Jetman - A Pioneer with Respect for the Forces of Nature

Practice makes Perfect: Neuromodulation , How a Fly Brain can Make You Smarter

Here is some fascinating information that discusses neurobiology of a fly's brain.  Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this video is how it relates to how the brain processes information.  From a purely biological perspective, Michael Dickenson's Ted Talk is fascinating because it demonstrates something electrical about the learning process;  establishing a neural pathway is how the brain 'learns.'  

Dickenson's  research seems to imply that repetitive processes rely on established multiplexes of neurons that fire in a set pattern.  To that end, it makes sense, that when a person learns something, part of that process involves practice until a neural pathway has been burned.  It explains why we practice makes perfect.

It also tells me that making mistakes is a critical component of the learning process.  Learning is about fine-tuning our mistakes until we reach a point considered to be satisfactory.  Thus, regardless of whether we are on  BMX bike, snowboarding, or memorizing PEMDAS, or memorizing y=mx+b, or even learning how to tie one's shoes, it all involves practice & making errors.  This tends to explain why wisdom tends to come with age and experience.  Old people have the potential to be wiser simply because they have had more of a chance to make mistakes!  Now that is a fascinating thought!

Here is the take-away; learning is the process of developing and establishing set neural pathways through trial and error.  Moreover, those who fine tune an action or thought process are neuromodulating.  

The better we neuromodulate is proportional to the amount of errors we make.  The more mistakes we make, the smarter we become.

Conclusion:  Make as many mistakes as you can, but make yourself aware of those mistakes, because when you do, you will fine-tune your ability to develop more refined neural pathways as you build on past experiences.  

In other words: You can only become an expert if you give yourself the opportunity to make mistakes.

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In a world full of people, only some want to fly...

"...My best friend gave me the best advice.  He said, 'each day's a gift and not a given right.'" - Nickleback - If Today Was Your Last day

This video was filmed by three pilots having fun on a weekend.  Watching the landscapes unfold was a treat by itself.  But it took me to completely different space.  It triggered me to think about the relationship between teachers and students.  

For example, there was a point where the camera captured the image of one plane is flying just below the other, and below them their shadows were cast in tandem on the ground.  What I found most striking was that both pilots were flying independently of one another while their shadows appeared next to one another as they traversed the landscape below, seemingly locked to one another in their frame of reference.  That image reminded me of what is teacher-student relationship is like; we meet somewhere in the intellectual realm and we fly in tandem over a given intellectual terrain.  And from our particular vantage point, we appear to be moving together as the sun casts our shadow on the terrain as we hover above.  

But it is really an illusion; I am there to guide the exploration.  In return for this exchange, my student progresses through dimensions of space and time, all the while developing mastery.  Since learning is such an individualized experience, the terrain covered is unique to each student on a his or her quest of discovery.  We can visit the same terrain, but the area we cover is as unique as the students who work to advance themselves.  Thus, while the shadows appear to move together, they are working independently.  And that reminded me, I can never work harder than my students because they are piloting their own flight.  I can guide them, I can watch them, but I cannot fly their metaphorical plane.  

"...Miracles happen as we trip."

My students have to do that all on their own.  It is amazing to see one of the planes as it rolls, and soars.  What I like the most is that regardless of wherever my proteges end up, my contribution will always be with them like the shadow cast upon the ground.  

"...In a sky full of people only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?"

My particular influence will not define my students.  However, it will carry its own significance, no matter where my students go, no matter the terrain, and  no matter how high they fly.  And that is an empowering thought.  It is why I teach and it is why I love my job.

"...In a world full of people, only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?"

If I can now take you into the symbolism of the propeller and its likeness to cognitive development; I watch the propellers bend, almost to a stop.  At one point they even seem to go backwards.  That is how it often is watching a student struggle with a concept, developing first understandings, and that miraculous instant when something begins to make sense.  Then, like the propeller as it begins to tumble forward in its paces & revolutions, I watch in awe as my students eventually master what they have come to understand through persistence and disciplined, higher-order thinking.

"...In a heaven of people, only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?"
 
In the second accompanying song, "Crazy," the artist, Seal sings, "In a world full of people, only some want to fly.  Isn't that crazy?"  The lyrics echo my sentiments about learning; once a person has been exposed to intellectual flight, s/he will always want to fly.  Any other form of existence pales in comparison.  I agree with Seal about those who don't want to fly, "... It is crazy.  Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power. And flying requires power.

In closing, I want to revisit Nickleback's lyrics at the opening of the video, and their significance as related to living, and learning;

"...Leave no stone unturned. Leave your fears behind, and try to take the path less traveled.  That first step you take, is the longest stride." - If today was your Last Day - Nickleback

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. said, "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."

Seal's lyrics seem to echo that sentiment as well;

"...The size of which you've never known before
They'll break it
Someday
Only child know
Them things
The size
Of which you've never known before,
Someday "

ps  Happy Birthday David

Time Lapsed Photography