Philosophy from Fiction: Opinions

Now on my third re-reading of this worthy and highly underrated tome:

All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated, and well-supported in logic and argument than others.

The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time. Douglas Adams. ISBN 0-330-41843-2, p. 98


My next quest will be to try to locate a copy of The Experts Speak (Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky) as recommended by the sadly missed Douglas.

Professional Development: A missed opportunity

"School" goes back tomorrow, but only for staff in NSW government schools; the kids go back the next day. This is to allow teachers and other school staff to be professionally developed in a "student-free" environment.

At my place of employment they are having a whole day lecture for the local learning community (the high school plus the surrounding primary schools) on Brain Based Learning. Colour me surprised! Just shows how little I know - I thought *all* learning occurred in the brain.

So anyway, in the hope that I would not be professionally disadvantaged in comparison with my classroom colleagues, I did a little research and reading from the 'net. I found the following recent article particularly enlightening:

Brain-(not) Based Education: Dangers of Misunderstanding and Misapplication of Neuroscience Research : " ... Oversimplification or inappropriate interpretation of complex neuroscience research is widespread among curricula claiming that brain-based approaches are effective for improved learning and retention ..."