Musicians show advantages in long-term memory

ScienceDaily writes, "A peek inside the brains of professional musicians has given University of Texas at Arlington psychology researchers what may be the first links between music expertise and advantages in long-term memory."
 

Photo: ScienceDaily

Heekyeong Park, assistant professor of psychology, and graduate student James Schaeffer used electroencephalography (EEG) technology to measure electrical activity of neurons in the brains of 14 musicians and 15 non-musicians and noted processing differences in the frontal and parietal lobe responses. The team will present initial results of their new research Tuesday at Neuroscience 2014, the international meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Washington, D.C.
 
"Musically trained people are known to process linguistic materials a split second faster than those without training, and previous research also has shown musicians have advantages in working memory," said Park. "What we wanted to know is whether there are differences between pictorial and verbal tasks and whether any advantages extend to long-term memory. If proven, those advantages could represent an intervention option to explore for people with cognitive challenges."

Park's laboratory in UT Arlington College of Science uses high tech imaging tools -- including EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) -- to research human cognitive neuroscience. To test working memory, the study participants were asked to select pictorial or verbal items that they'd just been given among similar lures. For long-term memory, participants judged whether each test item was studied or new after the entire study session was complete.
 
The musicians, all of whom had been playing classical music for more than 15 years, outperformed non-musicians in EEG-measured neural responses on the working memory tasks. But, when long-term memory was tested, the enhanced sensitivity was only found in memory for pictures.

The study has not explored why the advantages might develop. Park said it's possible professional musicians become more adept at taking in and processing a host of pictorial cues as they navigate musical scores.

Park's abstract for the conference reports that musicians' neural responses in the mid-frontal part of the brain were 300 to 500 milliseconds faster than non musicians and responses in the parietal lobe were 400 to 800 milliseconds faster than non musicians. The parietal lobe is directly behind the frontal lobe of the brain and is important for perceptual processing, attention and memory.
Read more... 

Additional resources 
 

Photo: Heekyeong Park,
The University of Texas at Arlington

The findings suggest that musical training may be a promising treatment option for people who struggle with cognitive challenges, according to Dr. Heekyeong Park, a psychologist at UT Arlington and the study's lead author

Source: ScienceDaily

Musicians show advantages in long-term memory

ScienceDaily writes, "A peek inside the brains of professional musicians has given University of Texas at Arlington psychology researchers what may be the first links between music expertise and advantages in long-term memory."
 

Photo: ScienceDaily

Heekyeong Park, assistant professor of psychology, and graduate student James Schaeffer used electroencephalography (EEG) technology to measure electrical activity of neurons in the brains of 14 musicians and 15 non-musicians and noted processing differences in the frontal and parietal lobe responses. The team will present initial results of their new research Tuesday at Neuroscience 2014, the international meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Washington, D.C.
 
"Musically trained people are known to process linguistic materials a split second faster than those without training, and previous research also has shown musicians have advantages in working memory," said Park. "What we wanted to know is whether there are differences between pictorial and verbal tasks and whether any advantages extend to long-term memory. If proven, those advantages could represent an intervention option to explore for people with cognitive challenges."

Park's laboratory in UT Arlington College of Science uses high tech imaging tools -- including EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) -- to research human cognitive neuroscience. To test working memory, the study participants were asked to select pictorial or verbal items that they'd just been given among similar lures. For long-term memory, participants judged whether each test item was studied or new after the entire study session was complete.
 
The musicians, all of whom had been playing classical music for more than 15 years, outperformed non-musicians in EEG-measured neural responses on the working memory tasks. But, when long-term memory was tested, the enhanced sensitivity was only found in memory for pictures.

The study has not explored why the advantages might develop. Park said it's possible professional musicians become more adept at taking in and processing a host of pictorial cues as they navigate musical scores.

Park's abstract for the conference reports that musicians' neural responses in the mid-frontal part of the brain were 300 to 500 milliseconds faster than non musicians and responses in the parietal lobe were 400 to 800 milliseconds faster than non musicians. The parietal lobe is directly behind the frontal lobe of the brain and is important for perceptual processing, attention and memory.
Read more... 

Additional resources 
 

Photo: Heekyeong Park,
The University of Texas at Arlington

The findings suggest that musical training may be a promising treatment option for people who struggle with cognitive challenges, according to Dr. Heekyeong Park, a psychologist at UT Arlington and the study's lead author

Source: ScienceDaily

Personalized learning encourages creativity

"Associate professor at New York University Winslow Burleson gave a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture on motivational environments." reports Adithya Venkatesan, Junior Staffwriter.
 

Photo: CMU The Tartan Online

With so many new technologies available today, from robots to responsive spaces, we have a great opportunity to make better systems for personalized learning, intelligent creativity support, and open health innovation.

“Some knowledge is sticky and hard to acquire and often you can understand that knowledge in one of two ways: A self-discovery, and a toolkit that brings about that discovery,” said Winslow Burleson, an associate professor at New York University’s College of Nursing, during a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture last Wednesday titled “Motivational Environments: Strategies for Personalized Learning, Intelligent Creativity Support, and Open Health Innovation.”

“If we take education broadly as being a training of individuals’ expertise for them to contribute to society and we take a perspective of time, over time we’ve had the ability to train individuals to sufficient expertise to deal with the problems of the day,” Burleson said.

As a result, people have been able to solve many of today’s problems, but as we solve these problems, even harder problems begin to appear. The difficulty curve increases rapidly, resulting in the need for a system that is able to sufficiently increase learners’ expertise to match the increasing curve. To fulfill this need, learners would have to acquire a broad range of knowledge and a deep understanding of the material. According to Burleson, this is the goal of personalized learning and teaching strategies.

Burleson said people need to be “engaged in passion-based learning” throughout their lives so that they can explore their interests and help humanity. These types of individuals are vital to solving the world’s newest problems. According to information provided by Stanford University and the University of Washington, formal learning takes up about 18.5 percent of a person’s life in grades one to 12, which is extremely rigid. Burleson argues that we can blur these lines to get a better lifelong learning opportunity.

This is the goal of Burleson’s inventors’ workshops, which are “open online and physical, peer supported and expert mentored, communities,” according to the abstract for his lecture. Focusing on the idea of Froebel Gifts, or providing gifts at the right time, such as when people need them, the workshops are designed to try to understand these gifts and toolkits. For example, one can find millions of hours of educational videos online, ranging from TED talks to online lectures from various colleges. But the problem with the workshops is that they are passive.
Read more...

Source: CMU The Tartan Online

Personalized learning encourages creativity

"Associate professor at New York University Winslow Burleson gave a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture on motivational environments." reports Adithya Venkatesan, Junior Staffwriter.
 

Photo: CMU The Tartan Online

With so many new technologies available today, from robots to responsive spaces, we have a great opportunity to make better systems for personalized learning, intelligent creativity support, and open health innovation.

“Some knowledge is sticky and hard to acquire and often you can understand that knowledge in one of two ways: A self-discovery, and a toolkit that brings about that discovery,” said Winslow Burleson, an associate professor at New York University’s College of Nursing, during a Human-Computer Interaction seminar lecture last Wednesday titled “Motivational Environments: Strategies for Personalized Learning, Intelligent Creativity Support, and Open Health Innovation.”

“If we take education broadly as being a training of individuals’ expertise for them to contribute to society and we take a perspective of time, over time we’ve had the ability to train individuals to sufficient expertise to deal with the problems of the day,” Burleson said.

As a result, people have been able to solve many of today’s problems, but as we solve these problems, even harder problems begin to appear. The difficulty curve increases rapidly, resulting in the need for a system that is able to sufficiently increase learners’ expertise to match the increasing curve. To fulfill this need, learners would have to acquire a broad range of knowledge and a deep understanding of the material. According to Burleson, this is the goal of personalized learning and teaching strategies.

Burleson said people need to be “engaged in passion-based learning” throughout their lives so that they can explore their interests and help humanity. These types of individuals are vital to solving the world’s newest problems. According to information provided by Stanford University and the University of Washington, formal learning takes up about 18.5 percent of a person’s life in grades one to 12, which is extremely rigid. Burleson argues that we can blur these lines to get a better lifelong learning opportunity.

This is the goal of Burleson’s inventors’ workshops, which are “open online and physical, peer supported and expert mentored, communities,” according to the abstract for his lecture. Focusing on the idea of Froebel Gifts, or providing gifts at the right time, such as when people need them, the workshops are designed to try to understand these gifts and toolkits. For example, one can find millions of hours of educational videos online, ranging from TED talks to online lectures from various colleges. But the problem with the workshops is that they are passive.
Read more...

Source: CMU The Tartan Online

NoteBowl social learning platform revolutionizes online learning

"NoteBowl is a new and innovative learning management system that may replace Blackboard for connecting students and teachers." according to Emi Kamezaki, The State Press.
 

(Left) NoteBowl CEO and founder Andrew Chaifetz and Marketing Director Logan Stoneman pose outside their office at ASU SkySong in Scottsdale. NoteBowl is a Tucson based startup that provides universities with simple learning management system to connect students, professors and the campus community. 
Photo:The State Press

NoteBowl, a Tucson startup company, is looking to provide universities like ASU with a social learning environment to connect students, professors and the campus community.

Andrew Chaifetz, CEO and founder of NoteBowl, created the company after he felt dissatisfied with his own university’s learning management system.

“As a former student myself, I went through the daily struggles of needing to manage multiple platforms, organizing all my course calendars, searching through scattered information and trying to keep up with campus life,” he said. “NoteBowl is the first platform that puts it all into one place.”

NoteBowl is pilot testing its program at UA and is discussing a pilot with officials at ASU through the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.

Chaifetz said NoteBowl hopes to start a pilot program that can both validate the 1.0 version of its classroom environment and help students and professors reach their full potential at ASU.

“Ultimately, our goal is to increase student success in and out of the classroom, which in turn can lead to better retention and a better overall student experience,” he said.

While Blackboard serves as the learning management system to supply the University’s basic needs, such as publishing grades and assignments, NoteBowl aims to incorporate many of the social networking tools that students already use for class work into one comprehensive platform.

By streamlining some of the features of Facebook and Blackboard, NoteBowl synchronizes students’ agendas with classroom assignments, as well as university and club events, in the hopes that this will increase student engagement and serve as a more efficient social learning platform as a whole.

NoteBowl’s many features work together with the goal of improving the classroom experience through creating a more efficient and effective organization, collaboration and course management.
Read more...

Source: The State Press

NoteBowl social learning platform revolutionizes online learning

"NoteBowl is a new and innovative learning management system that may replace Blackboard for connecting students and teachers." according to Emi Kamezaki, The State Press.
 

(Left) NoteBowl CEO and founder Andrew Chaifetz and Marketing Director Logan Stoneman pose outside their office at ASU SkySong in Scottsdale. NoteBowl is a Tucson based startup that provides universities with simple learning management system to connect students, professors and the campus community. 
Photo:The State Press

NoteBowl, a Tucson startup company, is looking to provide universities like ASU with a social learning environment to connect students, professors and the campus community.

Andrew Chaifetz, CEO and founder of NoteBowl, created the company after he felt dissatisfied with his own university’s learning management system.

“As a former student myself, I went through the daily struggles of needing to manage multiple platforms, organizing all my course calendars, searching through scattered information and trying to keep up with campus life,” he said. “NoteBowl is the first platform that puts it all into one place.”

NoteBowl is pilot testing its program at UA and is discussing a pilot with officials at ASU through the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative.

Chaifetz said NoteBowl hopes to start a pilot program that can both validate the 1.0 version of its classroom environment and help students and professors reach their full potential at ASU.

“Ultimately, our goal is to increase student success in and out of the classroom, which in turn can lead to better retention and a better overall student experience,” he said.

While Blackboard serves as the learning management system to supply the University’s basic needs, such as publishing grades and assignments, NoteBowl aims to incorporate many of the social networking tools that students already use for class work into one comprehensive platform.

By streamlining some of the features of Facebook and Blackboard, NoteBowl synchronizes students’ agendas with classroom assignments, as well as university and club events, in the hopes that this will increase student engagement and serve as a more efficient social learning platform as a whole.

NoteBowl’s many features work together with the goal of improving the classroom experience through creating a more efficient and effective organization, collaboration and course management.
Read more...

Source: The State Press

Lexington violinist teaches kids to tell musical stories

"Anwell Tsai is an accomplished violin soloist who has performed with many regional symphonies, so he knows a thing or two about classical music." summarizes Cindy Atoji Keene, Globe Correspondent.

Anwell Tsai and his son, Alec, 6, played a Chinese spouting bowl. Alex helps Tsai test new techniques for his Playful Tunes music instruction program for children.  
Photo: Boston Globe

Tsai, founder of Lexington based Playful Tunes, wants to change the way people think about early childhood music programs by using real instruments, technology, and social awareness.

“A lot of times, the way kids are taught music is very technical so the fact that music can tell a story is lost to them,” said Tsai, who has gotten more than 1,500 preschoolers to try the violin. His goal: making “happy musical moments” for 100,000 kids.

Kids sitting on or throwing a violin — isn’t that a bit sacrilegious?

We’re trying to make instruments approachable. We call it an Instrument Zoo, a hands-on, experiential learning time. Instead of worrying about breaking the violin, we create an atmosphere of freedom. Kids discover by touching, listening, moving.

How do you use your background as a professional violinist to reach a new generation of potential musicians?

My background was entirely geared toward classical music performances until I was asked to create the first mandatory string program for a middle school in Louisville, Ky. This was the start of sharing my love of music – and this group of kids really responded. My biggest reward came when the school’s lacrosse team took out their violins and played after winning a league championship.

How do you use technology?

We use interactive white boards, projectors, recording software, motion detecting software, and old-fashioned lighted keyboards. We’ll tell kids they’re going to create the story of a car coming home through a rainstorm. The kids have to make all the sounds — an engine revving, tires going through gravel, wheels spinning on smooth roads, thunder and lightning.

Read more... 

Additional resources 
 

Photo: Playful Tunes

Your Ultimate All-In-One Program
We've Got You Covered With Musical Quests, Parent Resources,
Teacher Goodies,  And Your Very Own Director's Toolkit
GET MY INSTRUMENT ZOO 
 
Source: Boston Globe

Lexington violinist teaches kids to tell musical stories

"Anwell Tsai is an accomplished violin soloist who has performed with many regional symphonies, so he knows a thing or two about classical music." summarizes Cindy Atoji Keene, Globe Correspondent.

Anwell Tsai and his son, Alec, 6, played a Chinese spouting bowl. Alex helps Tsai test new techniques for his Playful Tunes music instruction program for children.  
Photo: Boston Globe

Tsai, founder of Lexington based Playful Tunes, wants to change the way people think about early childhood music programs by using real instruments, technology, and social awareness.

“A lot of times, the way kids are taught music is very technical so the fact that music can tell a story is lost to them,” said Tsai, who has gotten more than 1,500 preschoolers to try the violin. His goal: making “happy musical moments” for 100,000 kids.

Kids sitting on or throwing a violin — isn’t that a bit sacrilegious?

We’re trying to make instruments approachable. We call it an Instrument Zoo, a hands-on, experiential learning time. Instead of worrying about breaking the violin, we create an atmosphere of freedom. Kids discover by touching, listening, moving.

How do you use your background as a professional violinist to reach a new generation of potential musicians?

My background was entirely geared toward classical music performances until I was asked to create the first mandatory string program for a middle school in Louisville, Ky. This was the start of sharing my love of music – and this group of kids really responded. My biggest reward came when the school’s lacrosse team took out their violins and played after winning a league championship.

How do you use technology?

We use interactive white boards, projectors, recording software, motion detecting software, and old-fashioned lighted keyboards. We’ll tell kids they’re going to create the story of a car coming home through a rainstorm. The kids have to make all the sounds — an engine revving, tires going through gravel, wheels spinning on smooth roads, thunder and lightning.

Read more... 

Additional resources 
 

Photo: Playful Tunes

Your Ultimate All-In-One Program
We've Got You Covered With Musical Quests, Parent Resources,
Teacher Goodies,  And Your Very Own Director's Toolkit
GET MY INSTRUMENT ZOO 
 
Source: Boston Globe

Chromebooks beat iPads as top education device

The iPad is losing ground to a cheaper, bare-bones laptop backed by Google, which in the third quarter became the best-selling device for higher education and K-12 schools nationwide, according to research firm IDC. 

Third-graders Alex Lu (left), Richie Ngo and Ray Chuang use a Chromebook computer to research Indian tribes at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School in Milpitas. Chromebooks are becoming more popular for use in schools. 
Photo: SFGate

Chromebooks sold during the third quarter in the U.S. education market for laptops, desktops and tablets, beating 793,000 iPads, IDC said
.
The results come as schools are struggling to update classrooms and help students keep up with technology. Some are moving to what’s called a one-to-one system, in which every student receives a loaned device, causing tech companies and their partners to aggressively market to educators.

Schools are a key battleground for tech companies, because whatever grabs the education market will probably remain or become the dominant technology in the future, said Rob Enderle with advisory services firm Enderle Group. Students will become so accustomed to a certain operating system, the thinking goes, that they will continue to use that software in college and eventually in the workplace. 
And companies are willing to sacrifice profit and offer steep discounts to get students’ undivided attention.

“It's seed corn,“ Enderle said.

To win the market, companies are hosting sessions for educators where they can discuss technology, including one by Google this month at Thomas Russell Middle School in Milpitas.

The sessions aren’t just a boon for companies. Only 27 percent of teachers feel confident in their own digital literacy, and more than half believe their students have a more advanced understanding of tech in classrooms than they do, said Monica Woodley from analysis firm Economist Intelligence Unit. 

When it comes to preparing students for careers, just 40 percent of teachers feel that businesses are satisfied with the skills of students entering the job market, she added.

“We see a lot of room for improvement,” Woodley said.

Education market
When Chromebooks were released at the end of 2010, they weren’t envisioned entirely as an education product. But the education market — which includes K-12 schools and colleges — represented 75 percent of the laptop’s total U.S. sales in the third quarter, IDC said. The market accounted for 21 percent of total iPad sales in the quarter, it said.

“It’s just been a very solid fit with the needs of schools,” said Rajen Sheth, a director of product management at Google.

Chromebooks start at $199 — about $180 cheaper than the least expensive iPad Air. That helps in a market where budgets matter.

“We are seeing great demand of Chromebooks in education primarily because of its low price point,” said Rajani Singh, an IDC senior research analyst. “The education market is very, very price sensitive.”

Google doesn’t manufacture most Chromebooks used in schools — partners including Samsung, Dell and Hewlett-Packard do — but it provides the operating system. For every Chrome book sold to schools, Google charges a $30 fee so that schools can manage the devices.

“There is not a tremendous amount of revenue that comes directly to Google here,” Sheth said.

Sheth said that what separates Chromebooks from its competitors is its simplicity, low cost and its ties to the cloud. The laptop doesn’t have much memory, and instead relies on the Internet to connect students with their documents and apps. By having everything online, students who end up breaking or losing their Chromebook can easily go back to class with a different device and access their documents and apps, educators said. That’s different from devices like the iPad, in which students would need to manually back up their files.
Read more...

Source: SFGate

Chromebooks beat iPads as top education device

The iPad is losing ground to a cheaper, bare-bones laptop backed by Google, which in the third quarter became the best-selling device for higher education and K-12 schools nationwide, according to research firm IDC. 

Third-graders Alex Lu (left), Richie Ngo and Ray Chuang use a Chromebook computer to research Indian tribes at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School in Milpitas. Chromebooks are becoming more popular for use in schools. 
Photo: SFGate

Chromebooks sold during the third quarter in the U.S. education market for laptops, desktops and tablets, beating 793,000 iPads, IDC said
.
The results come as schools are struggling to update classrooms and help students keep up with technology. Some are moving to what’s called a one-to-one system, in which every student receives a loaned device, causing tech companies and their partners to aggressively market to educators.

Schools are a key battleground for tech companies, because whatever grabs the education market will probably remain or become the dominant technology in the future, said Rob Enderle with advisory services firm Enderle Group. Students will become so accustomed to a certain operating system, the thinking goes, that they will continue to use that software in college and eventually in the workplace. 
And companies are willing to sacrifice profit and offer steep discounts to get students’ undivided attention.

“It's seed corn,“ Enderle said.

To win the market, companies are hosting sessions for educators where they can discuss technology, including one by Google this month at Thomas Russell Middle School in Milpitas.

The sessions aren’t just a boon for companies. Only 27 percent of teachers feel confident in their own digital literacy, and more than half believe their students have a more advanced understanding of tech in classrooms than they do, said Monica Woodley from analysis firm Economist Intelligence Unit. 

When it comes to preparing students for careers, just 40 percent of teachers feel that businesses are satisfied with the skills of students entering the job market, she added.

“We see a lot of room for improvement,” Woodley said.

Education market
When Chromebooks were released at the end of 2010, they weren’t envisioned entirely as an education product. But the education market — which includes K-12 schools and colleges — represented 75 percent of the laptop’s total U.S. sales in the third quarter, IDC said. The market accounted for 21 percent of total iPad sales in the quarter, it said.

“It’s just been a very solid fit with the needs of schools,” said Rajen Sheth, a director of product management at Google.

Chromebooks start at $199 — about $180 cheaper than the least expensive iPad Air. That helps in a market where budgets matter.

“We are seeing great demand of Chromebooks in education primarily because of its low price point,” said Rajani Singh, an IDC senior research analyst. “The education market is very, very price sensitive.”

Google doesn’t manufacture most Chromebooks used in schools — partners including Samsung, Dell and Hewlett-Packard do — but it provides the operating system. For every Chrome book sold to schools, Google charges a $30 fee so that schools can manage the devices.

“There is not a tremendous amount of revenue that comes directly to Google here,” Sheth said.

Sheth said that what separates Chromebooks from its competitors is its simplicity, low cost and its ties to the cloud. The laptop doesn’t have much memory, and instead relies on the Internet to connect students with their documents and apps. By having everything online, students who end up breaking or losing their Chromebook can easily go back to class with a different device and access their documents and apps, educators said. That’s different from devices like the iPad, in which students would need to manually back up their files.
Read more...

Source: SFGate