I AM A CHAMPION! By Coach Flowers (Subtitles)

MOTIVATION - "Be Great, Powerful Beyond Measure"

What a mess!

I know I only have one follower (thanks Rachel), and I know that so far this blog is a mess. I also know that there are grammatical errors all over the place. I guess this blog just kind of represents the unorganized thoughts in my head. I find almost anything interesting, so right now, I don't have an exact direction to take with "Creative Juices" until I can go outside and color with side-walk chalk again.

So, Rachel, bless you for caring.

Can I make a blog completely private, so only I can see it? Rachel, I'll let you see it too. Tell Daniel and Arleena that I've been singing Little Mermaid today.

Thanks,

Jessica

OPEN EDUCATION

I've just posted some links to a blog that I feel is worth looking into. The reason I looked at it is because I was interested in the article titled, "Brain Research Confirms Importance of Praise for Young Children."

It seems that almost every week a new and exciting piece of “brain research” is released. The most recent, summarized at Science Daily, reveals an amazing distinction in the brain development of younger children versus those youngsters on the verge of adolescence.

Researchers, utilizing the latest in Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology, examined which parts of the brain were activated as children received feedback regarding their performance on a specific task. The differences in brain response for 8- and 9-year-olds to that of 11- and 12-year-olds was nothing short of astonishing.

Cognitive Control 

To activate the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for cognitive control, researchers gave children a computer task that asked them to determine specific rules. During the process, the children were provided two types of feedback, a tick for a correct answer and a cross for a wrong answer.

When the younger group of children, ages 8 to 9, received positive feedback, MRI technology revealed a strong activation of the cerebral cortex. In contrast, when these children received negative feedback that same cognitive control aspect of the brain barely registered any activity.

However, for 11 to 12-year-olds, positive feedback did little to activate the cognitive control areas. Instead, for the second age group, it was the negative feedback that caused strong activation of the control areas.

The experiment was replicated with 18 to 25-year-olds and the results for the young adult age group were very similar to those for the 11- and 12-year-olds.

The overall findings were summarized in Science Daily thus: “Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback (‘Well done!’), whereas negative feedback (‘Got it wrong this time’) scarcely causes any alarm bells to ring.”

Ultimately, it appears that 8-year-olds are simply not able to process negative feedback very well while 12-year-olds can actually use negative feedback in a way that helps them learn from their mistakes. The young adult group was able to do the same, with the findings indicating that the older age group could learn from their mistakes more efficiently than the pre-adolescent group.

The research, the work of developmental psychologist Dr. Eveline Crone and her colleagues from the Leiden Brain and Development Lab, represents the first attempt to look at children of different ages. In the past, distinctions in brain study have generally been done by comparing children to adults.

The research also focused on a different area of the brain than the basal ganglia, a region just outside the cerebral cortex. That region also responds strongly when a subject is exposed to positive feedback. The activity in that area of the brain remains unchanged as we age; it is extremely active in all age groups, for adults as well as children, and for both 8-year-olds and 12-year-olds.

Surprising Outcome

The results came as a major surprise to Crone who acknowledged, “We had expected that the brains of 8-year-olds would function in exactly the same way as the brains of 12-year-olds, but maybe not quite so well.”

The results of course have enormous potential impact on teaching and learning. Crone notes further, “Children learn the whole time, so this new knowledge can have major consequences for people wanting to teach children: how can you best relay instructions to 8- and 12-year-olds?”

Crone went on to elaborate further, stating that, “You start to think less in terms of ‘good’ and ‘not so good’. Children of eight may well be able to learn extremely efficiently, only they do it in a different way.”

The results also reiterate some long-standing knowledge from the field of child development. Experts in that field have long postulated that young children respond much better to reward than they do to punishment.

Crone acknowledges that from a developmental standpoint that makes perfect sense. “Learning from mistakes is more complex than carrying on in the same way as before. You have to ask yourself what precisely went wrong and how it was possible.”

Why Does the Difference Exist?

While there is now conclusive evidence that there is a difference with how 8- and 12-year-olds process feedback information, there is no current research that yet can explain why there is such a difference. Immediate speculation has one thinking it could just be that time is needed for the brain to develop more fully.

However, it may also be a result of experience, i.e., the need for children to have more life lessons before such feedback provides meaningful information. In fact, Crone suggests that it “is probably a combination of the brain maturing and experience.”

In the meantime, many other questions emerge including what is the ideal age for such brain activity? For example, would it be better if children developed their ability to learn from mistakes at an earlier age? At the same time, what specific experiences would be helpful to such development and at what corresponding ages should those experiences occur?

Could Risk-Averse Critics Find Some Ammunition

Yet another thought also comes to mind based on a post we did a few months back regarding our current risk-adverse culture for children. In our post, Risk Taking, Part of Growing Up, Part of the Learning Process, we noted that the safety zone for children is becoming ever smaller. The current aversion to risk-taking in our children has many experts concerned that we are cutting our children off from a number of very valuable learning opportunities, especially in regards to learning how to interact with the world around them.

One very interesting step would be to replicate the study in future years to see if over time the age at which children learn from mistakes tends to increase. Given our propensity to reduce risk and subsequently limit the experiences of children, it is entirely possible the current age at which learning from mistakes is the norm could be pushed into the teen years."

I'm taking a Creativity and Cognition in Children class this semester and have been learning some incredible information about teaching and raising children. This article just added to a paper I wrote.

I'm a huge fan of praising children. 

I'm confident enough not to care

I just had a great conversation with my brother about confidence. We were reflecting on what we have to go through in order to really be confident, but once you've got it, you can't let it go. It's a shame that there are people out there that won't ever get to develop confidence, which is so crucial to realizing true potential.

Confidence has also helped me realize that I'm okay. I don't need to worry about what I say or what I've said because I am what I am.

Someone wise said:

"Each time we face our fear,

we gain strength, courage,

and confidence in the doing."

Creative activities for learning

• Go on a walk with magnifying glasses
• Spray some shaving cream in a cookie sheet and go to town with math problems or spelling words
• Put salt in a cookie sheet and let your little one practice writing their name
• Paint shapes, pictures, or scribble. Whatever your child is interested in
• Make a collage out of construction or tissue paper
• Rub a sideways crayon on a plain piece of paper on different textures
• Create a treasure map together, get dressed up and go on a pirate exploration throughout the yard
• Using a sketch pad and a pencil, draw what you see or hear
• Organize art supplies so you can come up with ideas of what to create next 

I do not feel creative today.

I've created a blog about creativity because I realized last week, while writing a paper on creativity, that I am lacking inspiration. I've also been thinking that I need to start creating more art. I earned an Associates Degree in Graphic Design 12 years ago. I need to explore the right side of my brain on a regular basis. Hopefully, having a blog will inspire me to put on my creative hat more often, and then share it with you.