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The Lifelong Learner   The most brilliant man I ever knew only had an eighth grade education. He was, however, a lifelong learner.   William Woolum was two years old when his mother died giving birth to his baby sister. His father, ill equipped to care for his young son and infant daughter, put them in the care of others. This was at the turn of the century. Last century. Around 1900. He was loved and cared for and was able to complete eighth grade. He later taught his wife to read and write.    His knowledge and wisdom was revered throughout the community.    One time, the local college sent graduate students out to the neighboring county schools to offer free classes to the residents. William Woolum had raised his family and was older now, but he signed up for a mathematics course. He loved math.    The young man teaching the course posed a problem then demonstrated how to arrive at the answer. It was a practical problem using elements of geomet...

  It’s Not   All  Fun and Games…But Some of It Is   In this series on getting your brain in gear, we’ve looked at pursuing your dreams as one way of engaging your brain cells in new activity. We identified those dreams, organized and assessed resources to fulfill those dreams, and talked about how the process is often more valuable than the product.    We then took a slightly different direction by talking about the role music and movement play in optimizing brain activity. I say “slightly” because all of these elements work together. Each activity boosts your brainpower, putting another activity within reach.   Today I want to present a few differing activities. In these waning days of winter, with Seasonal Affective Disorder in full bloom, I want to provide a few options to engage your brain without the long term commitment of say, writing a book or learning to play an instrument.     Here are five opportunities you can start today. Yo...

  Two Left Feet?   Most of us are well aware of the physical benefits of exercise. We understand the research asserting that regular exercise increases our energy, stamina, strength, and overall health. Getting that flow of oxygen to your brain is part of that overall health benefit. We all need it.   When we think of physical exercise, we often consider a workout at the gym, weight lifting, or running. In my case, walking. But for this week’s Jumpstart Your Brain Challenge post, I want to explore the binding together of music and movement: Dance.   My husband and I enjoyed dancing. We met at a high school dance and later in life learned ballroom dancing as well as square dancing. (And no, I did not wear the big fluffy skirts.)    Tom wasn’t too sure about learning “real dances.” He claimed he had two left feet. He was athletic and enjoyed many other activities, but dancing required something he wasn’t sure he had in him.    If you read last week’...

  The Power of Music   As a professor in the field of teacher education, I was compelled to research recent trends and studies in the field. I already knew there was power in music education, so I was intrigued when research examining “the Mozart effect” for learning hit my desk. I knew music had been researched initially as a means of lowering blood pressure.    The easiest way to explain the proposed educational benefit is that researchers were exploring how classical music influenced thinking and memory. Several studies noted that students who listened to Mozart prior to taking a test performed better on exams than their equally prepared counterparts. For a while, schools filtered music through their hallways. A few schools around the country tried this during final exams or standardized testing. They were hoping, of course, to access some elusive phenomena bound to increase the school standing.   Further research demonstrated that the effect lasted for about...