Cognitive Activation

A focussed, engaged brain = A brain that learns

Cognitive activation means that you engage with what you are learning right now, you link it to what you have learnt in the past and you think about where you will use this information in the future.

Learning is an active process. Sometimes you hear about people playing podcasts etc. while they sleep in an activity called "subliminal learning" or "subliminal programming". Subliminal means that you are learning the information while you are not consciously aware of it (usually while asleep). There is a lot of research to show that subliminal forms of education have merit and may in fact work quite well (see section on stress management) however for the average student, subliminal learning is not going to work, and so a more active process is required. By active, the implication is that you don't just sit and listen to a teacher, you write notes, you repeat phrases in your head, you draw diagrams, you mentally question what they are saying, you do everything but just sit there.

Activity 1

Work out this riddle: A man walks along a road and finally reaches a fork in the road. He knows that one of the two roads he now faces will take him to a bad village where they will surely be mean to him and the other will take him to a nice village where they will give him mangoes and bananas. The man does not know which road to take. Standing at the fork in the road are two twin brothers that are identical in every way, except that one always lies, (he lives at the bad village) and one is always truthful, (he lives at the good village). You are only allowed to ask them one question of which they will both answer and the answer you get must let you know 100% which road leads to the good village.

What question do you ask them?

Contact us using the link above if you think you know the answer and would like to know whether or not you are correct.

Activity 2

Silently read this statement:

The brain has about 100 billion cells, starts to die after 3 minutes without oxygen and can only use glucose as a fuel supply.

Here's the active part, ask yourself the following questions:

1) Do I believe everything I just read? Yes/No

2) What does this statement mean? Do I understand all the words and parts to the statement?

Finally, if you don't believe it or don't understand it, go online or ask your teacher to clarify. If you do believe it, and understand it, you should now repeat it to yourself 3 times to start remembering it.

Repeat three times:

1) The brain has about 100 billion cells, starts to die after 3 minutes without oxygen and can only use glucose as a fuel supply.

2) The brain has about 100 billion cells, starts to die after 3 minutes without oxygen and can only use glucose as a fuel supply.

3) The brain has about 100 billion cells, starts to die after 3 minutes without oxygen and can only use glucose as a fuel supply.