What Do a Sea Hare and Stephen Hawking Have in Common?

We are often asked why it is that TAGteach works so well and so fast, sometimes yielding behavior change or learning that seems magical. There is no magic involved, except that which goes on in our brains. Level 3 TAGteacher Luca Canever presented a fascinating webinar about how the brain learns and why TAGteach works so well.

By Luca Canever

I am pleased to have this chance to share my passion about the brain and how it learns, with my fellow TAGteachers. Here is a brief outline of the topics I will cover in my webinar:

Working Memory and Cognitive Load

The TAGteach mantra "talk less, teach more", seems counter-intuitive, but there is sound science behind this. In this part I want to discuss how working memory works in the brain. The role of this specific memory is to catch things from environment to ensure our survival. We can think of the working memory like a window from which our consciousness looks at the world. Also the working memory creates the memories for the long term memory. If we overload the working memory with too nmuch information it won't be able to pass on the memories, and the learning will stop. Too much information it's not good for the learning. TAGteach, indeed is.

Associative Learning: What a Sea Hare and Stephen Hawking Have in Common

Earth had 3 billion years of bacteria, before life discovered associative learning. Life had blossomed about 540 million years ago when the first multicellular organisms discovered associative learning. If you know (and you can remember) where you can find food, mating opportunities and where your predator is waiting for you, your survival chances will increase. Organisms have learned by association for millions of years, so the argument that TAGteachers sometimes hear from parents: "Don't treat my daughter like a dog!" makes no sense. From the lowly sea hare to the brilliant Steven Hawking, we all learn in the same way. What is different is the complexity in the brain. But I'll give references to recent findings that indicate our (human) brains are not brand new. On the contrary they use pieces and parts that already exist and adapt them to our new requirements.

Maps in the Brain - Why My Car is not Like Yours

In his book "Thinking fast and slow", Daniel Kahneman says that each of us has his/her own, clear idea of what a car is. But if you ask two people to draw a car what you get is two different things. At the same time we can understand each other because we "share" the idea of "car" or "table". We can develop a common language because my representations in my brain are similar to yours. The memories in the brain are not "single-folder" kind. Memories are maps in the brain with different pattern for everyone. TAGteach helps because with the WOOF rules creates a crystal clear tag point that is clearly understood by both teacher and learner.

Click here for more information or to register for the webinar recording

  

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