We did a quick recap of all things examined thus far then we discussed the pros and cons of technology on the brains of the youth. Research showed that over-stimulation of the brain from technology made children prone to behavioral problems and engagement in cognitive activities like attending museums and building things improved mental health and well being. As always there was a flip side to the coin, Sugata Mitra conducted an experiment on his village using technology for self-learning and the results are fascinating (link for the Sugata Mitra talk) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU. “Education is a self organising system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon” a revolutionary theory by Mishra. After watching the clip Mishra shows that discussion between students was a vital part of the learning process, but I also noticed when he is teaching a class, that there are not enough computers for every student; this turned out to be a stroke of genius. In our western culture there is a push for every student to have access to a device, but after seeing Mishra teach I realized that this was actually counter-productive.
Halfway through class we attended a talk from Tim Byron. It was called ‘Raise earworm awareness: Measuring involuntary musical imagery with experience sampling methodology’. Some points I took away are Earworms are in consciousness, memory and are a phenomenon of memory.
JohnMuTech 