Mindshift - Dr. Barbara Oakley

As the mother of a Right-brain, non-traditional learner, I knew that I had to see Dr. Barbara Oakley lecture. She flunked out of math in elementary school.  In fact, she said in third grade that she just gave up on trying to learn multiplication tables.  But here's the twist, despite her late arrival to the mathematical scene (she enrolled in remedial Algebra at age 26) she now holds a PhD in Systems Engineering from Oakland University and teaches the largest Massive Open Online Courts (MOCO) in the world:  Mindshift Learning How to Learn.  This course has been taken by 1.8 million people in more than 200 countries, according to an article in the New York Times.  This course takes the science of neurosciences and shows viewers how to use it to "learn how to learn."  I plan to enroll myself for the new year.

I was fascinated by the proposition that you have the ability to learn anything if you learn it in a way that makes sense to your brain.  Just sit with that for a minute.  YOU CAN LEARN ANYTHING.  Homeschoolers intuitively know this and do not accept, "your child can't do x, y or z."  We have the luxury of taking as much time that's needed to master the material without rushing or wasting precious times for standardized tests.  I digress.  As I sat in the lecture sponsored by the Smithsonian Associates, I wondered to myself, "What if I had learned math in the way that made sense to my brain?"  When I was a little girl, I thought math and science were for boys.. I was actually annoyed whenever I had to do "boy work."  It was not until I became a homeschool mom and taught math to my sons using Singapore Math that I fell in love with math.  I realized that doors are closed to learners unnecessarily simply based upon how a subject is taught and how they learn.

Dr. Oakley didn't take the traditional route to engineering.  In fact, she joined the Army right out of high school to help pay for college.  While in the Army, she studied Slavic languages, mastered Russian and even worked in Antarctica.  She said she loved to see the world through different eyes.  It was this curiosity that led to engineering.  She wanted to learn about the machines she used on the ships where she worked as a Russian translator.

Your Brain - Focused Mode v. Diffuse Mode

When Dr. Oakley explained that the brain has two modes, focused and diffused, a light bulb came on immediately.  This concept explained why after reading something particularly profound or complicated, I have to marinate or meditate on it for a minute.  My brain is actually diffusing the information and finding ways to connect it to something I already know.   Makes Perfect Sense!
Dr. Oakley said that having young people discuss new material after learning it is a great technique because it puts the brain in diffuse mode. In other words, your brain cannot be in focused mode (learning new material) and diffuse mode (processing new material) at the same time.

Your Brain - Neural Reuse

Of course I didn't truly understand this concept until I was able to relate it to something in my own life.  My oldest son has recently become a Bitcoin investor.  I could not wrap my brain around this whole Cryptocurrency business until I was able to relate it to the stock market.  Only then did it make sense. Neural Reuse does the same thing.  Metaphors and Analogies are powerful techniques that help the brain acquire new material, according to Dr. Oakley.  Scientifically, the metaphors will travel down the same lane (neural circuits) as the new material.  It's kind of like using the same path to reach a new destination.

New Book - Mindshift

Dr. Barbara Oakley said in an interview with Daily Bits Of that she wrote her latest book Mindshift “to show what science is revealing about how we can best change and grow far beyond the boundaries we often unwittingly set for ourselves. Until neural imaging started to become more powerful, which has really only happened in the last few decades, we had little idea of how our brains actually worked.  So a lot of educational theory and practice that teachers have been trained with are, frankly, out-of-date, or not really all that helpful.”  Imagine that.  If we have the time and the determination we can do just about anything with our brains, including rewiring!

I am looking forward to the release of her next Mindshift book aimed at 10-13 year olds.  I imagine this will find a place on the shelves of many educators.