Renaissance Learning

Question 1

There are two ways to become a better learner:

Answer 1

1. exercise

2. learning and practicing = growing new neurons in the hippocampus.

Question 2

Where are new neurons born every day?

Answer 2

Yes, the hippocampus (important for learning new things) grows new neurons every day so that you can learn new things. They will die if they are not used/strengthened.

Question 3

How do help new neurons survive?

Answer 3

exercise and practiced learning

Question 4

What is the best drug out there for helping you to learn better?

Answer 4

Exercise. Gym and recess really are the most important parts of school curriculum.

Question 5

What makes our brain human?

Answer 5

Learning, planning, language, (all pre-frontal cortex stuff)

Question 6

What doe the pre-frontal cortex?

Answer 6

Learning, planning, language, decision-making, and complex analysis in social behavior

Question 7

One of the best things you can do to memorize and understand concepts is this “trick”:

Answer 7

Create a metaphor or analogy or story for the concept you are trying to learn. The more VISUAL, the better.

Question 8

Why do metaphors work so well to glue an idea into your mind?

Answer 8

Because they make a connection to neural structures that are already there.

Question 9

Greatest understanding comes how?

Answer 9

From figuring it out in YOUR OWN MIND, rather than accepting the explanation that comes from someone else.

Question 10

How do people learn?

Answer 10

By trying to make sense out of the information they perceive. They rarely learn anything complex by having someone else tell it to them.

Question 11

What is the benefit of NOT being a working memory genius?

Answer 11

You’re more creative if you don’t have a bulldog of a working memory with nine fierce working memory slots. Instead, if your 4 working memory slots are more open and free, more new ideas can flow in, great for preventing Einstellung. A smaller working memory means you can generalize your ideas into new, more creative ideas by connecting to other parts of your brain.

Question 12

What should you do if you have an average brain?

Answer 12

PRACTICE! Deliberate practice on the TOUGHEST aspects of the material can lift average brains to the realsm of gifted brains. It’s like lifting weights.

Question 13

Imposter Syndrome

Answer 13

Feelings of inadequacy. Everyone has this. Keep your chin up and your eye on the open door. When one door closes, another door opens.

Question 14

Myelin sheaths:

Answer 14

fatty insulation that helps signals move along a neuron. Without it (teens) can’t control impulsive behavior.

Question 15

How to build myelin sheaths up?

Answer 15

Practice! Strengthens and reinforces myelin sheath connections. You can develop your thinking and take control your overall behavior. Practice thoughts that use the neurons you want to develop.

Question 16

Santiago Ramón y Cajal source of brilliance:

Answer 16

The key to his own success was his perseverence: The “virtue of the less brilliant” coupled with his flexibility to change his mind and admit errors. He said that even average people can do brilliant things by changing their minds.

Question 17

Right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for:

Answer 17

Big picture thinking. Ah-ha insights, reality checks.

This hemisphere helps us step back and consider our work in the bigger picture perspective.

Question 18

Left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for:

Answer 18

interpreting the world for us; goes to great lengths to keep these things unchanging; focus mode; analytical; rigidity, dogmatism, eccentrism.

Question 19

Studying with other people is helpful, because:

Answer 19

they can catch what you can’t see. It’s like a larger scale diffuse mode. Thinking with friends can help you understand. Enriching environment too.

Question 20

What helps you learn more effectively? A: Spending an hour studying, or B: Spending an hour taking a test?

Answer 20

B: Spending an hour taking a test! You’ll retain and learn far more from testing. It’s powerful for concentrating the mind. Test-taking is an extraordinarily powerful learning experience. The effort you put into test-taking is of fundamental importance.

Question 21

Is your test-taking On-Target checklist:

Answer 21

1: Did you make a serious effort to understand the text?
2: Did you work on it with others or check your solutions with others?
3: Did you attempt to outline every problem solution by yourself before working on it with others?
4: Did you contribute actively in group discussions, asking questions, and contributing ideas?
5: Did you consult with the instructor when you were having difficulty with something?
6: Did you understand all your homework problem solutions when they were handed in?
7. Did you ask in class for homework problem solutions that weren’t clear to you?
8: If you had a study guide, did you go through it before the test and convince yourself that your could do everything on it?
9: Did you and classmates quiz one another on the study guide problems?
10: Did you attend and ask questions during the review session before the test?
11: Did you get a reasonable night’s sleep the night(s) before the test?

Question 22

What are the most two important pre-test On-Target Checklist?

Answer 22

1. Make a serious effort to understand the test material.

2. Get a good nights sleep the night before the test.

Question 23

How to effectively engage DIFFUSE mode during a test?

Answer 23

1: Glance over the entire test to set up neural hooks for the layout.
2: Start with the hardest problem first, and spend about a minute working on it until it starts to feel boggy.
3: Jump to an easy problem (especially if that first one made you feel uneasy)
4: Go to the second hardest problem and start working on that….
5: Jump back to easy, etc.
6: Once you finally get back to COMPLETING the hard problems, your brain will have been working on them in diffuse mode and they will feel easier to complete.

Doing it this way engages your diffuse mode to work behind the scenes from the start of the test.

Question 24

Why is it important to start with the hardest problems on the test first?

Answer 24

(Well first you should glance over the test to lay some neural hooks, but then..)

Because complex problems scream for the diffuse mode creative thinking, but that happens in the background, so giving your brain the complex problem to work on right from the start is important for giving it a chance to work things out while you complete simpler problems.

Starting hard loads the first most difficult problem into the mind with FOCUS MODE and then switches it to DIFFUSE MODE when you jump back to easy problems.

Question 25

Why does the HARD START - JUMP TO EASY method work?

Answer 25

Makes more efficient use of your brain by allowing different parts of your brain to work simultaneously on different thoughts.

Using this is valuable for helping you avoid Einstellung because it helps you look at things from different perspectives.