Page 147 - Rižnar, Igor, and Klemen Kavčič (ed.). 2017. Connecting Higher Education Institutions with Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 147
Is Higher Education in Dire Straits?
language at the age of 50, especially for people who are not mentally
fit. Education – not coffee or Ritalin – is also the most successful cogni-
tive enhancer (Bostrom and Sandberg 2009), because it provides strate-
gies for abstract thinking and problem solving and increases our mental
flexibility. In addition, exercising and sleep both have a profound effect
on our memory, motivation, concentration and other mental functions
(Dang-Vu et al. 2010).
Deans for Impact (2015) identified six key questions about learning
that are relevant to educators. Students acquire new knowledge and un-
derstand new ideas by reference to knowledge and ideas they already
know. In order to learn they must transfer information from work-
ing memory to long-term memory. As all people, students have limited
working memory capacities that can be easily overwhelmed by tasks
that are cognitively too demanding. In order to learn and retain new in-
formation, students have to organize the material in a meaningful way.
During this phase effective feedback (clear, specific, focused on the task
and improvement, and above all, not merely verifying performance) is
essential. Acquired knowledge and skills are useful only if they can be
transferred to a novel problem or situation in or outside of the class-
room. Students become more motivated and successful if they know
that intelligence and ability can be improved through hard work.
According to Deans for Impact (2015) teachers should be able to
recognize common misconceptions of cognitive science that relate to
teaching and learning. Three most damaging of them are mentioned
in the next section and two need mentioning here: (1) novices and ex-
perts cannot think in all the same ways (Glaser and Chi 1988) and (2)
cognitive development does not progress via a fixed progression of age-
related stages (Willingham 2008).
Before I proceed, let the reader be warned about an important thing:
if you type words ‘learning,’ ‘teaching’ and ‘brain’ in Google, you will be
surprised by the number (about 67.500.000 on December 12, 2015) of
results, many of them of a purely commercial nature. In addition, there
is also a myriad of books, games and training courses, which claim to
improve learning and to be backed by neuroscience. What they really
have on offer is the production of neuromyths (Geake 2008) and the
proliferation of pseudo-profound bullshit, which both have a damaging
effect on the credibility and impact of neuroscience. No wonder that
at present neuroscience is rarely included in teacher training courses
or has not yet become a tool for science-based education policy despite
145
language at the age of 50, especially for people who are not mentally
fit. Education – not coffee or Ritalin – is also the most successful cogni-
tive enhancer (Bostrom and Sandberg 2009), because it provides strate-
gies for abstract thinking and problem solving and increases our mental
flexibility. In addition, exercising and sleep both have a profound effect
on our memory, motivation, concentration and other mental functions
(Dang-Vu et al. 2010).
Deans for Impact (2015) identified six key questions about learning
that are relevant to educators. Students acquire new knowledge and un-
derstand new ideas by reference to knowledge and ideas they already
know. In order to learn they must transfer information from work-
ing memory to long-term memory. As all people, students have limited
working memory capacities that can be easily overwhelmed by tasks
that are cognitively too demanding. In order to learn and retain new in-
formation, students have to organize the material in a meaningful way.
During this phase effective feedback (clear, specific, focused on the task
and improvement, and above all, not merely verifying performance) is
essential. Acquired knowledge and skills are useful only if they can be
transferred to a novel problem or situation in or outside of the class-
room. Students become more motivated and successful if they know
that intelligence and ability can be improved through hard work.
According to Deans for Impact (2015) teachers should be able to
recognize common misconceptions of cognitive science that relate to
teaching and learning. Three most damaging of them are mentioned
in the next section and two need mentioning here: (1) novices and ex-
perts cannot think in all the same ways (Glaser and Chi 1988) and (2)
cognitive development does not progress via a fixed progression of age-
related stages (Willingham 2008).
Before I proceed, let the reader be warned about an important thing:
if you type words ‘learning,’ ‘teaching’ and ‘brain’ in Google, you will be
surprised by the number (about 67.500.000 on December 12, 2015) of
results, many of them of a purely commercial nature. In addition, there
is also a myriad of books, games and training courses, which claim to
improve learning and to be backed by neuroscience. What they really
have on offer is the production of neuromyths (Geake 2008) and the
proliferation of pseudo-profound bullshit, which both have a damaging
effect on the credibility and impact of neuroscience. No wonder that
at present neuroscience is rarely included in teacher training courses
or has not yet become a tool for science-based education policy despite
145
