash their hands between patients) to explain the difficulties of forging a change in understanding with ingrained and ‘taken for granted’ concepts. Philosophers facing the need to come to grips with how the brain works need to make the leap. Neurophilosophy is an approach that needs to bring philosophy into the modern age. Neurophilosophy brings understandings of neuroscience, psychology and evolutionary biology into the realm of philosophers.

Churchland then uses her life biography, her childhood on a farm in a small Canadian farming community, to explain her learning as a young philosopher and to narrate the story of how she moved into neurophilosophy.

Chapter two provides an overview of the brain’s biological evolution and philosophy’s perspectives of brain and soul over the ages (Greek to present). The dualist argument (body and soul) is now rejected as the presence of the soul cannot be proved. Thus, we are what our brains make of us. The brain and the soul are one and the same. However, owing to the brain’s complexity we still do not understand exactly how it works, with much work still to be undertaken. Churchland undertakes a discussion in the section ‘naysaying is easier than doing science’ of why it is important to continue work on both philosophical and neurobiological understanding of brain function.

The third chapter titled ‘my heavens’, uses studies of near death experiences to explore whether there is heaven, or some form of destination after death. The conclusion being probably not. When our brain ceases to work, the memories, cognitions and feeling that go with it, also cease.

Then chapter four discusses the issue of how we acquire moral thought, where does it lodge in the brain and how do we come about with decisions or take stands of items of morality. This topic is explored in greater detail in a previous Churchland book ‘Brain trust: What neuroscience tells usabout morality‘ and this chapter provides a summary of where our values may come from, the biological evolution of mammals’ caring for their young and each other and the links toward humans’ development of morality.

The less palatable aspects of humanity ‘aggression and sex’ are discussed in the next chapter. Our predilection for aggressive solutions is again explained through evolutionary biology. Social, economic and political forces added to the mix, bring out some of the worse acts of human atrocities against each other. The difference between male and female and the influence of sexualism are also discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 6 continues the themes presented in the previous chapter with discussions on whether genocide is in our genes and the influences of institutional norms of shaping behaviour.

The next chapter explores the contributions towards ameliorating the aspects of ourselves presented in the previous two chapters. Chapter 7 discusses aspects of free will, habits and self-control. The definition of free will takes up about ¼ of the chapter as it is difficult to pin down what is free will due to its contextualised application. So free will could be if you intend an action, know what you are doing, are of sound mind, and are not forced to make the decision.

Chapter 8 ‘hidden cognition’ is of interest towards informing our understanding of how learning works. The unconscious part of our mind is often underestimated or unrecognised. Yet, much of what makes us who we are is predicated on how others read our unconscious actions. Our reading of the unconscious ‘vibes’ from others also contributes to how we interact with others. The work of Freud and Helmholtz are reviewed with regards to what we now know about our unconscious selves. Thinking, does not need language, we possess concepts that are difficult to articulate (Johnson & Lakoff - metaphors we live by). Each of us is an integrated package of thoughts, feelings, both conscious and unconscious.

Then chapter 9 continues on with ‘the conscious life explained’ with an overview of research in sleep psychology and neurobiology. The relationships between our conscious and unconscious self are also discussed. Sensory signals of which we are conscious are highly integrated and processed by our unconscious brain. When required in a ‘novel’ situation, the unconscious thoughts become availed to our conscious self. Note, our conscious self has a limited capacity, so we continually shuffle items back and forth between conscious and unconscious. Novelty calls attention to selected items to dredge from our unconsciousness and we can select from a vast store. The key is we are able to select the right items as and when required (Barrs, global workspace theory).

The last chapter closes an enlightening read with the ‘balancing act’ between reporting new learnings in the neurosciences with the need to not over generalise or sensationalise findings. Each study adds parts to parts of the whole in understanding how the brain works. Isolating studies and reporting them out of context does not assist the general public. Also, the neurosciences are still continually finding new applications and discoveries, refuting old concepts and requiring new understanding to be applied. Recommends brainfacts.org as one way to keep up to date through access to proven findings.

In all, a good book to read for an overview of the present discussion on brain and mind. Professor Churchland writes clearly and uses examples many lay people can relate to. 

The evolved apprentice - book summary

Sterelny, K. (2012). The evolved apprentice: How evolutionmade humans unique. Cambridge, MA; London, UK: MIT Press.

This was the first book I explored in the area of evolutionary psychology. Mainly because my various digital alert systems search for ‘apprentic*’ and this book came up a few times via various alerts. I parked the book for summer reading and am happy I did finally make time to study it in greater detail. This book is easier reading than Sterelny’s previous book ‘Thought in a hostile world’ as briefly over viewed in last week's blog. “Evolved apprentice’ concentrates on the ‘social intelligence hypothesis'. Examples from primate studies, archaeology and ethnography are used through the book to illustrate the thesis. In summary, the book explores how the human brain evolved due to the need to learn quickly to cope with a challenging environment. Living together in family groups provided proto-humans with the opportunity to learn from each other. This ensured ‘technology’ was not lost from one generation to the next and small incremental improvements or flashes of inspiration could be actioned.

The book has 8 chapters. Short summaries of each chapter follow:

1)      Challenge of novelty – the social intelligence hypothesis is summarised and discussed. The need for increased learning in early hominids was premised on the increasing complexity of tasks required to sustain the hunter-gatherer life. Humans have many needs requiring reciprocity in group relationships. Division of labour within human groupings both horizontally and vertically required specialised communication skills. Humans also are comparatively long lived, with good memories leading to options for inter-generational verbal transmission of cultural skills. Learning of social skills also involve learning both the good and bad about human nature.

2)      Accumulating cognitive capital – precepts of the apprentice leaning model are discussed in this chapter. The 4 virtues of apprentice learning are identified and discussed. Virtues are: apprenticeship learning can be structured incrementally; complex tasks and high-fidelity / high band-with knowledge can be learnt; skill transmission may occur ‘informally’ without adult teaching or formal explicit instruction; and ethnographic studies have shown that learning through apprenticeship works – due to reciprocal balance between productivity and returns from learner.  

3)      Adapted individuals, adapted environments – here the understandings of Sapiens and Neanderthal evolution are unravelled to explain why one species carried on and the other became extinct. One explanation is the ability of sapiens to think symbolically and this allowed concepts to be carried from one generation to the next. At various stages, abrupt ‘technological leaps’ occurred, pushing development of sapiens ahead. These innovations were not lost from one generation to the next but were then further refined, leading to sufficient knowledge accumulation to allow for the next progressive leap.

4)      Human cooperation syndrome – co-evolution of “cooperation, information-guided foraging and niche construction” of context specific knowledge are premised to have been the difference between hominins and other apes. The ‘grandmother hypothesis’ is put forward as one advantage hominins could use to advance. Grandmothers provided a source for intergenerational knowledge. They also were able to mind young children while parents hunted / foraged, increasing the group’s ability to maintain a sustainable life. Activities like foraging and hunting required more complex communication techniques. Laying down the ground work for evolution to select for a species which had brains to handle the needs of cooperation and group living.

5)      Costs and commitments -  this chapter tidies up loose ends in the social intelligence hypothesis. For example why ‘freeloaders’, bullies etc. and their opposites of altruism have evolved. The cost of cooperation is weight up with the advantages afforded. Costs may be investments for the future and honesty creates long-term advantages perhaps not for the individual but for the larger group.

6)      Signals, cooperation and learning – here the discussion expands on the role of signals and communication and the role of honesty. Cultural learning’s advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

7)      From skills to norms – the ethical connotations to the social intelligence hypothesis are introduced and discussed in this chapter. Why and how morals have developed and how they are learnt, transmitted through cultural norms and the implications are introduced and extended.

8)      Cooperation and conflict – this last chapter, brings the various contributions to the social intelligence hypothesis to a close. The need for how humans have evolved to  acknowledge ‘give and take’ and how individuals, societies etc, balance ‘strong reciprocity’ brings the book to a close.

The book has notes for each chapter, 25 pages of references and index. References provide good overview of the relevant literature from anthropology, archaeology, ethnographical studies and evolutionary psychology. All in, the book provides good background leavened with many pertinent examples from contemporary work on understanding how evolutionary pressures of our pre-history contributed to how we now communicate, learn and live.

Evolutionary psychology - some interim concepts

Various meanders and exploration of literature on learning a trade  has led to encounter with a few books on evolutionary psychology.

So this post offers some brief book summaries and impressions .

First up, Before the dawn: recovering the lost history of our ancestors, by Nicolas Ward. Reviewed with some summaries here. 

This book lays out the evolutionary path taken by our ancestors with emphasis on how our genetical heritage evolved. Of importance is the work completed over the last several decades whereby learning on genetics confirms the ‘out of Africa’ theory. Our ancestors evolved over many millennium in Africa and due to hypothesised climate change 50,000 years ago gradually migrated out to inhabit the whole world. Therefore, there was a bit of a genetical bottleneck back then. Africans have the most varied genome. Whereas all other ‘races’ have much less diversity. 

Secondly, the evolved apprentice by Kim Sterelny, to be summarised in next week’s blog. This is the book that started my explorations into evolutionary psychology.

The evolved apprentice has several references to Professor Sterelny's previous book, Thoughts in a hostile world: The evolution of human cognition. This book discusses the various ways in which humans’ hunter and gatherer lifestyle, led to the development of how we now learn, behave, cooperate, make decisions etc. Examples from studies of primates are used to understand some of the roots for human behaviours and practices. Two theories are discussed in detail through the book: - social intelligence hypothesis and  massive modularity hypothesis. Both concepts still areas of contention, so critique of social intelligence found here and massive modularity, here.Thoughts in a hostile world does layout the arguments for evolutionary psychology approaches and the book provides a good overview and introduction to the subject.

50 myths of popular psychology

This book 2010 by Lilienfeld, S.O., Lynn, S. J. Ruscio, J. and Beyerstein, B.L. came up several times in the reference notes section of the Hattie and Yate’s book ‘visible learning and the science of learning summarised in last week's blog.

The book is in the CPIT library, so dipping in and out of the book over several days provided for some interesting updates of some of my pre/mis-conceptions and food for thought on how to progress with work completed last year on the ‘learning a trade’ project.

In the introduction, the 10 sources of how myths occur are discussed. These sources are efficiency of ‘word of mouth’ information sources; human desire for easy answers and quick fixes; our selective perception and memory; inference of causation from correlation; ‘after this, therefore because of this’ approach to reasoning; exposure to biased samples; reasoning by representativeness; misleading film and media portrayals; exaggeration of kernels of truth; and terminological confusion.

The myths are collated into 11 sections. The following sections are of most interest to educators:

Section 1 on brain power has 5 myths. 2 myths – most people only use 10% of their brain power and some people are left brained, others right brained – would be most relevant. We use large %age of our brains at all times and both brain hemispheres work in synchrony.

Section 2 ‘from womb to tomb’ covers myths on human development and aging. The myth of relevance is the one about playing Mozart to infants to boost intelligence – alas this does not work.

Section 3 covers myths about memory. Here the myth about the brain being like a video recorder is important. Our memories of things pass ARE selective and cannot be relied on.

Section 4 discusses myths on intelligence and learning. In this section, we find out IQ tests actually have some credence; if you are not sure of the answer it might not be the best option to stick to a hunch; dyslexia is not just envisioning words with reversed letters; and the most important, learning styles are critiqued and debunked.

Consciousness, emotions and motivations, interpersonal behaviour and personality and covered in the next 4 sections. Myths of interest are: we are not actually able to learn languages if we listen to the new language while we sleep; men and women communicate in subtly similar and dissimilar ways which are not generalizable to either sex; and inkblots and handwriting do not reveal personality traits.

The postscript is also worth some study. Myth busting pointers are suggested. These are: not to trust ‘gut instinct’, ‘word of mouth’, media coverage, biased samples and in-built human biases. Instead, do ‘due diligence’, check sources and keep an open mind.

Visible learning and the science of how we learn - summary of relevant chapters

Book summary of ‘visible learning and the science of how welearn’ by Professors John Hattie and Gregory Yates (2014) published by Routledge.

This book came up via Google Scholar, just before the Christmas break. I ordered via book depository and it arrived just in time for me to bring along with me on a walking holiday to Golden Bay. NZ summer weather brings the usual mix of rain or showery episodes interspersed with fine, warm days. I dipped into the book whenever we were house-bound by rain.

Back at work, I have worked through the chapters I bookmarked as ones of relevance to vocational education. The topics discussed in the book are related to factors assisting student learning. These factors were identified through a meta-analysis of over 800 quantitative meta-studies. The factors are reported in Hattie’s original book ‘Visible learning’ and extended on for application by teachers in a second book ‘Visible learning forteachers’, summarised in my blog last year.

The factors that assist student learning are derived from studies undertaken in the formalised school education sector from mainly English speaking countries Therefore, the factors are assumed to carry over to adult and vocational education.

Visible learning and the science of how we learn, consists of 31 short chapters organised into three parts: Learning within classrooms, learning foundations and ‘know thyself’. Each chapter is written to be ‘stand alone’ and consists of summaries of relevant theories, study guide questions and reference notes. This structure makes the chapters accessible to students of teaching and laypersons interested in learning more about how people learn. Each reader will find topics of interest amongst the 31 chapters. 

From the perspective of vocational education,  the first section ‘learning within classrooms’ could be useful as ‘conversation starters’ or ‘pre-reading’ for use by teacher educators. The chapters of most interest are:

Chapter 1, ‘why don’t students like learning at school’ – learners’ interests may not always be synchronised with formalised school systems’ outcomes.

Chapter 2 ‘is knowledge an obstacle to teaching? – yes. Experts find it difficult to unravel their tacit knowledge.

Chapter 7 ‘teaching for automaticity in basic academic skill’ – undertaking sufficient practice to move new, ‘foundational’ skills to becoming ‘automatic’ opens up room for progressive learning of complex skills and more difficult conceptualisations.

Chapter 8 ‘role of feedback’ – always important in all aspects of learning. This chapter provides good overview.

Chapters 9 – 11 – ‘acquiring complex skills through social modelling and explicit teaching’ and 3 chapters on expertise are ALL relevant. These four chapters provide good summaries and examples plus up to date reference notes for follow up. As will all the reference notes suggested through the book, most of the references are very pertinent, although some are also academic journal articles and will require some working on.

Part 2 covers a range of ‘learning foundations’. Of most use are the chapters on knowledge learning (chapters 13 – 18).  Common myths of teaching and learning are also addressed, critiqued and debunked as appropriate. These include:

Chapter 19 ‘analysing students’ style of learning’ now found to have very little empirical evidence  and so NOT advocated. Similar finding also for ‘music and its impact on learning’ in chapter 23.

Chapters 20 – 22 also critique recent studies related to young peoples’ exposure and use of technology. All of the following are found to be myths ‘ multitasking’, digital natives and the internet turning us into shallow thinkers. With the last fallacy, it is how use of internet is approaches which is important.

The last section ‘ know thyself’ are useful for teachers to better understand themselves and their learners. Reading these chapters with either the self (teacher) or learner perspective ‘hat’ on yields some insights. There are chapters on confidence (24), self-enhancement (25), achieving self control (26), neuroscience of the smile (27)and being a social chameleon (28).

The last three chapters are of more relevance to vocational educators.

Inattentional blindness and paying attention (chapter 29), thinking fast and slow (chapter 30) and ‘the IKEA effect’ (chapter 31).  Chapters 29 and 31 provide good overviews of neuroscience work on our conscious and unconscious brain. The advantages and disadvantages of having much of our decision making being automated are discussed with relevance to learning. The last chapter discusses why we put more value on learning when we put in effort, i.e. actually build or construct a physical artefact as an outcome of our learning.

All in, the book is a good resource for teacher educators and educators with some background on the learning sciences. Some chapters will be daunting and require some scaffolding for people who come into teaching with limited understanding of how learning works. The language used in the book is generally conversational but the contents are still sufficiently academic. 

Video from UCTV - Jean Lave on situated learning

Last week was a quiet re-start to work for 2014. I fitted in catch up reading and video watching between tidying up a rejected journal article and starting 3 other articles. One video on my list was of Professor Jean Lave providing background on 'everyday life and learning. The video is one of a series from University of California TV and archived on youtube. There are several videos from UCTV to catch up on and I will summarise the relevant ones to vocational education as I work through them. 

First up, social anthropologist Jean Lave argues that all theoretical problematics across the social sciences include assumptions about learning, whether explicitly or not. She says that learning is integral to conceptions of knowledge, inquiry, revolution, and changing practice, to name a few. Accordingly, social scientists have substantive stakes in the issue -- historical, cultural, spatial, political, and social.

Began with saying each book she has written, seems to explain things in previous books. Connects this to her study of Via and Goa tailors where apprentices work with the whole garment before eventually learning how to draft and cut cloth to make the clothing.

We are always learning as we go through life. Learning is complex and multi-dimensional. We are apprentices to our own changing practice.

Apprenticeship still associated with low tech, developmental world practice, operating in informal economies. Apprenticeship contributes to craft work learning mainly associated with manual skills and labour.

However, ethnographic studies of craft practice has provided many conceptions on how we learn.  Providing rich resources for understanding the processes (developmental, social) provides for learning.

Instead of studying technology, development and cognitive, but study the relationships between craftsmanship, song and imagination. Making is thinking. What is the process of making concrete things reveal about how we understand ourselves.

Knowledge cannot be separated from how knowledge is used and produced. Kavale 1997 categorises bureaucratic or pragmatic relations of theory and practice in research training, research activity, theory of knowledge. Bureaucratic involves schools, methodology, facts and rules and technical rational. The pragmatic is about apprenticeship, craft and art, situated knowing and social practice.

Provides explanation of how her research approaches started to lean towards understanding everyday knowing in context as opposed to decontextualized general knowledge. Uses the learning summarised in the book ‘apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice’ to explain of how she shifted to studying learning where it was situated.

She tells the story of how two sessions of field work was required for her to change her preconception of learning as having to be formal. Eventually, she started to realise how apprenticeship’s embodied curriculum revolved around learning by doing. Not through formal show and tell but apprentices observing and participating in authentic work tasks. Apprentices were not just learning how to sew buttons or cut cloth, but turning themselves into master tailors.

A similar thing happened when she tried to test tailor shop maths with formalised math based methods. She realised she had never observed tailors actually using maths in a school based algorithmic approach.

Learning is therefore changing relationships between people in an ever changing world. The task is not to investigate individuals, but the context and participatory practices as they are enacted. Our artisan selves, are involved in continued search for ways to solve everyday practices and beyond.

At the end, she made a pitch for ‘slow science’, to adopt the dispositions of artisan, apprenticeship and craftsmanship to do research, to resist the commodisation / commercialisation and politicising of research. 

In all, a good overview and revision for the principles presented and discussed in her book ' critical ethnographical practice''

Looking forward to 2014

I am looking forward to another busy and productive year.

With so many things on the go last year, I have only submitted one article late last year for publication. Over the next month or so, while it is still relatively quiet on the staff development front, I will work on submitting another two articles. Also try to draft up the outlines for another couple that can be worked on through the year for submission later this year or early next year. Otherwise, the momentum for publishing will definitely slow down.

As the term begins, I am looking forward to working with our project surface tablet teams. Last semester was concentrated on building staff capability and this year, we will pilot the initiatives with students. I have worked at ensuring the tablets are not used in an ad hoc way but to build technology enhanced learning (TEL) into courses or programmes. The approach is to nudge out of project teams, some of their ideas and objectives. I then help the teams connect their initiatives with sound pedagogical approaches to help students meet learning outcomes. So far, we have several projects working on eportfolios based on discipline or industry requirements (as per original STEL projects); a collaborative project between outdoor education and our Maori studies departments to extend ‘place-based’ education; several problem and inquiry-based approaches including a ‘one-day one problem’ or a ‘one week one work-based application’ focus; several projects for flip classroom type implementation; review and revision approaches; improving the learning of skills and dispositions using videos (as per hospitality projects) and collation of support resources for clinical / work placements.

A couple of programmes I support will be ready to work on programme re-development as an outcome of the TRoQ review process. Again, there is need to review programmes so that they meet current and future industry training needs. Where appropriate, we also need to investigate TEL through blended and distance delivery models to assist maintenance and growth of student numbers. As always, a balance needs to be sought between offering alternative delivery methods and student learning.

No externally funded projects to work on this year (as yet) but I am scoping possibilities for a collaborative project to continue the work begun with the 'learning a trade' project completed last year. It will take some work to coordinate possible partners and work out how to go about getting the project approval process going. Ako Aotearoa professional workshops 'enhancing learning in vocational education' continues this year as well. So, all in, looking forward to 2014.

Learning a trade:

The report from the learning a trade project is now uploaded to the Ako Aotearoa website. The project undertook a study of the literature available on skills learning and synthesised relevant principles to the ways apprentices perceived they learnt a trade.

Apprentices stated they learnt best through observation, being coached and through practice. So guidelines to improve deliberate and mindful practice were derived. Feedback on learning from workplace trainers / coaches etc. was found to not work well for some apprentices. So guidelines to emphasis the feedback loop and principles of cognitive apprenticeship were collated to assist apprentices' workplace learning opportunities.

2013 review

Another busy year comes to a close.

Two projects completed for Ako Aotearoa. The hospitalityproject - 'Guidelines for improving students’ reflective practice and digital evaluation skills: Derived from a study with hospitality students'  and the ‘learning a trade’ project. I am currently working on developing some infographics to summarise the guidelines from the project to assist apprentices to be 'mindful practioners' or 'smarter tradies' and workplace trainers / coaches to undertake better workplace learning support.

Three workshops on ‘enhancing vocational education’ completed. The workshops are due for an update, with inclusion of findings, recommendations and guidelines from more recent projects.

Several articles and book chapter worked on in 2013 were published.

Book chapter was from work undertaken in 2010 on situated technology enhanced learning projects.

Articles were published in a variety of journals including: 

Using videos and multimodal discourseanalysis to study how students learn a trade. International Journal of Training Research, 11(1), 69-78. The article based on work with the using videos to study multimodal learning with students learning how to weld.

Learning through apprenticeship: belonging to the workplace, becoming and being. Vocations and Learning: Studies in vocational and professional education. 6(3), 367-383. This is an overview of my PhD thesis.

Proximal participation: A pathway into work. Journal of Vocational Education & Training. 65 (4), 474-488. Also derived from one concept from my thesis.

          

Technology enhanced learning strategy was launched at CPIT and two projects are taken up time over the last semester.These include the pilot of echo360 and project surface tablet.

Plus internally circulated evaluations for one elearning platform (OB), our pilot learning spaces and a preliminary formative evaluation of echo360 just begun.

All in, a year filled with lots of new learning for the project surface tablet project, consolidation of research skills and progress with getting articles published. I am now looking forward to a couple of weeks of re-creation over the Xmas and New Year break. On getting back in January, I plan to do lots of writing to recharge the journal articles 'storeroom' to try to maintain momentum with getting articles published. Plus lots to look forward to into 2014 with project surface tablet. 

Scoop.it - another way to archive found sites

I noticed John Clayton's posts on linkedin of various interesting technology-enhanced learning infographics and checked out his links.

This brought me to scoop.it, a tool to archive found sites. Took me a couple of minutes to set up my own curation of teaching and learning related infographics. I had used my facebook account to set up the scoop.it account and each of the scoops on my scoop.it also ended up on my facebook page. Negating my efforts to keep personal and work apart :( However, several of my family and friends enjoyed the posts, so I will keep the facebook connection for the moment.

A few websites I visited in the last few days also allowed instant scoops to be achieved. I prefer archiving sites to provide more than just a brief twitter like link, or a list of links like delicious. So scoop.it, like tumblr and pinterest represent the current generation of website archival tools. These newer tools have a welcoming and are user-friendly feel to them.

The advantage with scoop.it is the ability to curate your collection in to various 'topics'. When you put in your key topics, a list of top 100 suggestions come up for each topic. This means scoop.it becomes a rss feeder as well. The option to link your curated finds to facebook, twitter, linkedin etc. also means that scoop.it has social networking features. So overall, a good tool to use with students or teachers who can then set up various topics they need to keep up with.

Meanwhile, I will keep my scoop.it site limited to infographics as I find these visual summarisations to be useful communication tools when working with busy tutors. Not much point sending them an academic paper they will never read! Good infographics provide the important points in an accessible format.

Google Scholar has 'my library'

A few weeks ago, Google scholar presented researchers with a fine Christmas present J

When I fired up Scholar to do a search, the New! Scholar Library: your personal collection of articles with the magic of Scholar banner caught my eye. I clicked on it and enabled the ‘my library’ feature. Immediately, ‘my citations’ were listed and the references used in the articles archived in ‘my citations’ were available in ‘my library’. References can then be archived on Endnotes via download of an endnotes file. Any google scholar search result can also be stored in my library, saving download of the actual files on to one of my physical or virtual drives.

All in, a great service to researchers. Along with scholar alerts, the above makes life just a little easier for researchers. 

ako aotearoa academy symposium - day 2

Day 2 begins with a breakfast session with Aka Aotearoa director, Dr. Peter Coolbear. Peter runs through 'what's next for the Academy' by setting the current tertiary education scene. With policy, items include new tertiary education strategy, public service success targets, parity of success for priority learners, foundation and transition, increased accountability for universities and strengthened quality assurance processes. For pre-degree level impacts are from TRoQ, more learners in STEMs, MOOCs, capability of teaching teams, professional accreditation of tertiary teachers and protection of academic standards. A challenge to the academy to become a 'go to body' for advice on tertiary teaching or learning issues.

First presentation of the day is a sharing session from academy members of vocational education research forum held recently in Qingdao, China. Kelly Pender and Sam Honey share photos and highlights and a question and answer session follows with Julia Bruce and myself assisting.

The student's perspective follows with presentations from 3 students. Rachel Cahir nursing student from Massey University, Jarod Burl a carpentry student from United and Natalie Frew studying Science at the University of Waikato. The students provided their impressions on their learning. Of note, the strong contribution of work placement and work based practice. These are opportunities for consolidating theory and obtaining experience with real and pragmatic actual practice. A rewarding frank and candid question and answer session followed.

A dialogue space precedes morning tea to unpack the morning's activities.

Parallel sessions commence and I attend Peter Mellow's on 'MOOCs and learning with digital curation'. Presented on varieties of MOOCs from no lecturer presence to some and a lot of lecturer presence, taster to full accreditated course, large numbers or just several hundred, structured or semi-structure constructivist. university of Melbourne MOOC Coursera-based learning analytics presented. Discussed possible shift of MOOCs to become digital duration with social media like Facebook and scoop.it.

Then Professor Eric Pawson's 'creating sticky campuses' presentation on 'what makes good student campuses'. Importance of informal learning spaces (indie, outside and virtual) to provide space to learn, interact and socialise. Literature on student engagement by George Kuhn and 'sticky spaces'. Summer student project derive through focus groups was for spaces to be comfortable, have different or flexible function (subject specific and general), amenities (PowerPoint, WIFI and catering options) and management of access at appropriate times.

After lunch, we have Gordon Suddaby continuing the update on 'national accreditation scheme for tertiary teachers', work completed the Alison Holmes. Provided overview, context and suggested process. Arose out of Aka Aotearoa 'taking stock' project to try to rationalise the large number of qualifications for tertiary teachers. Currently awaiting outcome of Australian initiative to meet similar goal. Any accreditation needs to involve process and confer added and sought after status. In general, tertiary institutions have code of ethics for research but not for teaching although many ITPs and some universities have codes of conduct. Suggest investigating Canadian example. Good discussion ensued with regards to the why, how, what and advantages and disadvantages of a proposed accreditation process and designation.

The academy executive lead the session on 'future of the academy'. A discussion on role of academy and how to move forward.

A poroporaki and wrap up closes a busy but pertinent symposium.

Ako Aotearoa academy Symposium - summary of day 1

In Wellington for the annual academy symposium, a meeting of thirty plus tertiary teaching award winners. The theme of the gathering is 'shaking up teaching: exploring the new places and spaces for learning'. After the official opening / Mihi whamatau, we have a practice run of the academy song, nga manukura.

Then, symposium keynote on 'teaching laboratories are changing' from Ken Collins and Joanne Kelly from Lab works architecture. Designing the laboratory also leads to a culture change in how the laboratory goes about its work. Lab works sees teaching spaces as learning environments. Places to exercise curiosity and creativity, develop critical thinking, collaboration and problem solving. Based on Radcliffe (2006) nexuses of interactions and relationships between pedagogy, technology and space. Need to provide formal and informal learning and individual and collaborative learning opportunities. having a purpose build learning space next to lab or practical areas provide appropriate fittings and technology access for problem, inquiry and group based learning.

Parallel sessions begin and I go to Kamuka Pati from Unitec with 'challenges and success of blended learning and the role of technology'. A good example from building trades of bringing technology into a practical skill learning. Not just technical skills, also providing work skills. A smart shed with a interactive white board used to provide access to resources. Mobile learning enhanced with QR codes embedded into text or physical examples so situated learning is enabled. Use augmented reality and software to provide virtual access. Online access of all course resources and assessments plus student portfolios on Google plus using Google sites and Google drive. Scaffolded students from first course with digital literacy skills to enhance further integration of technology. Teacher dash used as learning management system.

Second session in the morning is a joint session with Dr.Dale Sheehan and myself on 'what do we understand by the term workplace learning?'  I start things off with a brief overview of how learning involves individual, social and socio-material approaches. Dale follows with challenges of learners accessing the breath of learning experiences required to learn to become. The groups work through several questions to explore how they can support work place learning for their own contexts. I finish with some ideas for learners and workplace coaches derived from the learning a trade project.

After lunch, we have a mentoring workshop with Dr Lesley Petersen. Covered how to mentor other teachers and how to mentor the mentor based on community of practice framework. Using a mentoring model (HIMM) derived from her PhD work. Importance of preparing not only the mentor but the menthe as well to obtain the rewards from the process. Worked through definition, purpose and benefits. Introduced the mentoring partnership cycle as a guide with communication as key. The second part of the session after afternoon tea was for groups to work through scenarios using two methods, 3e's (establish, expand, explore) questionnaires and DEVA (describe, evaluate, action, value). Session finished with discussion on how mentors can themselves by mentored.

Last session of the day is with Jill Tanner-Lloyd from Aka Aotearoa on 'communicating the future'. A new publication 'striving for excellence: a guide for tertiary teachers' derived from mining tertiary award portfolios previewed. Also shared ideas of how academy presence can be promoted and enhanced.

A home group debrief closed the official part of the day.

Symposium dinner ends a busy day.

mlearn conference 2013 - proceedings

Via Google Scholar alerts, comes the proceedings from the 12th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2013). Conference was held in Qatar from 21 to 24th October.

Several papers are pertinent to our current 'project surface tablet' projects and summarised here.

• Exploring the impact of using tablet devices in enhancing students listening and speaking skills in tertiary education by Ismail Fayed,Amer Yacoub, and Ali Hussein from Qatar University. This reports on student's use of a range of mobile devices and apps to assist with communication skills in English.
• Post Web 2.0 Media: Mobile Social Media with Thomas Cochrane (Unitec, NZ) and  Laurent Antonczak. Of interest as it extends on work completed at Unitec to build a community of practice with lecturers involved in technology enhanced learning initiatives. Use of mobile technologies assist lecturers to 'learn by doing' before they implement similar approaches in their classes.
• Mobilogue – A Tool for Creating and Conducting Mobile Supported Field Trips with Adam Giemza. Mobilogue supports teachers and students to author and provide learning support with location awareness and guidance on mobile devices. Useful for field trips, museum visits etc. QR codes are used to provide access to information and GPS is used to pinpoint place and items for exploration.
• Large Scale Deployment of Tablet Computers in High Schools in Brazil is a case study of introducing tablets into public education system on mass. Potentialitites, pitfalls and recommendations are detailed.
• Creating coherent incidental learning journeys on mobile devices through feedback and progress indicators. An interesting article from a group of English researchers with Mark Gaved, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme, Ann Jones, Eileen Scanlon, Ian Dunwell, Petros Lameras and Oula Akiki. Recommends how timely feedback may be provided to learners through incidental or informal learning. Increasing learners' coherence of learning by bringing fragmented learning moments into a more cohesive learning journey for reflective learning.
• Key Challenges Associated with Bringing Personal Mobile Devices to the Classroom. Ieda Santos discusses the pros and cons of BYOD.

Then two articles on ethical issues using mobile devices.

• Poster by J. Wishart provides a good overview to the challenges
• paper by Trish Andrews, Laurel Dyson and Jocelyn Wishart on how to support practitioners implementing mobile learning.

Educational and work settings forum -

Presentations are now on-line on the Ako Aotearoa website. The forum took place in mid-August in Wellington and focused on workplace-based education with a range of NZ based speakers and a keynote from Australia. Over the long weekend (show day was on Friday last week), I had time on the Saturday afternoon when it got too hot to get any gardening done, to look through the powerpoint presentations.

Of most interest are the two keynotes – one from Professor John Buchanan of University of Sydney and Professor Richard Coll from University of Waikato. Both covered the principles of education undertaken in work settings and the nexus between work and under/post-graduate degree curriculums.

Pertinent to present work is the work of Dr. Marion Sanders from Bethlehem Tertiary Institute and Liz Bowen-Clewey of Competency International.

Dr. Sanders presented on findings from the Ako Aotearoa National Project 'maximising dialogue in field based experiences' from work with social work and teacher trainee programmes.

Liz Bowen-Clewey  presented on a way forward with work-placed based competency assessments. Taking into account a more holistic structure to recognising professional competency through the use of 'professional conversations' and other whole-occupation evidence gathering approaches.

Digital literacy for Vocational (VET) students

Two articles come up this morning via Google scholar alerts which are relevant to current projects at CPIT - the pilot of our 'new' learning spaces and project surface tablet.

1) The first is 'Supporting new students from vocational education and training: Finding a reusable solution to address recurring learning difficulties in e-learning by Dai Fei Yang, Janice Catterall, and Janelle Davis of the University of Western Sydney in Australia. They propose the implementation of a 'educational technology preparation' (ETP) programme to assist students transitioning from the Australian vocational TAFE system into vocational degree programmes at university. The ETP is run through the Student Learning Unit, the Library, the e-Learning Unit and the IT Services and in effect, introduces students to the university's online and blended learning enviroments.

The above may be useful as my preliminary findings from evaluation of our 'new' learning spaces and work with tutors on project surface tablet confirms findings from previous projects (on situated technology enhanced learning and using videos to improve learning of dispositional skills). Digital natives bring digital skills which might not be aligned to academic requirements.

2) Second article from Switzerland 'Mobile Devices to Bridge the Gap in VET: Ease of Use and Usefulness as Indicators for Their Acceptance' by Elisa Motta, Alberto Cattaneo & Jean-Luc Gurtner. Provides some useful example in vocational education (automotive, pastry cooking and cookery) and uses quantitative analysis to establish apprentice / learner engagement is perceived to be linked to ease of use of hard and software.

This article informs our tablet project as use of a variety of apps and bringing these together into a coherent whole to achieve pedagogical goals is a complex process. The tutors and elearning advisors have good ideas but complicated systems mean students and other tutors may find it too unwieldy to apply in real-world practice.