When we know where to find information, we’re less likely to remember it — an amnesia dubbed The Google Effect by a team led by psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University.www.mercurynews.com/2011/07/14/google-is-changing-your-brain-study-says-and-dont-you-forget-it/ There has been research on how Google is changing our brains. I can totally see that...in fact, I do believe that with the immediacy of information and the need for it, it is ever more important to know HOW to efficiently find the information - we have before us a generation of strategists not simply memorizers. This is Google, as a verb. It's definitely changing things in our world. But what if I said that Google Tools can be used to make your brain work better? Google as a collective noun referring to the ever growing number of tools available. Our school district is a GAFE district. We are big users of Google Apps for Education for all teachers and students in grades 2 - 12. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend an EdTech Google Summit this summer. I attended a session I chose because of the title: Your Brain on Google. While it wasn't quite what I thought it would be, it was inspiring nonetheless. I finally finished this book over the summer. And as I read it, I thought about all of the Google Apps for Education that we use in our district EVERY DAY. I made notes in margins, in journals, in an app on my phone, on post it notes, on my hand...everywhere. I finally decided to start putting the pieces together for a presentation on not just Google and the brain, but how to harness the power of GAFE specifically to make learning experiences for students. It's still a work in progress...the cover image is at the bottom of this post. My goal is to hit all twelve of the rules Medina discusses in the updated and expanded issue of his book. I'm having a lot of fun putting this together. The activities are designed to make teachers think about not just the the brain rules, but about how to teach the way our students learn - not the way WE learn. In many ways, and in different ways, Google has changed this for everyone. It's time we started taking steps to keep up.
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AuthorJeannie Timken Archives
March 2023
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