9 BRAIN COMPATIBLE ELEMENTS

CHOICES:


Webster defines choice as "the act or power of choosing, the thing chosen, alternative, preference, the best." We especially like the phrase "power of choosing" because it pinpoints the essential characteristic of the lifelong learner. "Preference" acknowledges what brain research tells us over and over again: every brain is different and, therefore, each individual learner has preferred ways of learning that the individual knows to be more effective and reliable for him/her.
Frank Smith, in to think , 1990 ( p. 27), notes that thinking is made easy and effective when two fundamental requirements are met: 1) we understand what we are thinking about; and 2) the brain itself is in charge, in control of its own affairs, going about its own business. Smith goes on to say that "Thinking becomes difficult and inefficient when the brain loses control, when what we try to think about is contrived rather than an integral part of whatever we would otherwise be engaged in at the moment. ...the most difficult kind of thinking is that which is imposed on us by someone else..."
The definition of "power of choosing" is wonderfully descriptive because it pinpoints the essential characteristic of the lifelong learner. Making wise choices comes from practice; the desire to choose comes from confidence that choices will be good ones. "Preference" acknowledges what brain research tells us over and over again: that every brain is different and, therefore, each individual learner has preferred ways of learning which that individual knows to be more effective and reliable for him/her.

What do you choose? I choose love!!!!