Intelligence Equals Learning?

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Intelligence Equals Learning?

The first fact of human brain anatomy is that even at the gross level, brains are different. But how do these differences come about? If I take the simple and extreme view of genetic influence, our DNA and genetic chemicals should clearly spell out in detail all aspects of development. In this paper I want to ignore the genetic aspect of development and review the evidence for the effects of experience on brain development, the adaptability of the brain for alternative pathways to learning and the impact of experience on memory.

From the extensive amount of research material on the web, I can state with confidence that people have a keen appetite for research information about how the brain works and how thought processes develop. It is a difficult task when considering which findings from brain research are relevant to human learning and I was careful to avoid adopting faddish concepts. Among these is the concept that the left and right hemispheres of the brain should be taught separately to maximize the effectiveness of learning. Another fad concept is the notion that the brain grows in hostile “spurts” according to which specific educational objectives should be arranged. Another widely held misconception is that people use 20% of their brains. This belief arose from the early neuroscience finding that much of the cerebral cortex consists of “silent areas” that are activate by sensory or motor activity. However, it is now known that these silent areas mediate higher cognitive functions that are not directly associated to sensory or motor activity (1).

As the sciences of developmental psychology, neuroscience and cognitive psychology have contributed vast number of research studies det...

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...these findings it is evident that there are qualitative differences among the kinds of learning opportunities in this world. So what is the right way to learn? Am I learning in the most optimum way - how do I know? This idea raises many questions about our education system and the way we were taught to think, conceptualize and basically do everything we have learned to do . . .

Sources

1) This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated.

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