Dan Hurley Can You Make Yourself Smarter Summary

In “Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?” Nicholas Carr argues that although the Internet allows us to access a groundbreaking amount of information, there is evidence that it is making us perfunctory thinkers. Carr believes this due to the division of attention that the Internet allows us to have, so therefore we are not processing and storing the information we see online. In contrast, Carr states that we need to pay deep attention to process and store information as memory. Carr sites an experiment conducted by Patricia Greenfield and concluded that our way of thinking is becoming more superficial.

The overall theme of the sources we studied was about growth mindset.The most important thing about growth mindset is that intelligence can be developed. Also, the brain can grow by hard working and practicing. In “You Can Grow your Intelligence,” the author maintains that contrary to the belief that a person is born either smart, average, or dumb, instead the brain is more like a muscle, it changes and get stronger when you use it. Lastly, Carol Dweck, in a Ted Talk titled “ The Power Of Believing That You Can improve,” narrates how she researches about the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, and the benefit of having a growth mindset. Also, in her video she gave many good advice of how you can change a person that have fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

Intelligence has a limit, geniuses have a threshold, and divergent thinkers are our future. Malcolm Gladwell addresses these issues in the chapter “The Trouble with Geniuses, Part 1” and I have to agree with his reasoning. In the chapter, the Termites are a group of highly intelligent kids that Lewis Terman (hence the name Termites) keeps tabs on as they go through life. He believes that because these students have such high IQs that they will be boundlessly successful. However, it turns out that some are successful and some are not, and I believe the success of the Termites was partially based on personality.

The internet and the invention of improved technology are growing rapidly. It allowed us to do complex jobs without having to spend as long as we had to by doing it manually. The internet is a vast source, it involves many people working together to create an opportunity for everyone to get easy and fast information without having to pick up a book. With a click of a mouse button we have tons of information right in front of our computer screen. So is having easy access and having improved technology doing us harm or being beneficial to us?

Gladwell says that these KIPP schools are really doing an excellent work with the kids. Gladwell states that half of the students are african american and the rest are hispanic, which is a pretty good amount of the students. Knowing that these kids are from low income families, you really get a feel that these kids are really trying to get a good education and maybe they want to get out of where they live at the moment. Gladwell does not state it, but it is implied that the KIPP schools inforce math more than any other subject. It is well to understand that many of the students that attended a kipp school go on to college and have a good

Thoughts can be fleeting, however some of the feelings resulting from thought and can have a long lasting impact on the mental state of a person. In my metacognitive exploration I found an interesting comparison between the way in which I think and approach my past feelings and the methods which Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried, and Paul D from Beloved express their thinking about the past. I have discovered that the expression of thoughts, including memories and feelings, is the key to a healthy mental state of a person.

If you had a choice what would you choose, being smart and not happy or be happy but not smart.In the short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. A man named Charlie Gordon the age 37 years old has a devalamenting delayed mind which means he slow learner and it is hard for him to read and write. He also didn't know what he was doing at certain points in his life.Charlie should have not taken the surgery becaues he is losing his memories like forgetting where he lives and he is pushing people away becaues he doesn't want anybody to feel pity for him. Some people might say he should have taken the surgery becaues it made him smarter and it made him more confident but that smartness he got from the surgery made got taken away and mde he him go down a dark path in his life.

This game is a number computation game and has rules like any other games. It became a very important game to me. In the process of playing this game, I acquired the skill to count in numbers, self- discipline, and self-control. Also interacting with other children assisted me to learn good social relationships, and social norms. (Fletcher et.al., as cited in Berk, 2007).

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful,” said Herman Cain. Some say it’s all about what you can do with the salary. Others may say that money means nothing if their is no meaningful purpose to it. Money has no meaning if the person is not happy with what they are doing. Before setting goal to be successful, you first need to know what success means to you as an individual. Success is setting an ultimate goal and striving the most to fully fulfill your own goal. Some may ask themselves asking, How do we know when someone has reach success? Is it based on wealth or legacy? As the Superintendent of the District Administrators there has been noticeable progress

In “ Does the Internet Make You Smarter or dumber?” by Nicholas Carr, Carr argues that not only is using the internet for education not necessary but that it is also harmful. Carr’s thesis says that the internet is bad because it distracts us, affects our cognitive thinking, and can have long term effects. Carr supports his argument by citing professional psychologists and many studies, creating scenarios in the reader's mind of robotic people, and uses logical arguments against the use of the internet.

This distinctive book called, “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, is one of very few exquisite readings I’ve completed so far. Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist in Princeton University, and due to his research, he won a Nobel Prize in 2002 in economics. In the beginning of his book, he speaks of our cognitive System 1 and System 2 ways of thinking. System 1 generates feelings, impressions, and memory. It is very instinctive, automatic, and is considered quick thinking. System 2 on the other hand, is alert during complex problem solving, while dealing with facts and knowledge, and is attentive while working with difficult calculations. For example, a problem such as 24 x 13, this takes more time and knowledge to figure out (System 2), rather then recognizing an emotion from face expressions (System 1). When System 1 is strained, your System 2 steps in to help you process through that specific instant. Now aside from the psychological portion of this book, Mr. Kahneman divulges about a consolidated economic analysis with elemental intuitions from the psychological perspective; such as, luck and skill, overconfidence, risks in the stock market, factors of success and the decision making process. This book is overall concluded with the understanding of behavioral economics, which is the social and cognitive components on economic decisions that are defined by individuals and have consequences that reflect from making those decisions and taking those risks.

In today’s society video games have a large influence on people. We also might be driven to the point of where we are dependent on them. In fact, being so engulfed in video games could help children become more focused.In fact, parents would probably disagree and say that video games wouldn’t be essential to learning because it would probably be considered a waste of time for children and time-consuming. Parents would also disagree with the content of what is in the game, but there is a great possibility that video games could actually make us smarter. Steven Johnson explains that the games we are used to playing can improve our visual intelligence and that it would be good to learn new strategies through gaming. Video games should be an

Video games can be used as instructional tools as well. They have positive elements and add value; they create a micro world of their own. The players act based on natural tendencies towards learning. Therefore, learning occurs while playing (Rosas et al., 2003).

There are many different things that shape the cognitive development of children. To begin with cognitive development is when a child develops how to process, solve problems, and start making decisions. Once they have learned this they take everything they have learned into their adolescence. An example, of what can shape the cognitive development of a child can be an educational game. Educational games can be very useful in shaping a child’s development because they are having fun while learning at the same time and what kid doesn’t like to play games, the fact that it is even educational makes it even better for them. Not only are they having fun but there are many different games that help in different categories of development in

Multiple studies have shown that if “brain games” are used daily one can improve their performance in few tasks.