On the Creation of Intelligence

This post is a summary of the article "You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential" written by Andrea Kuszewski and published as a guest blog in Scientific American. You can read the full article here.

Can we make this brain grow and become smarter

So let's try to keep this short. Andrea is basically saying that yes you can create intelligence. The statement that really grabbed my attention was around the idea of I.Q. Andrea works or worked with kids with autism/aspergers spectrum disorder. She claimed that through the right kind of techniques she was able to increase one person's I.Q. from 80 to 100. I.Q. was one of those things that I have always been led to believe is static. It doesn't really change to much. The method for increasing intelligence should not come as a surprise to most teachers. 

The author defines intelligence as the cognitive ability. Cognitive ability can be improved is the central claim of this article and this is how: 

1. Seek Novelty
2. Challenge Yourself
3. Think Creatively
4. Do things the hard way
5. Network

To increase intelligence you should, in our case our classes should, do ALL 5 as often as possible.

Seek Novelty

The idea that those who are open to new experiences, new tools for learning, new ways of seeing and interacting with the world are the most intelligent is, I believe, something that can be taught. As soon as a student is able to experience the intrisic reward of learning a new skill or learning a new way of seeing something they are not only becoming more intelligent, but they are also becoming someone that is more OPEN to becoming intelligent. Teach students to embrace and love novelty because, as Andrea writes, "Novel Activity—>triggers dopamine—>creates a higher motivational state—>which fuels engagement and primes neurons—>neurogenesis can take place + increase in synaptic plasticity."

Challenge Yourself

The classroom is not the marketplace and as far as learning and intelligence is concerned, "efficiency is not your friend." Being more efficient at something means that your brain has already learned what it needs to know and has become lazy. This reminds me of the stuff I am reading about weight training and muscle growth. When working out I will have the most gain in strength and growth in muscle when the activity is new and difficult. It is the challenge that leads to the growth for the body and the brain.

Think Creatively

Andrea describes this as creative cognition itself. To me that idea means the act of creating an idea. Anytime there is a new thought in the learner they have "created" an idea in their brain, that is learning. Andrea describes what this should look like in a learner, 

It involves recruitment from both halves of your brain, not just the right. Creative cognition involves divergent thinking (a wide range of topics/subjects), making remote associations between ideas, switching back and forth between conventional and unconventional thinking (cognitive flexibility), and generating original, novel ideas that are also appropriate to the activity you are doing. In order to do this well, you need both right and left hemispheres working in conjunction with each other.

How often do we allow students to create their own ideas?

Do Things the Hard Way
Andrea cautions us to not become too dependent on technology that makes our learning and our lives easier. I always knew that the challenge of doing research without a computer was still valuable. Anyone against spell check take note Andrea agrees that it does harm to the brain (I disagree, but that's okay). I do agree that making the learning easier on the student does them a disservice. Think about it, which of our students are provided with the most extra help and shortcuts to learning? Are we taking away their chance to learn and grow by making it easier?

Network
Getting exposed to others and their ideas is key. As much as students generally loathe working with peers that aren't their friends there is some powerful learning that could take place. Most of us know that having another student explain something is often more effective than explaining it again. Students can learn more from other students, it's that simple.

I know most teachers are already doing these five things, good job, but it helps to be reminded why we are doing it this way instead of the direct instruction. Two parting thoughts 1) Nowhere in any of the studies I have read and Andrea has reported on does it say: memorization of facts can increase intelligence. Using memorization for the novelty and challenge of it yes, but as a continual tool no. 2) The teacher standing at the front of the room controlling things, runs counter to most of the findings in this study. Note taking and direct instruction ought to become novelty in all of our classes.