The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic

I'm currently watching this program on the Discovery Channel called: The Real Superhumans and the Quest for the Future Fantastic. It's a documentary about people who have extraordinary gifts. They're real people and they really astounding. The one that really caught my attention was about a man from Turkey named Esref Armagan. Esref was born without eyes. This in itself wouldn't be that astounding except that he is a painter by profession. Not an abstract painter, a realist painter. He can paint realistic paintings better than many people who can see properly. He can paint them with colour and in perspective. To understand how his brain works Dr. John Kennedy from the university of Toronto had him sit in an MRI machine and draw. The astounding thing they found was that although he had never seen a day in his life when he drew, his visual centers lit up. This means that the way we have understood vision is not totally correct. Much as I had found in my thesis work space has everything to do with how we see. In this case however it seems that it is not just connected it is actually part of how we see. To further understand how he sees he is taken to Brunelleschi's Baptistery in Florence (famous for helping Brunellesch understand perspective). To see if he can in fact draw the 8 cornered building in proper perspective. It is a feat that most people with perfect vision have a hard time mastering. He managed to complete it. Watching him draw is an incredible thing because he draws with his hands in a way that is difficult to describe.

I thought it was very interesting to learn that something I had started to touch on in my thesis (and I am not the first) can actually be proven by the extra-ordinary abilities of Esref Armagan. For more about the program visit The Discovery Channel. For more information about Esref visit his Discovery Channel bio or his website.

Margaret Wortheim on the beautiful math of coral

Surprisingly this beautiful, complex project relates to my thesis. You won't see the connection until the last few minutes of the talk but it's a wonderful video and a wonderful idea.

Thesis Presentation

I have found a way to embed the actual presentation into my blog. They're aren't any notes with it as of yet. Those will come.

Thesis Presentation

View more presentations from SpammyNicholas.

Business Seminar

I'm struggling a little bit with what to include in the seminar and what not to. I want the main focus of the seminar is to be on visual thinking. I'm trying to promote the idea of using these tools in their everyday lives. I want to encourage diverse communication skills by introducing them to the advantages of visual thinking.

My main issue is whether or not to also include information about visual learners in the seminar. It is the main focus of my thesis and the core of my research but does it belong in the business seminar?

In the Future of Learning Presentation I included a small visual history which I think is a really interesting thing to include in the seminar. It's a very quick way to show how note-taking and written communication evolved.

Obviously visual thinking tools, examples, and exercises will be included in the seminar. They will be the main focus and will force the participants to get involved through the use of exercises. On a side note I am hoping to start building a database of exercises into the website that I am also creating. It won't be very large to begin with but by keeping it up I hope to create a comprehensive database.

I also think it's useful to point out examples of other programs or tools, such as the Visual Thesaurus and Rosetta Stone, that have already embraced using visual methods to enhance learning and help people make connections.

From the thesis presentation I definitely want to include the diagram on how we learn. I think it's important to show even very briefly that there is research that backs up my push towards visual thinking and visual learning. It is also helpful for people to understand just how important visual thinking actually is.

I'm still torn about whether or not to include the traits of visual learners although I think it may be important to make note of sensory thinking.

Hopefully sleeping on it will help clear things up.

This Week

This week's entry will be focused on the presentation. I have been working on it all week and it will be presented on Wednesday. The presentation is open to third year students who will be there to observe and ask question. It will help them get a little bit of insight into what is expected for next year.

This presentation allows us to finally reveal to our colleagues what we have been doing for the year. Most of us haven't seen other people's projects for months so although it will be a long day, it will be fresh and new because I'm sure most people have made some significant changes in that time.

I'm trying to make my elements as versatile as possible so I am trying to make the presentation a shortened version of the seminar that will be posted on-line. I hoping to be able to keep as many of the essential elements as possible without going over time so for now the next most important part will be timing it so that I get my essential points across without going over our allotted time.

See you on Wednesday!

Memory Training

I found another interesting article on the brain that talks about how training your brain can actually increase your intelligence, memory, etc. Another article found on the New York Times website that I thought might be of interest.

Read it here.

Brain Power

A lot of my later research has been focused on the brain. Our brain is after all our metaphorical centre. Everything we do, think, and say is all controlled by the brain. The New York Times is doing a series on neuroscience and the brain. This is a link to the first article in the series. I look forward to seeing the rest of the articles. If I remember to, and I can find them, I will be posting the rest of them up as well. Make sure to click on the media link on the left. It's a great information graphic about the experiment they conducted.

Brain Power - Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory by Benedict Carey

For more information on engrams (a term brought up in the article) follow this link.