12
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Math in Your Head!
Dive right into the joys of mental math. First, learn the fundamental strategies of mental arithmetic (including the value of adding from left to right, unlike what you do on paper). Then, discover how a variety of shortcuts hold the keys to rapidly solving basic multiplication problems and finding squares.
1.
Math in Your Head!
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7.
Intermediate Multiplication
Take mental multiplication to an even higher level. Professor Benjamin shows you five methods for accurately multiplying any two-digit numbers. Among these: the squaring method (when both numbers are equal), the "close together" method (when both numbers are near each other), and the subtraction method (when one number ends in 6, 7, 8, or 9).
7.
Intermediate Multiplication
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2.
Mental Addition and Subtraction
Professor Benjamin demonstrates how easily you can mentally add and subtract one-, two-, and three-digit numbers. He also shows you shortcuts using the complement of a number (its distance from 100 or 1000) and demonstrates the uses of mental addition and subtraction for quickly counting calories and making change.
2.
Mental Addition and Subtraction
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8.
The Speed of Vedic Division
Vedic mathematics, which has been around for centuries, is extremely helpful for solving division problems—much more efficiently than the methods you learned in school. Learn how Vedic division works for dividing numbers of any length by any two-digit numbers.
8.
The Speed of Vedic Division
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3.
Go Forth and Multiply
Delve into the secrets of easy mental multiplication—Professor Benjamin's favorite mathematical operation. Once you've mastered how to quickly multiply any two-digit or three-digit number by a one-digit number, you've mastered the most fundamental operations of mental multiplication and added a vital tool to your mental math tool kit.
3.
Go Forth and Multiply
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9.
Memorizing Numbers
Think that memorizing long numbers sounds impossible? Think again. Investigate a fun—and effective—way to memorize numbers using a phonetic code in which every digit is given a consonant sound. Then practice your knowledge by trying to memorize the first 24 digits of pi, all of your credit card numbers, and more.
9.
Memorizing Numbers
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4.
Divide and Conquer
Turn now to the last fundamental operation of arithmetic: division. Explore a variety of shortcuts for dividing by one- and two-digit numbers; learn how to convert fractions such as 1/7 and 3/16 into decimals; and discover methods for determining when a large number is divisible by numbers such as 3, 7, and 11.
4.
Divide and Conquer
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10.
Calendar Calculating
The fun continues in this lecture with determining the day of the week of any date in the past or in the future. What day of the week was July 4, 2000? How about February 12, 1809? You'd be surprised at how easy it is for you to grasp the simple mathematics behind this handy skill.
10.
Calendar Calculating
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5.
The Art of Guesstimation
In most real-world situations—such as figuring out sales tax or how much to tip—you don't need an exact answer but just a reasonable approximation. Here, develop skills for effectively estimating addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square roots.
5.
The Art of Guesstimation
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11.
Advanced Multiplication
Professor Benjamin shows you how to do enormous multiplication problems in your head, such as squaring three-digit and four-digit numbers; cubing two-digit numbers, and multiplying two-digit and three-digit numbers. While you may not frequently encounter these large problems, knowing how to mentally solve them cements your knowledge of basic mental math skills.
11.
Advanced Multiplication
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6.
Mental Math and Paper
Sometimes we encounter math problems on paper in our daily lives. Even so, there are some rarely taught techniques to help speed up your calculations and check your answers when you are adding tall columns of numbers, multiplying numbers of any length, and more.
6.
Mental Math and Paper
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12.
Masters of Mental Math
Professor Benjamin concludes his exciting course by showing how you can use different methods to solve the same problem; how you can find the cube root of large perfect cubes; how you can use the techniques you've learned and mastered in the last 11 lectures; and more.
12.
Masters of Mental Math
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24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Memory Is a Party
Using the metaphor of a party whose “guests” include the different components of the complex interactions that make up memory, Professor Joordens introduces you to several kinds of memory—including episodic, semantic, and procedural—to arrive at an initial understanding of the variety of processes at work in human “memory.”
1.
Memory Is a Party
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13.
Animal Cognition and Memory
Does an elephant really never forget? Expand your study of memory to investigate the extent to which the mysterious abilities of humans may also exist in animals and, if so, how they might differ from our own.
13.
Animal Cognition and Memory
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2.
The Ancient “Art of Memory”
Techniques to embed and retrieve memories more easily—so-called mnemonic strategies—date back at least to classical Greece. See how one such technique—the Method of Loci—can help improve the episodic memory you depend on to recall a group of items such as grocery or to-do lists.
2.
The Ancient “Art of Memory”
|
14.
Mapping Memory in the Brain
Almost two decades since its revolutionary appearance, fMRI—functional magnetic resonance imaging—is allowing researchers to watch the living human brain at work, with no harm or discomfort to the subject. Explore what happens in several areas of the brain as memories are created or retrieved.
14.
Mapping Memory in the Brain
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3.
Rote Memorization and a Science of Forgetting
Is a mnemonic strategy always the most useful? Examine rote memorization and how it differs from mnemonics. Also, get an introduction to the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus, whose 19th-century experiments in remembering and forgetting marked the first scientific examination of memory.
3.
Rote Memorization and a Science of Forgetting
|
15.
Neural Network Models
Can computer models mimic the operations of the human brain? Examine the use of neural network modeling, in which biologically inspired models posited by researchers in cognitive neuroscience are advancing our understanding of just how those operations take place.
15.
Neural Network Models
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4.
Sensory Memory—Brief Traces of the Past
Begin a deeper discussion of the different kinds of memory, beginning with sensory memory and how its brief retentive power lets you switch from one stimulus to another—and even gives you your sense of “the present moment.” Here, the focus is on iconic (or visual) memory and its auditory counterpart, echoic memory.
4.
Sensory Memory—Brief Traces of the Past
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16.
Learning from Brain Damage and Amnesias
Leave the world of computers for that of neuropsychology as you focus on the life situations of several patients who have suffered some form of brain injury. You learn how damage to different areas of the brain can have dramatically different impacts on memory and how these patients experience the world.
16.
Learning from Brain Damage and Amnesias
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5.
The Conveyor Belt of Working Memory
Plunge into the mental processes that allow you to work with information, often with the goal of solving a problem. You learn that these processes can also be used to keep information briefly “in mind,” though they require effort and are prone to interference.
5.
The Conveyor Belt of Working Memory
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17.
The Many Challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease
In a lecture that explores one of our most frightening diseases from both the caregiver’s and sufferer’s perspectives, learn how Alzheimer’s progresses, how that progression may be forestalled, and ways in which technology may be able to help through the emerging field of “cognitive prosthetics.”
17.
The Many Challenges of Alzheimer’s Disease
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6.
Encoding—Our Gateway into Long-Term Memory
How does information make its way from your temporary working memory into long-term memory so you can access it again when you need it? This introduction to encoding explains the process and offers useful tips for improving your own recall.
6.
Encoding—Our Gateway into Long-Term Memory
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18.
That Powerful Glow of Warm Familiarity
Why does something familiar to us actually feel that way? Discover the sources of familiarity as you are introduced to the concepts of perceptual fluency and prototypes, and explore some surprising ways that those feelings of familiarity can trump other considerations.
18.
That Powerful Glow of Warm Familiarity
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7.
Episodic and Semantic Long-Term Memory
Strengthen your grasp of how these two key memory systems function. You explore the relationship between them with analogies that range from the job requirements of London taxi drivers to the famed “holo-deck” of the Star Trek television series.
7.
Episodic and Semantic Long-Term Memory
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19.
Déjà Vu and the Illusion of Memory
Is déjà vu simply an illusion of memory? If so, can we learn more about memory by trying to understand how this common phenomenon comes about? Examine some of the theories that have been put forth to explain this uncanny experience.
19.
Déjà Vu and the Illusion of Memory
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8.
The Secret Passage—Implicit Memory
Encounter still another category of memory—a way in which your experiences can enter long-term memory without the kind of “effortful encoding” discussed earlier. You learn why this sort of memory creation is vitally important, yet also unreliable as a substitute for conscious effort.
8.
The Secret Passage—Implicit Memory
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20.
Recovered Memories or False Memories?
Is episodic memory subject to the same pitfalls as misattributed feelings of familiarity? Can we “remember” things that never took place with the same intensity and certainty as those that did? Gain new insights into what is at stake when long-forgotten “memories” resurface.
20.
Recovered Memories or False Memories?
|
9.
From Procedural Memory to Habit
In this lecture, you see that your memory for procedures is useful not only in the “muscle memory” of physical skills, but also in cognitive processes. Also, learn about constructivist learning, in which the explicit structure of a procedure—which is usually taught verbally—instead is learned implicitly during exploratory practice.
9.
From Procedural Memory to Habit
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21.
Mind the Gaps! Memory as Reconstruction
Metaphors for memory usually reference information storehouses of some kind, such as library stacks or computer hard drives, from which episodic memories are “retrieved.” Learn about the extent to which we actually construct our memories anew each time we summon them and how this explains common memory errors.
21.
Mind the Gaps! Memory as Reconstruction
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10.
When Memory Systems Battle—Habits vs. Goals
What happens when implicit or procedural memories become so powerful they seize control? In this examination of the tenacity of habits, learn how and why habits are formed and what steps might be useful in changing them, or at least regaining control.
10.
When Memory Systems Battle—Habits vs. Goals
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22.
How We Choose What's Important to Remember
Does our brain always make decisions for us about which aspects of our experience to encode for later recall, or can we influence that process ourselves? Learn potentially powerful techniques for influencing the shape of future memories.
22.
How We Choose What's Important to Remember
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11.
Sleep and the Consolidation of Memories
Does sleep play a role in strengthening memories of your experiences during the day? Gain a sense of the latest research about a subject that is difficult to study as you explore the relationship between sleep and memory, including the possible link between specific sleep stages and specific kinds of memory.
11.
Sleep and the Consolidation of Memories
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23.
Aging, Memory, and Cognitive Transition
Apply a reality check to the popularly held belief that memory naturally declines as we age. Learn what happened when a researcher corrected for the age-related variables long-ignored by traditional testers—and what conclusions we can draw about what lies ahead for us as we grow older.
23.
Aging, Memory, and Cognitive Transition
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12.
Infant and Early Childhood Memory
How does the maturation of memory fit into a child’s overall brain development? Gain invaluable and surprising insights into the month-by-month and year-by-year development of a child’s capacity for memory, beginning in the womb and continuing on with its dramatic development after entry into the world.
12.
Infant and Early Childhood Memory
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24.
The Monster at the End of the Book
Contemplate the significance of what you’ve learned, with special attention to the common question of whether you can improve your episodic memory—remembering what you want to recall, forgetting what you’d rather not, and making choices about how to achieve a balance.
24.
The Monster at the End of the Book
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6
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Your Amazing Prehistoric Memory
Discover how remarkable your memory ability can be and get an introduction to some of the fascinating ways you can transform your average memory into an excellent one. After a quick memory test to set the stage, Professor Vishton introduces you to one of the most basic ways your memory can encode information: the Major System. With this strategy, you’ll learn how to encode numbers into words and then into distinct images that can help you recall the numerical information whenever you like. You’ll also explore the prehistoric roots of why we think the way we do.
1.
Your Amazing Prehistoric Memory
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4.
Why and When We Forget
Forgetting happens to the best of us—but it can be mitigated through the use of several key techniques. Among the topics you’ll investigate are the “Ebbinghaus forgetting function,” which offers insights into the relationship between time, amount of studying, and the likelihood of memory recall; the most effective way to remember a new set of information (hint: it doesn’t involve cramming); and how to access that pesky piece of information that’s “on the tip of your tongue.”
4.
Why and When We Forget
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2.
Encoding Information with Images
Focus on one of the simplest tricks for memorizing information: the Method of Loci. Like the Major System, this strategy encodes information into a format your brain is especially good at using; in this case, it ties information to a physical location. Gain familiarity with this method through several engaging exercises. Also, peek inside the mind of mental athletes to see how their seemingly superhuman feats of memory are rooted in nothing more than innate brain power we all have.
2.
Encoding Information with Images
|
5.
Keeping Your Whole Brain in Peak Condition
To have a good memory that functions at the peak of its powers, you need to keep your entire brain healthy. Professor Vishton shows you how to do just that. You’ll learn how not just a part of your brain, but the entire organ, is involved in remembering things. You’ll also investigate the science behind studies of exercise, sleep, and nutrition—and the curious ways that a balanced diet, daily activity, and a good night’s sleep relate to optimal mental functioning.
5.
Keeping Your Whole Brain in Peak Condition
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3.
Maximizing Short- and Long-Term Memory
In this insightful lecture, Professor Vishton walks you through the three steps of successful memory: a perception to short-term memory, encoding short-term memory to your long-term memory, and retrieving information from your long-term memory. In addition, you’ll explore how amnesia and other hippocampus-related damages can disrupt this normal memory process; you’ll examine some intriguing ways (such as “chunking”) to get around the limitations of your short-term memory; and much more.
3.
Maximizing Short- and Long-Term Memory
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6.
Human Memory Is Reconstruction, Not Replay
Why should you bother enhancing your memory when there are computers that can do it for you? In what ways is information stored on a computer different from information stored in the recesses of your brain? What are the limits of how memory functions? What are some important roles that technology can—and should—play in backing up our memories? Why are “source memories” and “flashbulb memories” so problematic, and how can you recognize them? Find the answers in this final lecture
6.
Human Memory Is Reconstruction, Not Replay
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24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Myths about Learning
Explore what it means to learn, and consider 10 myths about learning—for example, that learning must be purposeful or that emotions get in the way of learning. None of these or eight other widely held views is accurate, as you discover in depth in this course.
1.
Myths about Learning
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13.
Learning as Theory Testing
Scientists engage in theory testing to evaluate their own work and that of their colleagues. But is it realistic to expect nonscientists to develop similar habits of mind? Examine the problems people have in overcoming natural biases that inhibit scientifically rigorous thinking and learning.
13.
Learning as Theory Testing
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2.
Why No Single Learning Theory Works
Take a historical tour of early work on learning, which was deeply influenced by classical conditioning, made famous by Ivan Pavlov. Learn that in the effort to avoid anything that wasn't directly observable, researchers left out key unobservable factors, such as the attitudes of the subjects.
2.
Why No Single Learning Theory Works
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14.
Integrating Different Domains of Learning
Survey some common factors that apply to many learning situations, focusing on both intuitive and conscious processes. Tips for learning include spacing your rehearsals, varying the context, drawing on connections to things you know, learning the same way you'll use your learning, and sleeping on it!
14.
Integrating Different Domains of Learning
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3.
Learning as Information Processing
Investigate the information processing approach to learning, which holds that learning occurs as people encounter information, connect it to what they already know, and as a result, see changes in their knowledge or ability to do specific tasks.
3.
Learning as Information Processing
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15.
Cognitive Constraints on Learning
Delve into three constraints on learning: attention, working memory, and executive function. Consider the evidence for the importance of these capacities in supporting or limiting learning. Close by investigating how they can be improved to enhance learning abilities over your lifespan.
15.
Cognitive Constraints on Learning
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4.
Creating Representations
How do you create representations of categories and events in your mind? Explore two aspects of this process. First, you seldom, if ever, learn passively; instead, learning occurs in the context of purposeful action. Second, what you already know changes your experiences in learning.
4.
Creating Representations
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16.
Choosing Learning Strategies
Monitoring progress in learning can help develop a more effective learning strategy. Examine research showing how easy it is to misjudge success or lack of success at learning a skill or subject. Then look at approaches that let you increase retrieval and retention of learning.
16.
Choosing Learning Strategies
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5.
Categories, Rules, and Scripts
Whether you realize it, you acquire new knowledge by organizing experiences into categories, searching for rules within those categories, and establishing scripts—or patterns—that serve as guides for predicting what happens next in an unfamiliar activity or interaction. Find out how in this lecture.
5.
Categories, Rules, and Scripts
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17.
Source Knowledge and Learning
Often it's important to know not only a piece of information but also its source, especially in today's information-rich culture with many different sources to be weighed for accuracy. Learn how to combat the common tendency to forget the source before anything else.
17.
Source Knowledge and Learning
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6.
What Babies Know
Newborns are not a blank slate on which parents can dictate whatever they want their children to know. Instead, babies come prepackaged to develop in certain ways. Investigate how babies manage an overwhelming amount of learning and what this tells us about how grownups learn.
6.
What Babies Know
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18.
The Role of Emotion in Learning
How does it affect learning when you feel happy or sad? Examine the role of emotions in learning, discovering that some moods are better for some tasks. For example, mild anxiety in studying for a test might actually enhance performance by focusing attention.
18.
The Role of Emotion in Learning
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7.
Learning Your Native Tongue
Developing humans progress from no words to about 60,000 words by adulthood, while also mastering complex syntax and grammar. Probe the mechanisms that permit babies to absorb the language they hear around them and make it their native tongue.
7.
Learning Your Native Tongue
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19.
Cultivating a Desire to Learn
Consider how to foster the kinds of motivation that will help support learning rather than undermine it. Rewards such as good grades can backfire by reducing a student's desire to learn about a topic and willingness to persist on that topic. But what is a more effective motivation?
19.
Cultivating a Desire to Learn
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8.
Learning a Second Language
If learning a native language occurs almost without effort, why is it so hard to learn a second language, particularly after childhood? Examine this question in light of experiments to teach human language to other species, which provide intriguing clues for the difficulties adult language learners face.
8.
Learning a Second Language
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20.
Intelligence and Learning
Do IQ scores predict the ability to learn? Or are they simply a measure of what has previously been learned, giving a person a leg up on subsequent learning? Use the statistical concept of correlation to shed light on the long-running debate over the nature of intelligence and its role in learning.
20.
Intelligence and Learning
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9.
Learning How to Move
Focus on four questions central to learning a new motor skill: What should you pay attention to while learning the skill? Can verbalizing the skill help with mastering it? What about learning by watching versus learning by doing? Does imagining the movement provide any benefits?
9.
Learning How to Move
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21.
Are Learning Styles Real?
An influential contemporary view holds that we're all good at some things but not others, and that we may each differ in the way we like to learn. Probe the arguments for and against these ideas of multiple intelligences and differing learning styles.
21.
Are Learning Styles Real?
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10.
Learning Our Way Around
Investigate how you learn to navigate through the world, a skill we share with all other mobile creatures. Find that while spatial learning has a conscious component, we often don't know that we have a cognitive map of a particular place until we have to use it.
10.
Learning Our Way Around
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22.
Different People, Different Interests
Trace the origins and growth of the different interests that people naturally have. Interest stimulates the development of initially higher knowledge, which then facilitates further learning and further interest. Then consider an interest-related personality trait that is likely to be shared by the audience for this course.
22.
Different People, Different Interests
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11.
Learning to Tell Stories
Storytelling is a crucial way that you connect with other people and also learn about yourself. Discover how you learn to narrate your experiences in a way that is ordered in time, communicates the essential details of what happened, and makes clear to the audience why they should listen.
11.
Learning to Tell Stories
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23.
Learning across the Lifespan
Focus on the role of age in learning by reviewing four principles presented earlier in the course and exploring how they relate to different age groups. Close by examining a variety of strategies for preserving information-processing abilities into late life.
23.
Learning across the Lifespan
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12.
Learning Approaches in Math and Science
Math and science require learning both facts about the world and a special process—the "how" used to identify and solve new problems. Survey different approaches to teaching math and science. Some work for building a knowledge of facts, others for instilling an understanding of process.
12.
Learning Approaches in Math and Science
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24.
Making the Most of How We Learn
Conclude your exploration of how we learn with a look at today's frontiers of learning research. Then revisit the myths of learning from Lecture 1, review optimal approaches to learning, and consider what educators can do to make best use of our new understanding of this vital process.
24.
Making the Most of How We Learn
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