Month: October 2020

What in the world?… It makes sense and you will always remember it.

You may have heard this story before: Three little pigs venture out on their own, build houses of weak materials, and get eaten by a big bad wolf. Overall, it’s a great story, but what does it have to do with retention in learning? Well, hold on to your seats, because I’m about to tell you more.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” there lived three little pigs who left for school.

The first little pig – let’s call him Curly – went to class, and his teacher gave him a wheelbarrow, filled with textbooks. Now Curly didn’t like to read, as it was very hard, and the textbooks were so long, and such a bore. But the teacher didn’t have time for the first little pigs, so he did the best he could, with nothing to say. He flipped through the books, but the words didn’t click. No matter how long he read, the information failed to stick.

One day, there came a knock on his door. From the other side, came a loud call, “Little pig, little pig, let’s go play. Studying is a waste, let’s enjoy the day.”

Curly knew the voice of his friend WolfCraft. Now WolfCraft told everyone he was their friend, but he tempted them to do things they knew they shouldn’t. He took the students away from their studies and distracted their minds.

But Curly tried to be good. He said, “Not by the peach fuzz of my chinny, chin, chin.”

WolfCraft replied, “Come on man, let’s go have some fun. Do I have to knock all your books down and pull you out here to play?” Curly had to admit, the books were no fun. So he relented, and left his work behind him.

Now Curly’s middle brother, Larry, did not fare much better. His teacher loved sticking her students in front of a screen, or plugging them into an audiobook. While screen time was fun and lectures could be cool, Larry’s mind often wandered, and he struggled to focus on school.

One day there came a knock on his door and he heard the words, “Little pig, little pig, let’s go play.” Larry knew the voice of his friend WolfNite.

Now WolfNite was the middle brother of WolfCraft, and he too told everyone that he was their friend, then tempted them to do things they knew they shouldn’t. He whisked students away from their studies, and filled their heads with distractions.

But Larry tried to be good. He said, “Not by the peach fuzz of my chinny, chin, chin.”

And just like WolfCraft, WolfNite replied, “Come on man, let’s go have some fun. Do I have to turn off your audiobooks and DVD’s and pull you out here to play?” Larry had to admit that the audiobooks were getting boring. So he relented, and left his work, too.

Now the third Little Pig, the oldest and wisest pig, Stewart, decided that he was going to take his education into his own hands. He began to look up the best educational practices, and began to build his own way of studying.

First, he read about the topic, but not too much, because he didn’t want to lose interest. Then, he added in some audio and video into his lesson plans, knowing that these would give him good information, and fun ways to look at the subject. Finally, he added engaging activities that challenged him; a list of YouTube influencers, who could introduce him to new ways of thinking; and extra books (even educational fiction, on each subject). But he found the most reliable material available for his education, was his own imagination. His imagination was filled with activities, stories, ways of teaching others, and a love of epic educational games.

No longer would he allow a teacher, lesson plan, or state standard to dictate his future in the world: he took full control. His educational “house” was solid. He was ready for the storm.

One day that storm came. It was the biggest, and most persistent, brother of WolfCraft and WolfNite…WolfTube – the biggest and loudest distraction of the entire school. He yelled at the very top of his lungs, “Little pig, little pig, let’s go play.”

Stewart knew how to handle him as he replied, “Not by the smoothness of my chinny, chin, chin.” For Stewart had just shaved that morning.

Now, WolfTube couldn’t stand the fact that one of his friends was actually enjoying learning, so he cried out, “Come on man, let’s go have some fun. Do I have to knock all your learning tools over, and pull you out here to play?”

Stewart had a better plan. He opened the door wide and said, “Why don’t you come in and get me? I dare you…”

Now, WolfTube couldn’t resist a dare, so he came charging in! And Stewart sat him down and began teaching him. He even showed the wolf how he could enjoy learning through games, activities, and even educational videos.

So, what did we learn about the three little pigs?

Pig #1: He was given the dreaded pile of textbooks. They’re often poorly written, because they are word heavy and don’t speak at the child’s level. When there are too many texts to read, kids can get lost, and decide to pursue more “important” and interesting topics. Any subject can be fun, but it depends on how you present it. Do we really want to present school subjects in ways that kids dread, especially to those that don’t truly love reading? The retention of information that comes from textbooks is only 20%!

Pig #2: Audiobooks, videos, and lectures – This little pig had more tools than the first, but from K-8, kids are still developing their preferred way of studying. Some may enjoy audio, some visual, and some physical, but did you know that there are five types of learning: visual, logical, aural, verbal, and physical? Most kids don’t develop their learning style until middle school. Having a well-rounded curriculum is essential.

Pig #3: With children being so young in their development, they are continuing to grow, and learn what they want. All of the above resources are good, but don’t stop there. They still only help them retain up to 30% of the information.

In the following months, we will dive more into the types of processes that work best for students; this is a very long topic to cover, and I want to give everyone the best information possible.

If you have Facebook on your phone, please type in the search Homeschooling Parents and the Three Little Pigs. We just started a new group where parents can share their advice, experiences, and knowledge on how their kids learn the best, and ideas they used to increase retention of information.

This is the science of why Historical Conquest and epic educational games are so important to the learning of youth. Get your free copy of the game, and see how it helps you learn who Historical figures are, and what they did: https://www.historicalconquest.com/freeoffer.

How to stimulate your kids to help in your student’s learning

In modern psychology, there is constant talk about why American children are not learning as effectively as those in other cultures. The answer might be shocking. In the United States and other Western cultures, children are being oversaturated with high-intensity stimuli. The constant flow of intense stimuli on a child’s brain becomes the norm. When a child is overexposed to stimuli, they become bored quickly, and more often. These children are not able to sit down and pay attention to school, church, or even the view outside a window.

Horror movies, intense video games, etc.

What stimuli are we referring to? Those found on the screens. It used to be comics, magazines, and TV shows, but now it has become screen time, from over a dozen different devices. The stimuli, through increased detailed videos (and even YouTube videos), has trained the brain to desire that level of stimulus; otherwise, it will begin to shut down, and the child – or person – will become more bored, and not able to find enjoyment through normal activities that do not involve a screen. Just think how stimulated their minds are becoming, with more intense video games and movies. No wonder these children are having a harder time in school! What is the correlation between being desensitized and over-stimulated?

Eastern culture and its destruction through television

Science has stated that other cultures have better education systems, but to say that is ignorant of where brains are trained to retain information. If a brain has the choice between remembering something that happened from a video, or something that gives very little stimulus while it tries to retain information, the brain is more likely to grab onto the increased stimuli. Eastern cultures, as well as those of lower income countries, have a lack of this day-to-day stimuli and their brains become less likely to become bored. Their brains are less trained to want a high level of stimulus, and so are willing to remember more (In a follow-up article, I will talk about how emotion and curriculum help solidify the information that is learned).

My Greatest Example

My own children have even fallen prey to this intensity-seeking culture. My eldest son constantly wanted to be on a device. His brain was so overly stimulated while playing games, that when he was asked to put the screen away, he’d get upset, and whine and complain that he was bored. My younger son, in retrospect, always wanted to be outside. He played games and sports. He enjoyed face-to-face interactions with others, always trying to start up conversations. When I took the youngest on a 3-hour drive to one of my conventions, I asked him if he wanted to go on a screen and he accepted it. But, within 3-5 minutes, I looked back and saw that the device was turned off, in his lap, and he was looking out the window.

So, how did we solve the screen problem with my eldest? First, I began to limit his screen time to one hour a day. He complained, of course, that he had nothing to do afterward, but soon his brain began to adjust to the new norm. He began to play make-believe more, stimulating himself through sound effects and movement. This was different than a device stimulus: this was his own, and this is when his imagination began to blossom. Pretty soon, he wanted to go outside and play.

When my eldest has screen time, he uses it right away, but when it’s over, he finds other ways to stimulate his brain. Sitting still is just boring for him. Now, he is very good at reading. When the screen goes off, he seems to disappear, and when we find him, he’s usually captivated by a book. But watch out when he’s read all the books in the house! With nothing to read, he becomes bored again, and begins to whine. That’s why we love the public library.

By knowing this information, we are able to plan for the education of our youth. If they are being over-stimulated, we may need to bring down their stimulus, or increase how stimulating our teaching can be. This is all part of the learning process (more on this next week).

This is the science of why Historical Conquest and epic educational games are so important to the learning of youth. Get your free copy of the game, and see how it helps you learn who Historical figures are and what they did: https://www.historicalconquest.com/freeoffer.

How your students can learn more efficiently with very little effort: Understand how young students retain information best, and what can also hinder their efforts.

In modern psychology, there is a common saying, “the neurons that fire together, wire together.” This was first shared by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb, almost 70 years ago. The quote means memory or focus is increased on a subject, when there is emotion attached to it. The brain has been said to have a negativity bias (an emotional attachment to all things negative) which is why, when someone crosses us, we latch on to that memory, and stew on it all day – or longer. But happy thoughts and emotions are also connected to your memories.

What does science say about all this? Memories are processed through the hippocampus, which is the close neighbor to the amygdala, and part of the Limbic System. Both the hippocampus and the amygdala serve a similar cause: to process memories and emotions for storage. When emotions and memories are tied together, they can solidify in a student’s mind. Therefore, when a student is bored, or exhausted while cramming, they’ll have more recollection of negative feelings than the materials they were studying. Yet, when they enjoy what they’re learning, reading, or doing, they are more likely to remember the information, because it’s attached to positive emotions.

How does knowing this help us learn more effectively, and efficiently? When we attach positive emotions to learning, we are more likely to remember what’s being taught. That’s why lectures are said to have only a 10% retention rate, reading a 20% retention, and those learned by audio and video a 30% retention rate. At the same time, when we do activities, learn about something we enjoy, or play with the information we need to process, this gives us a return of up to 70-90% retention.

Using games and activities with the subjects we need to learn, means we’ll retain more. The more information we remember, the less learning becomes a chore, and the more it becomes a feast of knowledge.

Hebbian Plasticity

When a child grows up in an area with red birds, called “cardinals,” the child will commit the name to memory through exposure and repetition. This is called Hebbian Plasticity, which claims that repetition helps your brain remember and make connections, with material you’re exposed to and learning about.

Children in other cultures continue to work harder and longer with repetition, in order to better themselves. These students often don’t feel entitled to the luxuries or safety nets we, in the United States, are promised. For this reason, they strive to obtain these memories of facts and figures.

We can use both Hebbian Plasticity and positive learning environments to better our education. If we enjoy learning so much that we desire to do it again and again, then we’ll retain more information!

Mental Blocks and Emotions

There is another block that negative emotions create. When a student stresses out, or has anxiety over an assessment or test, it hinders memories from being accessed. Stopping the flow of these memories is called a memory block. Memories can be translated into actions, such as answering simple questions, but when the memory is blocked, it makes performing the action feel impossible. Educators and curriculum creators must learn to work with students to help them overcome these memory blocks.

When it comes to education, we need to find new ways to help students retain the information they learn. We must make education more enjoyable, so students desire more repetition in their studies. Let’s find new ways to enjoy the information we’re learning and teaching. This can be done through activities, games, and other processes that will stimulate the neurons to fire together, so they wire together.

This is the science of why Historical Conquest and epic educational games are so important to the learning of youth. Get your free copy of the game, and see how it helps you learn who Historical figures are and what they did: https://www.historicalconquest.com/freeoffer.

Recently, on a visit to a chain retail store, I wandered into the education section. It was brimming with books on math, science, and reading, but something felt off. The more I looked, the more I realized that the books about history were missing!

But why should that matter? Isn’t it more important to learn math and science, over something trivial like history? What do we use history for, in our everyday lives anyway? What’s the big deal?

Well, history explains who we are and where we’ve come from. As human beings, we’re always looking for answers, whether they are answers to the meaning of life, or what’s for dinner. Much of what we’re searching for can be found by studying history. Where do I come from? Who am I? What’s special about me? All of these things can be answered, by looking to the past. We are human beings, who have risen from wars, plagues, and famines. We are people living in a technical age, given to us by our ancestors, who pushed the boundaries of innovation. Without them, we wouldn’t have electricity to cool our homes, and charge our computers and phones. We also wouldn’t have cars or indoor plumbing.

We are living, breathing history. We have our own languages that have developed over thousands of years. We have strong belief systems, built on traditions. We have recipes that have been passed down from one generation to the next. The past helps us understand the human experience. Culture, values, and religion all need history to thrive.

Some people believe that learning about history is boring, but it doesn’t have to be! Historical Conquest strives to change this idea of “boring history.” We have an exciting tabletop game, that makes history fun. Students learn about the past, by playing a game! As they strategize the best ways to conquer, or achieve world peace, they’ll be studying information about historical figures and events that appear on the Historical Conquest cards. Without realizing it, they’ll memorize amazing facts about the past, and be able to apply them outside of the game. The proof of that is shown in our new collection of essays, written by students, in “Students Teaching History.”

Historical Conquest has also released a brand new American Revolution Curriculum and companion game. The curriculum is completely online, with videos and interactive activities. In this innovative work, we’ve tossed out the pressure of remembering dates, and focused on the story of history. Students will learn about the real George Washington – not the fable with the wooden teeth. They’ll also be exposed to a number of diverse viewpoints, and allowed a chance to see history from the point-of-view of women, African-Americans (both freed, and forced into slavery), French heroes, and British soldiers.

It’s important to make time for history, and to study the past, but it doesn’t have to be boring or strenuous. In fact, it can be engaging and exciting! Check out all of the mentioned products, and more, at Historicalconquest.com.

*** Check out a free sample of our Historical Conquest American Revolution Curriculum *** Click Here to Try it Out (This sample does not include the lesson plans, score cards, etc)