C.E. Jottings

Two-footedness is a coachable skill - why we should keep telling the conductive education story

"Two-footedness, for example, is a coachable skill. The motor cortex and related brain areas adapt when players are encouraged to use both feet and to think in a symmetrical way." All Conductors, I hope and expect, will find nothing exceptional or exceptionable in that statement. So writes Matthew Syed, Sports Journalist of the Year, in The Times last week, in an article about English football's youth academies. What's interesting is what he writes next. "The head coach at one of... Read more →

Conductive Serendipity – or why conductive education is more than the physical

Judit Szathmary set the thought flowing. “A masterpiece is still a masterpiece when the lights are out and the room is empty” she wrote on Facebook. But is it? That put me in mind of the old philosophy conundrum: “If a tree falls in the forest, and there’s nobody around to hear, does it make a sound?” Does it? In turn, that led me to Hui-neng's Flag. Hui-neng, founder of the Zen school of Buddhism, one day happened to pass... Read more →

Has Bradley Wiggins "reached his full potential"? Not if he's minded to overcome fatigue.

Has 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins reached his full potential? Have you? Do you know anyone who has? Perhaps the problem lies with the whole notion of "reaching potential"? One of the minor irritations of the Murdoch press is the paywall. Behind it are two of the most interesting journalists writing occasional articles about human performance: sports writer Matthew Syed and Chief Sports Correspondent Matt Dickinson. Just such an article recently was that by Matt Dickinson "Cyclists can... Read more →

Fools rush in ... "we now know how people's brains work" says KFC Marketing Director

"Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread," was never truer than when it comes to neuroscience. The following is reported on the excellent 'MindHacks' blog, a posting entitled "The scan says add fries and call it a special". "Marketing magazine has an interview with the marketing director of KFC who explains why he thinks neuroscience holds the key to selling deep-fried junk food. “Marketing as a whole is undergoing transformation,” he says. “We now know through neuroscience how people’s... Read more →

Cerebral palsy: the impact of limited expressive linguistic abilities

Googling for something else, I came across this. As so often, it seems to be an online abstract of a full work that is not easy to access. The abstract is of Chapter 4 in "Access to Language and Cognitive Development" Michael Siegal and Luca Surian, 2011. What interested me? What intrigues me about this abstract is that unlike typical statements about cerebral palsy that it 'may be accompanied by' other impairments, this work explores the notion of a much... Read more →

Is potential "spotted" as Les Ebdon says or created?

The Director of the Office for Fair Access, Les Ebdon, seems to think potential university students can be "spotted" at the age of seven. I find such a view in such a senior public servant unutterable sad, if not worse. In an interview published in yesterday's Sunday Times (£wall), it seems Les Ebdon has been saying that "universities must begin working with children as young as seven, especially those from poorer families, to 'spot their potential', track them as they... Read more →

Sometimes 'An Unexpected Ass-Kicking" is just what we need

Here's a cheering story about "potential" though the word isn't once used. So different from the view of potential as something that has to be "unlocked" or "untapped", as if potential is something we have inside ourselves: a view that has so debilitated the collective educational mind thoughout my professional lifetime. There's much else but I particularly liked: “That’s the problem with a lot of people”, he continued, “they don’t try to do stuff that’s never been done before, so... Read more →

Who's in charge – you or your brain? | Science | The Observer

The brain… it makes you think. Doesn't it? Are we governed by unconscious processes? Neuroscience believes so – but isn't the human condition more complicated than that? Two experts offer different views. (From today's Observer) Make up your own mind. Unless, of course, with you, that's an unconscious process. Read more →