Seminar 13: Presentation Day 3

I really enjoyed the presentations from today's class. These presenters integrated a very different approach to the assignment and managed to teach the class several important developmental concepts. I really enjoyed learning about the 'inquiry based learning' technique and theory by Kelly. This is a topic that everyone thinks they know about, although in truth, few know the real details and processes that are often at work in this learning style. I like how she got us involved in the topic by asking us to build the tower. It was interesting to try and solve the best problem on our feet in a short time span. Inquiry based learning truly seems like the optimal way to teach children (and even adults). As a child, I recall learning the most when I was challenged to think by myself. I know that even today, I learn the most when the content is being taught hands-on and I can manipulate things with my hands. I believe that the more connections that we can make while learning, the higher the amount of knowledge that is retained. This seems to be confirmed by multisensory studies that have shown that auditory and visual coupling of information causes greater retention and ultimate learning.

I also really enjoyed Salva's presentation and the way she analyzed how research is translated and put into practice in average peoples everyday lives. It seems that there is a serious issue in translating research in that there is a significant delay. I would estimate that the delay varies greatly, but even a couple of months can be highly valuable, especially in the developing fetus or infant. I know that some research takes many years to reach the public sphere. This is a major problem. I think that the government or universities need to figure out a better system by which the general public can access the information as it is released. So few individuals read the scientific journals and even if they do, it is so complicated that they probably don't even understand it. Amazing research is being conducted worldwide and even right here at YorkU, but I am saddened that the general public do not have easy access to the advances that are being discovered on a daily basis.