“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption.” Frank Sinatra sings about regret in “My Way.” In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger talk about the decisions we make along the way in our formal education, and the role regret can play in lifelong learning. Hear more about how regret can motivate – rather than discourage – our pursuit of knowledge. Ever make a decision about your hair color that you have come to regret? Listen on to find out the solution to last week’s puzzler about truth, lies, and hair color!
learning
Higher Ed: Broad Strokes of Learning
Have you ever heard of a “value study” in art? It’s a way to make a quick sketch of whatever you see and then fill it in with shades of gray. It leaves out detail in favor of broader strokes that capture the essence of the subject. Could this also be a way to tackle a new intellectual endeavor? In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger translate this art technique to learning. Ed and Jennifer talk about Ed’s summer break (it was only three days long!) and how his art lessons impacted his thinking about education.
This edition of the math puzzler asks you to sort out liars from truth-tellers. It’s trickier than it sounds!
Rewarding Mediocrity
The ups and downs of rewards that praise participation in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke.
The Value of Failure
Failure is a word that carries a lot of baggage, arousing emotional responses that we’d usually rather avoid.
What about success? Why does the thought of success conjure images and feelings of comfort and satisfaction. This week, “Two Guys on Your Head” examine how the heights of success and the “training wheels” of failure impact our everyday lives.
We’re wired with a dopamine reward system that releases positive or negative chemical affect in our brains depending upon the success or failure of our efforts. Success feels good, while failure feels bad. So we tend to seek success and avoid failure. It’s simple.
But, how can you determine how much exertion to expend toward reaching a particular goal if you’ve never failed at something? You might just run yourself into the ground trying to avoid failure, but it’s better to let failure experiences happen and serve to help you gauge your efforts.
Failure is a learning mechanism, like training wheels on a bicycle. Our little mistakes serve to build up a framework of experience that allows us to more proficiently navigate our lives.
The fear of failure is a very challenging obstacle to overcome. To some, fear of failure can be immobilizing. When we legislate ourselves rigidly against the negative feelings aroused by the experience of a mistake, we are short-changing ourselves. Failure-driven learning mechanisms are not being utilized because our society reinforces a desire to avoid mistakes.
The Imposter Syndrome
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, talk about The Imposter Syndrome. What is the real problem when you feel inadequate? How can you help yourself overcome it when you recognize it?
Higher Ed: Extreme Learning Makeover
A new haircut. Maybe some new clothes. What about gutting a house and rebuilding the whole thing? Those sound like pretty extreme makeovers. What about an extreme learning makeover? In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss ways to transform how we teach and learn. Listen on as Ed and Jennifer talk about the ways that education can change lives for the better and help people become their best selves. And be ready for the next math puzzler – and you might want to grab a measuring cup and ladle for this one.
Higher Ed: Aging and Learning
Remember that early 1990’s television show Doogie Howser, M.D. about a brilliant teenage doctor? Doogie had graduated from college by the age of ten and had become a doctor at 14. Ok, that may be a little extreme, but is it possible that young people could learn that much that early in life? In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss some of the commonly held assumptions about age and learning. Most of us associate learning with school. And most of us associate attending school with certain ages and stages of life. Ed and Jennifer discuss the proposition that chronological age is not necessarily related to the ability to learn. What is? Listen on to find out, and to hear this week’s new math puzzler; it’s an especially good one if you happen to be headed to the beach.
Higher Ed: Learning to “Unlearn”
Learning…. it’s what we all go to school for, right? Well, have you ever thought about what we’re actually doing when we learn? Sometimes, it’s just memorizing names, dates, or facts that we can reproduce on a test. We might ace the test, but have we really learned anything? In this episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger discuss the important role “unlearning” plays in learning. What exactly is “unlearning?” It may seem counter-intuitive to those in higher ed and all lifelong learners: the idea of “unlearning” old habits that don’t really bring meaning and substance to what we learn. Is it ok to toss out some of those old ideas about what it means to learn, and take a new approach? Absolutely!
Higher Ed: The Importance of Failure to Learning
In this episode of KUT’s podcast, “Higher Ed,” KUT’s Jennifer Stayton talks with Dr. Ed Burger, President of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, about how important failure is to learning and success. What?! That’s the opposite of just about everything we’ve ever been taught. But it turns out intentionally failing is actually a critical step to ultimate success in learning.
Constructing Memory
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explore the many aspects of how we construct memories in bits and pieces, as well as how memories function and help our species evolve.
Why Can School Be So Boring?
If you’ve seen “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” or ever been in a classroom, you know that school can sometimes be very boring. However, learning and coming up with ideas in an environment with others in our social group should be fun! So why do schools get such a bad rap?
In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Robert Duke talk about some of the historical and present day factors that contribute to why school is so boring, and offer a few suggestions for a brighter future.
Debunking Myths Behind Different Learning Styles
Are you an auditory learner or a visual learner? If you answered “yes” you would be right. That’s because we use all our senses to learn and process information. In this edition of Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke dispel the myths behind learning styles preferences: they don’t really exist. Our reliance on the theories of learning styles to explain our success or failure of understanding certain information is actually serving our human need to put things into categories – combined with our need to explain things when they don’t work.