Education
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Last revised on: Tuesday, 01 January, 2008
Association for Bright Children (ABC) of Ontario
Chess The front cover of the August 2006 issue of Scientific American (Volume 295, Number 2) highlights an informative psychology and brain science section titled Secrets of the Expert Mind (pp. 64-71). There, author and chess player Philip E. Ross makes three (3) interesting comments: (1) the key to chess success lies in effortful study, (2) We can become good at any thing, and (3) It is motivation, not innate ability that is a more important factor for success.
Ross continues by stating, and I quote him directly: "K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University and [Neil] Charness [argue] that there must be some other mechanism that enables experts to employ long-term memory as if it, too, were a scratch pad. Says Ericsson: "The mere demonstration that highly skilled players can play at almost their normal strength under blindfold conditions is almost impossible for chunking theory to explain because you have to know the position, then you have to explore it in your memory." Such manipulation involves changing the stored chunks, at least in some ways, a task that may be likened to reciting "Mary had a little lamb" backward. It can be done, but not easily, and certainly not without many false starts and errors. Yet grandmaster games played quickly and under blindfold conditions tend to be of surprisingly high quality."
Simply stated for here, the goal of the game of chess is to checkmate your opponent's King. Checkmate, or just "mate", occurs when the King is attacked and unable to escape capture on the next move. As a teacher, I often included this oldest skill game in the world as one of my regular classroom subjects. In my opinion, this first-rate board game teaches the following seventeen (17) important life skills:
Analyzing a situation
Appreciating the intelligences of others
Acquiring a spirit of true sportsmanship
Best usage of computer skills
Changing one's view to find solutions
Concentration skills
Controlling various variables at the same time
Drawing conclusions
Using common sense, as often, common sense is not all that common
Expressing a viewpoint
Long-range planning
Practicing being patient
Predicting outcomes
Problem-finding and problem-solving skills
The significance of body language in communication
Using short-term and long-term memory skills, i.e., the use of memory strategies (grouping and rehearsal) and the degree of chess information that could be held in short-term memory
Working quietly ... yes, a silent board activity away from blackberries, picture phones, computers and television can be fun
Council of Exceptional Children
Counseling Services: The University of Victoria
Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."
Dictionary and Thesaurus by National Geographic
Dictionary: English and French
Dictionary: English / French / German
Doohickys et al At times, we may encounter difficulties retrieving the name of a trinket or gadget. When this tip-of-tongue (TOT) state occurs, we often resort to using terms such as: Doohickey, Thingamaboob, or Whatchamacallit. To see how I use these terms when constructing small boxes, go to Building Beautiful Boxes
Handwriting Worksheets
VIDEOS to help us SEE how to ADD (+) , SUBTRACT (-) , MULTIPLY (x), and DIVIDE (/) integersHome School Legal Defence Association
Home Schooling Gifted Students
How are your note-taking / time management / reading skills? This (Ohio University) site assists students in determining how effective they are at taking and using lecture notes. It offers suggestions for evaluating and improving note-taking skills in such areas as organization of ideas and topics, the use of examples and details, and formulating clear ideas.
Journals: The website http://www.sibi.usp.br/sibi/biblioteca/revista/selecao.php?letra=C has links to many journals.
Learning Skills University of Victoria
Mathematics:
SMART Program This website is hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology The Science and Mathematics with Application of Relevant Technology (SMART) program is made possible thanks to generous gifts from the Lucent Technologies Foundation, The Center for Accelerator and Particle Physics at IIT and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. SMART reflects Lucent's, IIT's and IBHE's shared commitment to the support and the continuing education of Chicago's math and science teachers. For a brief course description click here. The aim of this site is to make available interactive Science and Mathematics lessons using the resources of the World Wide Web.
Using
To get help with more math situations, click here. Microsoft's Encarta 2003 Reference Library
Missouri Developmental Disabilities Resource Center
(Mark! Note the correction)Ottawa's Independent Junior and Senior High School
Phonics Once upon a time, actually, around the mid 1960's, and within the wall of many North American classrooms, a majority of state-funded public school primary teachers taught students how to read using the phonemic awareness philosophy, or, for short, using phonics to teach very young children how to read. In its most simplest of form, phonemic awareness stipulates that youngsters attend to sounds in words by mentally manipulating them. This systematic teaching of phonics included stories that reinforced taught letters and demanded that students apply what they has learned immediately. One such reading series that I particularly enjoyed when I was a teacher was called Language Patterns. The reading philosophy behind this series was echoed by hundreds of other studies on grade one reading; students were making bigger gains in word recognition, word decoding, vocabulary, comprehension, and spelling than students using other more visual based reading programs. By grade two, many students in this "old language" reading program were already independent readers.
Private School Affairs Private schools allay the concerns of parents worried about sending their children into today’s dangerous and permissive public school system. These schools promise strong discipline and an enriching environment. But what exactly do private schools offer – and can they live up to the hype? To see the answer, click on the link.
Short Stories of Chekhov and Wilde
Special Education in Ontario
Studying Efficiency Have you recently observed your own studying procedures ... and concluded that sometimes you seem to be studying for hours and hours and never seem to get sufficient work completed? Perhaps you have also noticed that there are other students around you who have time left for fun after their studies and yet manage to get the grades they wish. Have they learned to study efficiently. You can also acquire this valuable learning skill. To read about some valuable pointers, click on the above link.
Teaching kids the way they learn best
Test Taking Strategies When we do poorly on tests, we may argue that there was a problem with the test or that the teacher did not know how to write the test. That is not the correct approach to take. Success involve numerous activities before, during and after the test. This link contains strategies that I have found to be successful over the years. Hopefully, they will also enable you to improve your grades. Throughout, I use the word "test" instead of the dual term "class text / term examinations".
USA Education
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Writing and Emails Well-composed emails can represent a convenient, easy and excellent avenue of improving writing skills. That is, anyone can use email services to compose a written commentary and then send that message to another. One strategy that has proven to be successful id for the novice writer to send her or his typed paragraphs to another and more experienced writer. The stronger writer can edit the efforts of the novice and then email the improved version back to be corrected by the novice writer. For example, original errors could be isolated within brace [error placed here], curly {error placed here} brackets or round (error placed here) brackets and immediately followed by the improved version. This quick and handy communicational avenue can often result in the novice writer becoming a much improved writer.
Authors | Education | Expertise | Home | Human Intelligences | Journal of Human Intelligences | Journals & Newspapers | Learning Styles | Ottawa | Reviews | Sayings | Sports & Education